What is the What (6-10)

Ah, back again. I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I didn't have it written out, I only had notes. Soo, here it is!

He begins "telling" his story to Michael (TV Boy) and I found it funny, and completely ironic, that he says "Michael is the name of the man who brought war to Marial Bai." I guess it's meant to be ironic, but it makes me wonder if TV Boy Michael is as bad as the robbers who left him there. I hope that he isn't; so far it seems as though he isn't, even though he drops a phone book on Valentino's head.

And then the dinner scene (food scene! unity? maybe not.) When Valentino and his father were having dinner with the other Arab men one night, there was tension throughout the whole dinner; almost as though a bomb was going to go off. And then the bomb did go off, and it was chaos for a few pages (though honestly, after that point, the whole story goes crazy because his life is absolutely terrifying.)

Now, one thing that's been standing out to me is the yellow dress of the mother. I'm not sure if it means anything, but I think it might. We're first introduced to it when Valentino explains his mother, and how he can see his mother coming from a distance because of her yellow dress. Yellow is a warm color, and one that symbolizes happiness and hope (I looked this up, I hope that's alright,) but at the same time can symbolize sickness, or something not pure. When we're first introduced to his mother and the dress, their life is fine, the war hasn't reached them yet. But later we're introduced to that same dress, and the mother wearing it, fleeing from danger.

A few things I really like about the novel so far:
- It's entirely in Valentino's voice even though Eggers wrote it.
- When he switches between "reality" and "story-mode," the change is crazy. It's almost as though Valentino is pulling you into the story with him, into that moment of time in his life.
- The author's use of personification is amazing as well. It adds onto the descriptions and makes the story even more real in my mind: "My own breathing was too loud, every breath a great wind, a falling tree."

And then we're introduced to the What. What is the What? I'm not too sure, and I have the biggest feeling that that question will remain unanswered in this book. Perhaps it'll be left for us to decide what it is.