'What is the What: The autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng' by Dave Eggers

Like “How many licks does it take to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop?”, the world may also never know the answer to the question “What is the what?” The question refers to a Sudanese religious fable that is told by the father of Valentino Achak Deng, the subject of What is the what. In the fable, the Dinka (indigenous people of southern Sudan) are given a choice by God to receive either cattle or the what as a gift. Not knowing what the what is, the Dinka choose the cattle, and this pleases god, because it shows that they are able to be content with the known rather than desiring the unknown.

The source of the title, though it is brought up numerous times in the book, isn’t really the central action of the book. Valentino Achak Deng is one of the Sudanese Lost Boys who escaped Sudan and was eventually able to move to the United States. There are two story lines in the book: the present day, Valentino is being robbed in his home in Georgia, and a flashback to his boyhood experiences. There are parts of the book that made me cry and terrified me, but there were also points that made me laugh out loud. But I suppose that is one of the makings of a really good tragedy – the inclusion of a little laughter. Maybe that is the what.

The book is described as an autobiography, but Dave Eggers did write the story and used a bit of creative license as I understand it. I don’t suppose there is a way to tell a story like this without having it be heartbreaking and horrifying; I can’t imagine how one person could have suffered as much as Valentino. But the book manages to be optimistic and hopeful, despite all that life has done to him, Valentino manages to be admirable and resilient.