The Parade by Dave Eggers Review

Two (probably American) contractors have to pave a new road across the blighted, war-torn landscape of a Third World shithole (probably in Africa) so the new regime can have a parade on it. A novel about road paving. And it’s as exciting to read as it sounds!

I like Dave Eggers but his books set in Africa/the Middle East are, for whatever reason, turrible. I hoped Eggers would take the mundane setup and do something interesting with it - no way could the book be so determinedly dull - but, nope, it really is simply a portrayal of everyday engineering work in a desolate country. Crikey…

I still tried to see what Eggers was trying to say - if anything. The two contractors are Four and Nine (for security reasons they don’t know each other’s real names): Four is stoic and professional who puts his head down and gets on with the job; Nine is reckless and irresponsible, shirking his duties and nearly getting killed.

Was this a metaphor for life - the road being paved is life and you can choose to walk along it not taking risks like Four but ultimately have an uneventful time of it, or you can be like Nine and take risks and have adventures, living it up while you can? Probably not - that’d be too banal, even for a self-consciously literary novel.

But then I don’t know what the point of the novel was! And that nihilistic ending - is Eggers saying that the Third World can’t be helped until they help themselves? From what I know of the chap, it seems unlikely Eggers would be that uncharitable.

Parts of the story were mildly interesting like when Nine got sick and Four had to figure out a way to save him. The character of Medallion kept me guessing as to whether he’d turn on the two men at some point or not. Eggers’ writing too is decent - clearly composed if uninspired - and I felt a strong sense of place from the descriptions.

Otherwise, The Parade is one helluva boring and seemingly pointless story about how life in the Third World is as depressing as you think it is! Instead, I highly recommend Your Fathers, Where Are They? to see how dynamite Dave Eggers can be.