What is the What by Dave Eggers

I read a story about Eggers in Smithsonian and was intrigued enough to buy one of his books. He runs a publishing enterprise called Voice of Witness. They focus on telling the stories of cataclysmic events in human history through the victims rather than the military or political leaders. This one is the story of one of the "lost boys" of Sudan.

The title comes from a Dinka legend. God (by whatever name) offers the First Dinka their choice between the cow and the what. They consider the unanswerable question and choose the cow, which remains the basis of their economy to this day. That is, what is left of their economy and way of life, which isn't much.

In the turmoil of war, Achak becomes one of thousands of young boys who trek across Sudan to Ethopia. Young boys, preteen boys. I was left with a vision of a trailing line of children stretching for all those hundreds of miles with gaps where one is taken by a lion or sits down to rest and never gets up again.

The story of this lost childhood is framed by events after he is "rescued" and relocated to the United States - where he was still a lost boy.

I didn't expect this to be a comfortable read and it certainly met my expectations on that point, but I am thankful that someone is out there telling the stories from the point of view of those who experience these events rather than that of observers.