The Parade

February 1, 2019
A plan to lay down a roadway runs into a few barriers in this parable of friendship and politics.The pared-down style and global themes that Eggers has embraced since A Hologram for the King (2012)--he may be the only living American writer for whom the term "Hemingway-esque" meaningfully applies--have restricted him to writing two kinds of novels. Eggers the Compassionate Realist focuses on men and women forced to adapt to economic shifting sands (Hologram; Heroes of the Frontier, 2016); Eggers the Dour Lecturer focuses on social justice concerns in ways that smother his characters (The Circle, 2013). This short novel showcases the virtues of the former, though there's a whiff of pedagogy in the prose. Two men, Four and Nine, have been assigned to pave a road in an unnamed country recovering from civil war. Four is an experienced, by-the-book type, concerned only with meeting his deadline before a celebratory parade. Nine is a reckless newbie, neglecting cautions against eating local food, swimming in a local river, and carousing. Eggers doesn't play this for comedy, Odd Couple-style, not even a little; we're mostly in Four's increasingly infuriated mind, and we know that the country is unstable enough that Nine's antics court serious consequences. But when it does, Eggers ably weaves in a host of ethical questions over one man's responsibility to the other, what makes help transactional versus simply kind, and whether the road itself will truly "bring safety and progress to the provinces at seventy miles an hour." The closing paragraphs of this short novel take an abrupt turn into Dour Lecturer territory, but the shift is earned; Eggers is determined to counter the notion that social and economic improvement work hand in hand, and Four and Nine ultimately resonate as characters as much as archetypes.An unassuming but deceptively complex morality play, as Eggers distills his ongoing concerns into ever tighter prose.

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February 1, 2019
Four knows instantly that Nine, his new partner, is an agent of chaos. The two strangers with their terse pseudonyms have been hired to pave a new road connecting the north and south of a poor, civil-war-ravaged country. The protocols are strict; the schedule is tight?they are to complete the road in time for a celebratory parade?and the dangers are many. Four pilots the grand RS-90, which lays down perfect asphalt; Nine rides ahead, scouting for obstacles. They are to set up tents next to their vehicles at night, keep their weapons handy, eat rations, and avoid contact with locals. Four is monastic in his discipline. Nine is a man of frank carnality and curiosity, as friendly as a bounding dog and utterly reckless. Clearly things will go awry, but how and how badly? The ever-incisive, wordly-wise, compassionate, and imaginative Eggers (The Monk of Mokha, 2018) maintains the tension of a cocked crossbow in this magnetizing, stealthily wry, and increasingly chilling tale of First World corporate mercenaries way out of their element. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Requests will pour in from Eggers' many fans as well as devotees of concentrated and suspenseful works of culture-clash fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2018

The masterful Eggers (The Monk of Mokha) crafts the story of two Western contractors, Four and Five, sent without passports to a country just recovering from the ravages of civil war and tasked with building a highway. While conscientious Four focuses on deadlines and eats only the food provided by the company, wild-hare Five races ahead in his vehicle and loves hanging out with the locals at the bars. But an overwhelming danger brings them together. Inspired by Eggers's experiences in South Sudan.

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