This year’s selection for the One Book, One Philadelphia program is Dave Egger’s epic novel, What is the What. Based on the life of Valentino Achek Deng- a Sudanese “Lost Boy”, the tale begins with Achek as a young and carefree 7-year-old boy in the Dinka village of Marial Bai. A day that started off like any other day, brought terror that would change Deng’s life forever. A raid by Arab militia, began the 11-year civil war that separated Achek from his family and sent him on a perilous journey. Villages were burned, killing everyone. Girls and women were raped and taken as slaves and young boys were slaughtered on site. The raiding and destruction of his village ends Valentino’s youth and innocence as he knew it.

Now a “Lost Boy”, Achek joined thousands of other boys as they walked hundreds of miles by foot through Sudan towards Ethiopia and then Kenya in search of safety. Abandoned and targeted by the Sudanese government, the “Lost Boys” were groups of young boys who fled their villages after they were raided. Through this extraordinary journey, death came to these boys in horrendous ways: wild animals, starvation, dehydration, disease and murders by militias and government bombers. “It is very easy for a boy to die in Sudan,” a striking and tragic understatement made by Achek after witnessing the death of numerous comrades. Peril was at every corner. Young Valentino watched many of his friends die or go insane on this journey. In the end, the boys that survived crossed the deserts of three countries in search of freedom.

When the boys reached Ethiopia, their fanciful visions of plentiful food and water were banished as they realized that there were thousands of other displaced men, women and children who survived the trek and were also seeking refuge. Things are stable for a while, but when the Ethiopian government is overturned. Deng and the rest of the “Lost Boys” once again find themselves in an upheaval of chaos, death and danger.

“‘Come here!’ a woman said. I looked to find the source of the voice, and turned to see an Ethiopian woman in a soldier’s

uniform. . . . ‘Don’t fear me,’ she said. ‘I am just a woman! I am a mother trying to help you boys. Come to me, children! I am your mother! Come to me!‘” The unknown boys ran toward her. . . . When they were twenty feet from her, the woman turned, lifted a gun from the grass, and with her eyes full of white, she shot the taller boy through the heart.”

What is the What is NOT a beach book. It is engrossing and horrifying, but somehow, food for the soul. It’s a human story. One man manages to tell the story of thousands and portrays this event for what it is - a human tragedy. Through unrelenting tragedy and peril, What is the What is both humorous and humane. The power of this story is that it gives a face to the numbers. Many times when we discuss genocide, it feels so immense and far removed. When someone says 10,000 people were killed. What does that mean? I can’t even really envision what 100 people look like. 27,000 displaced? Two million killed? What is the What, puts a story behind those numbers and forces you to give a damn.

Before reading this book, I could not imagine what genocide actually looks like. It is impossible to read this novel and not feel compelled to action and if that was the mission of the author - job well done.