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What is the What
  • Published: 27 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141917412
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 560
Categories:

What is the What

Formats & editions
EBook
27 Oct 2011
Paperback
30 Sept 2008
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The true story of one boy's courage in the midst of one of the world's most violent conflicts

At the heart of this astonishing novel is a true story of courage and endurance in the face of one of the most brutal civil wars the world has ever known. Valentino Achak Deng is just a boy when conflict separates him from his family and forces him to leave his small Sudanese village, joining thousands of other orphans on their long, long walk to Ethiopia, where they find safety – for a time. Along the way Valentino encounters enemy soldiers, liberation rebels and deadly militias, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation. But there are experiences ahead that will test his spirit in even greater ways than these…

Truly epic in scope, and told with expansive humanity, deep compassion and unexpected humour, What is the What is an eye-opening account of life amid the madness of war and an unforgettable tale of tragedy and triumph.
  • Published: 27 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141917412
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 560
Categories:

About the author

Dave Eggers

DAVE EGGERS is the author of The Circle, The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain, among other books. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Art + Water, a nonprofit visual art hub on San Francisco’s waterfront. A classically trained artist and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Eggers has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the American Book Award. In 2024, The Eyes and the Impossible was awarded the Newbery Medal.


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portrait photo of Dave Eggers

Also by Dave Eggers

The Parade
The Every
A Hologram For The King
The Circle
The Monk of Mohka
Heroes of the Frontier
The Wild Things
See all

Praise for What is the What

Read Dave Eggers' What is the What – it's the best book of the year

Guardian

If there was ever any doubt that Dave Eggers is one of our most important storytellers, What Is the What should put it to rest... [A] strange, beautiful and unforgettable work

San Francisco Chronicle

'A remarkable book: harrowing, witty, wretched, delightful; and always compelling, always surprising' London Review of Books