I wouldn't have met Piti if it hadn't been for a chichigua. To translate chichigua as a kite does not do justice to these beautiful creations of...
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This a great book. I found the narrative structure to be somewhat jarring, but nonetheless interesting and effective in incorporating the very distinct worlds of the US and Sudan.
The Powell's review is a beast. Clearly, it hits on salient literary and cultural points. Now I'm no literary nut, but whenever I read hyper-critical reviews like this I wonder at what point the critique starts working for its own sake.
I don't see much difference between this "novel" and a biography, and the critic seems to make assumptions about what is factual and what is not, though most readers will never really know. Like any biography, the book requires the reader to have faith in the author to portray a truthful account. This book pushes that envelope by allowing the author's imagination (informed by real accounts, we are told) to take us there.
I guess in the end I wonder the value of such intense critique. It seems to lose the forest of a great story for a few very lofty, intellectual trees that the critic seems intent on climbing. That's a effective way to ruin any good time.
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What Is the What by Dave Eggers
Nater, April 8, 2010
This a great book. I found the narrative structure to be somewhat jarring, but nonetheless interesting and effective in incorporating the very distinct worlds of the US and Sudan.The Powell's review is a beast. Clearly, it hits on salient literary and cultural points. Now I'm no literary nut, but whenever I read hyper-critical reviews like this I wonder at what point the critique starts working for its own sake.
I don't see much difference between this "novel" and a biography, and the critic seems to make assumptions about what is factual and what is not, though most readers will never really know. Like any biography, the book requires the reader to have faith in the author to portray a truthful account. This book pushes that envelope by allowing the author's imagination (informed by real accounts, we are told) to take us there.
I guess in the end I wonder the value of such intense critique. It seems to lose the forest of a great story for a few very lofty, intellectual trees that the critic seems intent on climbing. That's a effective way to ruin any good time.
(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)