Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • What Is the What

  • By: Dave Eggers
  • Narrated by: Dion Graham
  • Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (39 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What Is the What

By: Dave Eggers
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £29.99

Buy Now for £29.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Valentino Achak Deng is just a boy when conflict separates him from his family and forces him to leave his small Sudanese village, joining thousands of other orphans on their long, long walk to Ethiopia, where they find safety for a time.

Along the way Valentino encounters enemy soldiers, liberation rebels and deadly militias, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation. But there are experiences ahead that will test his spirit in even greater ways than these....

©2006 Dave Eggers (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks America
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Radiance of Tomorrow cover art
The Bite of the Mango cover art
Zeitoun cover art
The Diplomat's Daughter cover art
The Hour of Sunlight cover art
People of Heaven cover art
Beware of Pity cover art
Captive cover art
The Kite Runner cover art
A Thousand Splendid Suns cover art
Remember Us cover art
The Power of One cover art
Salt to the Sea cover art
Beneath a Scarlet Sky cover art
This Tender Land cover art
The Lost Boys cover art

Critic reviews

"Read Dave Eggers. What Is the What - it's the best book of the year." ( Guardian)
"A remarkable book: harrowing, witty, wretched, delightful; and always compelling, always surprising." ( London Review of Books)

What listeners say about What Is the What

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking and Hopeful

This story is aching to be listened to. Somewhat apocryphal in places, it still gives a hardnosed look at the hope through a hard life as told through the eyes of a Sudanese refugee.

It is the first book that brought me to tears and made me laugh too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

stunning

an important book from the versatile mr eggers. takes you to a world we saw on tv, and still do to this day

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!