No piece of writing this past year moved us as much as Dave Eggers' fictionalized account of Valentino Achak Deng, a lost boy of southern Sudan. The book, called What is the What, isn't fun holiday reading, that's for sure. The worst of human nature is very much in evidence in this book, but in Deng, the best is apparent, too. Give it as a gift to someone this year, and it's one gift they won't forget. If you buy it as of this writing, they've got 110 copies signed by Messrs. Egger and Deng for sale by Eggers' McSweeney's headquarters. All proceeds from the book go to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation.
written on Thursday Dec 28, 2006
Sudan,
triumph,
book.
