Thursday, April 15, 2010
Why the book stands out...
I don’t have too much to contribute to the discussions surrounding this novel. I can say that it’s smartly written by Dave Eggers, which makes the many mundane stories seem more interesting. I understand the point of the book, so I’m trying to keep an open mind while reading it. It’s so easy to be contrary and talk negatively about the novel. One of the reasons I do like it is it’s honest. Deng’s stories are endearing while not giving us readers the impression that he’s feeling sorry for himself. He’s embraced the adversity in his life and lived to tell the tale—kind of sounds like a cliché. How many people suffer but survive to tell their story? Countless. I guess what makes Deng stand out is that he’s given voice to the Sudanese, something that’s rarely, if ever, been done before.
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Honestly, I can’t read this book while I’m eating or I can’t eat while I’m reading the book. The reason simply because of the guilty feeling I have whenever I unfold the story of Achak Deng. Do you guys feel the same way? My experience living in Indonesia during the Indo-Chinese Massacre that later invoked the fall of Suharto (Asia’s longest ruler/president for 32 years) is less intense if its compare to what’s currently happening in Sudan. I still have a home to hide from the Anti-Chinese extremist (fyi: In 1998, Many Chinese Indonesian or Chinese Citizens were tortured, raped, and killed. Their houses were burnt to the bottom ground). I still have stack of food to eat. I still have an air-conditioner to survive from the tropical heat.
ReplyDeleteThese kids in Sudan are facing famine and civil war in day-to-day basis. In addition, as we discussed in class, these children behave and treat like animals. The appearance become clear in pages 149-151 when the kids ate an elephant like a carnivore that haven’t eaten for days. “The boys leapt into the animal, biting and ripping flesh, and when each boy had a handful of meat, they ran off like hyenas to gnaw under trees (150).” They have to cope with difficult lives and suffer from malnutrition (like Deng’s case after he ate the elephant meat and became sick) and physical-mental hurts.
From Achak's discription of the boys and their fated day, is a lot less discriptive, gross, or horrifying. It is well written where it does not gross the reader out. Looking at the videos of Achak back in Sudan, and the way he was discribing what happen so many years ago, I feel and could hear it in his voice that he could not go back, I am at Page 200, even though he is experiencing another turmoil in his life (being tie up and robbed), it is nothing compare to the everyday living that he had to endure during his walk in Sudan. Those days was unpredictable for him, for any one of those days his life could have ended so many times, but survival and sheer luck kept him alive all those times on his way to E. His story is completing different compare to Platform, however both have somehow walk the same line of path, the path to the unknown and hopes and despair. One was just fill of deaths while the other will fill with sex but with a coldest to it.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how someone could not take something from this book. By reading this book I feel so grateful for all the things I have, and even though I do lots of volunteer work, I always feel as if I could be doing more. We are so fortunate for everything and most people including myself take it for granted all the amazing things that we have and what is offered to us in North America. I can't imagine going from what he endured on his journey through Sudan to coming to Atlanta, I imagine the cultural shock was beyond belief and can't be described in words. Its different to go visit somewhere but to arrive somewhere for the visit time and call it home, everything was so different from what he knew. I admire all the Sudanese lost boys and the journey from their life in Sudan to their life in Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's very well written, not boring. The way that Dave Eggers goes back and forth from the robbery, Tv Boy, (spoiler), the ER in the hospital after the robbers finally leave with the TV and then the gruesome stuff, the civil war, the famine, the suffering, the near death experiences of Valentino during his journey from Sudan to
ReplyDeleteEthiopia, Kenya. It's is the perfect combination of narrative ( which can sometimes sound repetitive and unrelatable) and brilliant novel writer. WitW kept me on my toes as I read on because I have to admit it I wanted to know what happened in the case of the robbery and the resolution later on about it.
Of course the actual narrative kept me interested and moved me in such a way that I had a sort of realization of how lucky we are like Cooper had mentioned before. We usually complain about certain things that after I read the book I thought are silly. Our necessities could be purchased or received easily without worry, we have food and do not worry about our "rations", we have shoes to protect our feet, we not only have a shirt but most of us (have more than we really need).
Like what Valentino had spoken about at the beginning, that he had been robbed before but not like this major one because now he has more things to lose, the television, the computer, laptop among other things that it made him fight so hard for his possessions. The more you have the more you want to have. That is what most of us have become, we have many variations of the same thing, and most likely most are just objects.
It's true his voice is of the Sudanese, but just any Sudanese but one of The Lost Boys of Sudan. The views are different from Northern Sudanese, one of the member of the SPLA or even of the government. It is the voice of one with a lot of experiences but has never really fought in the war.
To have the courage to speak about his short comings, adventures without hiding in shame but just to educate those that are not aware of global problems that still go on today not just in Sudan but other places as well.
This book is actually not as boring as I expected. I think that we can all take away something from it. For me, the novel brought about a greater appreciation for self, for what I call my own and for where I call home. Having migrated myself in hopes of attaining the “American dream,” I can somewhat relate to idea of escaping one’s struggles to obtain something more for themselves - although, when comparing my journey to that of the boys of Sudan, it seems almost trivial. Dave Eggers does a wonderful job of describing the horrendous scene that the boys faced in a way that not only causes his readers to sympathize with their plight but also to leave them eager to learn more. One line in the beginning of the novel that stayed with me was,“ I wait a moment on the floor, not believing. The apartment now has an unnatural air to it. For a minute, it is stranger with them gone than it was with them inside.” Just to think that they have been so use to living in constant danger that the slightest sense of a peaceful escape seems so unnatural, should make anyone want to become more involved and to assist in some way.
ReplyDelete- J.Pajotte
I think the book stands out to me because of the way it goes back and forth and the way it is told. I think it’s a good way to give someone in an image of what is going on around the world. Achak describes stories that seem so unrealistic to us in the world that we live today in America. The stories are so emotional and to place yourself in his shoes doesn’t seem like something I would be able to survive. I admit that the Sudanese people are very strong and I admire how many of them survive this hardship. What kept me reading this book is how he describes what he went through in Sudan while he is being robbed and beat here in America. You would think the story gets better but it only gets worst as he keeps telling it. The one you don’t have to wonder about is if he makes it to the US because he is telling the story from Atlanta, Georgia.
ReplyDelete