find himself assaulted and bound and his apartment being robbed. Throughout WHAT IS THE WHAT, Eggers sustains a narrative conceit in which Achak relates his life story to those around him in complete silence. He begins his "thought tale" with his robbers, and then with the young boy Michael whom the robbers leave to guard him while they take away their first load of stolen goods. Wherever Achak goes in his American dream world, whether in the hospital emergency room after the robbery or at his front desk job at a health club, he finds himself telling more of his story, yet never aloud. What could have ended as a cloying literary device comes off instead as a subconscious plea for sympathy, a silent scream for an audience that shows even a moment's care for the victims of Sudanese (and African, generally) war, famine, and genocide. Not surprisingly, the unhearing Americans who surround Achak every day know nothing about his life, his family, or his culture. They know nothing of his sufferings, of the Lost Boys whose lives truly were lost and of those survivors who in many ways remained just as lost. They would likely never be Sudanese again, nor could they ever fully be Ethiopians, Kenyans, or Americans. Eggers' story is at its best when relating the horrors of genocide and life as a refugee, on the run or in the camps. Life becomes terrifyingly elemental, death utterly capricious. Every decision, whether random or planned, has implications and