The Parade by Dave EggersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like Dave Eggers books. Each one I've read has stuck with me and I expect this short book will as well. It's perhaps a parable. I didn't know the premise of the story, I just knew it was Eggers and read the book.
It starts with two men meeting for the first time in a foreign country, no passports and no names, for safety concerns. It sounded to me like a set-up for CIA or co-ops type of operation, but it turns out they are about to pave a road on a war-torn country that just ended decades of civil war. This new road is bridging the North and South to a new prosperity, to the new century.
The two men are numbers, Four is the experienced and regimented man, wanting to get the job done quickly and get out. Nine is the adventurous, his first time doing this type of job. He has his hair cut in a "ridiculous" way in which it is always falling into his face and having to be brushed aside. They could not be more different.
The place is unnamed and no one has a real name. But the story has a purpose. At times it can be laughable at these two and their differences and then it gets serious.
I read this in a day. It is short, but it still surprised me. And happily Eggers hasn't disappointed me yet. I will definitely read more of his works, and there are several I have not yet read.
Previously read Dave Eggers books:
What is the What (fiction) - August.2008
Zeitoun (non-fiction) - January.2017
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