What Is the What by Dave Eggers Book Review

What Is the What by Dave Eggers Book Review What Is the What is an astonishing, eye-opening, and heartbreaking book that defies classification. Once you’ve read it, the story of Valentino Achak Deng refuses to leave your mind. Even if you’re not familiar with the Lost Boys and their struggles to escape from war-torn Sudan, you’ll be drawn into this pseudo-autobiography. What Is the What tells a devastating story but never plays for sympathy. Instead, the hope, complexity, and tragedy of the situation take center stage. Valentino’s story stands alone as powerful and worth reading and Eggers’ superb writing compellingly brings Valentino’s voice and story to life. The novel is a successful portrayal of  a large-scale  tragedy through one man’s story though it does include graphic depictions of suffering and death. Synopsis Valentino Achak Deng was just a boy when Sudan’s civil war found its way to his village. Forced to flee, he walks for months to Ethiopia and later Kenya with hundreds of other boys. Resettled in the US, Valentino struggles to adjust to the mixed blessings of his new life. Book Review What Is the What is drawn from the real-life story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. The title comes from a local story about the reward of choosing what’s known over what’s unknown. As they flee the destruction around them, though, the Lost Boys are constantly forced to choose the unknown future of refugee camps and life in America. What Is the What describes the interminable walking, the militia and bombs, starvation and disease, and lions and crocodiles that kill countless young boys as they attempt to find refuge in Ethiopia and Kenya. The obstacles of their journey are so astonishing and heartbreaking that you - and they - often wonder how they can go on. Eventually, many of the Lost Boys gain entry to the United States, and they form a vibrant community displaced across the country but constantly in touch by cell phone. Valentino ends up in Atlanta, adjusting to the fact that America offers its own evils and injustices. His past and present are masterfully interwoven through Valentino’s habit of mentally recounting his story to the different people he meets. Reading Valentino’s horrifying story can make the mere act of reading a book feel frivolous. The power of literature, though, is to bring remote stories to life. Eggers is famous for his book,  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. That title could easily apply to What Is the What. Book Discussion Group Questions If youve chosen this book for your discussion group, here are some sample questions. Why do you think Valentino/Dominic/Achak had so many names?Why do you think Valentino directs his story towards Michael, Julian, and the clients of the gym?Which one of Valentino’s friends did you like or remember the most?Did you know the plight of the Lost Boys before you read this book? Did it change what you thought about the situation?What details impacted you the most?

Definition and Examples of Questions in English

Definition and Examples of Questions in English In grammar, a question is a type of sentence expressed in a form that requires (or appears to require) an answer. Also known as an interrogative sentence, a question is generally distinguished from a sentence that makes a statement, delivers a command, or expresses an exclamation. In terms of syntax, a question is usually characterized by inversion of the subject and the first verb in the verb phrase, beginning with an interrogative pronoun or ending with a tag question. Linguists commonly recognize three main types of questions: Yes-No Questions, Wh- Questions, and Alternative Questions. Examples and Observations This is a question that no one particularly wants to hear, but, where did they put his head?(Xander in Teachers Pet. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997)I know this is a silly question before I ask it, but can you Americans speak any other language besides English?​  (Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds, 2009)Question is, what did camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the TARDIS?​  (The Doctor in The Runaway Bride. Doctor Who, 2005) Structuring Questions To form a polar question (one expecting yes/no as an answer), the first auxiliary verb, which bears a tense inflection, is moved to the front of the clause. Corresponding to John was eating the halva we get Was John eating the halva? There must be at least one verb in the auxiliary for question formationif the VP contains none of have, be or a modal then do must be included to take the tense inflection; thus, corresponding to the statement John ate the halva, we get the question, Did John eat the halva?   A wh- question (expecting a phrase or clause as answer) involves the same fronting, and in addition a wh- word (who, whom, whose, what, which, how, why, where or when), which refers to the same constituent of the main clause, must precede the preposed auxiliary word. Compare John was hitting Mary with Who was hitting Mary?  Mary arrived yesterday with When did Mary arrive? and John ate the halva with What did John eat? If the constituent being questioned had a preposition associated with it, then this may either be moved to initial position, before the wh- word, or it can be left in its underlying position in the clause. Thus, corresponding to He owes his success to hard work we can have either What does he owe his success to? or To what does he owe his success?(R.M.W. Dixon, A New Approach to English Grammar, on Semantic Principles. Oxford University Press, 1991) Examples of Question Types [In the following joke, the attorneys initial wh- ​question is followed by two yes-no questions and a final alternative question.]A woman went to an attorney to ask about a divorce.What grounds do you have, madam?About six acres.No, I dont think you quite understand. Let me rephrase the question. Do you have a grudge?No, just a parking space.lll try again. Does your husband beat you up?No, l always get up at least an hour before he does.The attorney could see he was fighting a losing battle. Madam, do you want a divorce or not?Im not the one who wants a divorce, she said. My husband does. He claims we dont communicate.(adapted from The Mammoth Book of Humor, by Geoff Tibballs. Carroll Graf, 2000) Intonation in Questions American English typically has rising intonation across the utterance for what are called yes-no questions (She bought a new car?) and falling intonation for information-seeking questions (also called wh- questions) (What does she want to buy?), although there is much variation in these patterns in both American and British dialects.​  (Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth, 2010) Why Ads Use Questions Questions, like commands, imply a direct address to the readerthey require someone to answer. Thats why they are often used on magazine covers, like these from one issue of Cosmopolitan: At long last love. Are you sure its the real thing?THE CONDOM. Whats in it for you?Hired or fired? How to leave your job in style. We take them as requiring a response, like a ringing phone. There is another more subtle effect questions can havethey can contain presuppositions that are almost impossible to discard if one interprets the text.​  (Greg Myers, Words in Ads. Routledge, 1994) Questions as Technologies in Disguise Questions, then, are like computers or television or stethoscopes or lie detectors, in that they are mechanisms that give direction to our thoughts, generate new ideas, venerate old ones, expose facts or hide them.​  (Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992)