What Is The What by Dave Eggers
Review by: Ramon Chavez
I always though that life had it in for me from me being teased about my physical appearance, to me failing class and having to work twice as much to keep up with the rest of my class. I always felt sorry for myself, that was until author David Eggers made me realize that they are things much worse than being made fun of or failing things like the main character in my book, Achack, had to go through. The story of Achak starts out with him in his present day life, in which he lives in a condominium with his friends and goes to school, pretty much like your or anyone’s else’s life. Everything goes downhill when a lady knocks on his door and asks to uses his telephone, unknowingly he allows her in after her attempt to keep the door open. She immediately locks herself in the bathroom, and calls someone, a while after when he goes to check on the lady he’s ambushed by a man who works with the lady in the red dress, Tonya, he is then stolen of his property and is put in place of a young boy.
One of the main reasons I really liked this book was because it made me feel if I was the person he was telling the story to because in between scenes he pretended to be telling the little boy, which he called T.V boy, his story of all the unfortunate things that had happened to him, the story progresses which, Achak when he was a small boy.
The way the book is written, which is a past-present type of change makes you feel more and more anxious about what’s going to happen next. I know that I was personally anxious when he starts to think in his mind all the terrible things that have happened to him. Though he is telling the story of his life he is still conscious that this boy had been involved in the theft of his home. The fact that’s it’s a first person view also makes it really interesting because it’s like the popular phrase “Walk a mile in my shoes” you feel as if you were Achak, as if you had been right alongside him when he went through all of this.
Achak has a very interesting personality because his father was a wealthy business man, and he was son of his father’s first wife. He has a normal boys’ life. He lives with his family, he plays with his friends. As you know nothing last for ever, and that’s when the rebels in Sudan show up in his dad’s store. They ask him if they have any sugar, he asks how much they want and they respond all of it. Achak tells them the price and all they respond is thank you for your contribution. Achaks father tries to stop him but they brutally beat him up. This was one of the many things Achak has seen and experienced.
What is The What is filled with many interesting and thrilling moments but is equally filled with sad, depressing moments. The character seems to come alive as you get closer and closer to the end of the book. You will find things more and more incredible from him escaping the rebels to the long journey he has to endure.
Although there are many other characters Achack is mainly the one that everything seems to happen to, some of the other characters include Achack’s family and his friends it also includes different people he meets along the way good or evil. You get the idea that a small boy wouldn’t last long by himself in Africa, but he endures, being hunted by the rebels, animals, people, and the war.
The larger themes of this book would be about how the war affects everyone, how there are things that we know but that there are also things that we don’t know, that many people immigrate not of their own choice but are forced by certain circumstances, with this themes one can really relate to present day life.
Even though the book is fiction one really believes that he or she is listing to someone tell this story. That is why this is such a great book. It shows that you shouldn’t feel sorry for yourself but feel sorry for those that truly suffer. Once on his journey with a group called the Lost Boys he hopes to finally reach a safe and sound sanctuary.
In a moment things can go from great to worse, so you should enjoy life while you can, though to find out if Achack ever recovers what he once lost, his life and his family, if he ever reaches the end of his journey you’ll have to read the book.