The Parade

A quick moving parable (allegory?), The Parade is worth reading just for the final scene. While I complain that Eggers wrote too quick of a story not allowing for enough meditation, I would recommend The Parade to anyone interested in international aid and development or anyone with an afternoon to spend reading a B+ novel.

Without names, backstories, or even moderate physical character descriptions, Eggers' characters are projections, shadows on the wall of Plato's cave. Four and Nine (the two workers hired to build a road connecting the rural south with the modern Northern capitol) are intriguing foils yet their minimal dialogue and development reveal that Eggers' purpose to have the reader inhabit the characters and fill in their stories themselves. What you gain from this novel then invariably depends on what you bring. The war-torn country the novel is set in could be adapted easily to match any war-torn country of the past (or future). With this format, Eggers' effectively questions broadly the role of NGOs and international actors in post-war countries and their ability to heal a country or effectively help others. I am interested in the debates surrounding international aid and it's issues and Eggers contributes effectively with this book. I knock off a few stars in this review just for how short this book is. I think it could have been far more effective if it had been slower, more drawn out, and meditative, leaving Four, in particular, more moments to question his actions and motivations. The Parade is a significant event that shape Four and Nine forever and Eggers should have let us inhabit his characters more so that it could effect us too.