The Parade

 Dave Eggers wrote The Parade. This is a fictional novel about building a road. After years of civil war some unnamed country asks that a road be paved from the poorer southern end of the country to the capitol in the north. Even though the country is never named I pictured the country is Ukraine. Two contractors are hired to build the road. The contractors are on a timetable because the leader of the country wants to have a parade. For security reasons the two contractors are not to know each other's names. The operator of the main road construction machine is named Four. His partner, who is supposed to run ahead and make sure the road was clear to pave (no objects or people on it), is named Nine. Four has years of experience building roads and this is Nine's first job. Four figures if they can get 25 kilometers completed a day they should make their deadline. They are instructed not to interact with the locals. Four is a dedicated and by the book employee. Nine is a maverick who likes to eat local food, drink alcohol, and mix with the natives. Both Four and Nine are clearly irritated by each other.  On the surface, the entire novel is about building a road. On a deeper level, the novel is about war and about how reconstructions efforts can add to the strife.