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Say You’re One of Them
By Uwem Akpan
Release Date: June
9, 2008
Book Room Review
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Say You’re One of Them is a
powerful collection of short stories.
Told from the perspective of young children, the collection takes us
into the brutality of the childrens’ lives in Africa. Each story is a slow awakening to unbelievable
horrors for both the child and the reader.
The first story, An Ex-Mas feast, looks at a poverty-striken family that
must rely on their twelve year old daughter’s income to survive. She has to prostitute herself for food and
money but she is trying to earn enough money so her younger brother can go to
school. The children in "Fattening
for Gabon"
are being prepared for sale into slavery by their uncle. In "What Language Is That?" two
little Ethiopian girls are best friends until their parents suddenly say they
cannot speak to each other anymore because one is Muslim and the other is
Christian. In "Luxurious
Hearses", a Nigerian boy from the north is trying to escape to relatives
in the south on a bus filled with the same religious animosity that he hopes to
escape. The final story, "My
Parent's Bedroom", describes the violence between the Rwandan Hutus and
Tutsis as seen through the eyes of a young girl who has mixed parentage.
For me, the most powerful story
is the last. I will forever hold the
powerful images of a toddler playing in his slain mothers blood. Each story is a work of fiction, but is based
on real situations that have transpired.
In the Afterword, written by a pastor who knows the author, Uwem Akpan,
the writer offers his belief that the publication of these stories is a bold
attempt to enlighten readers about children of Africa,
which in turn may create a passionate desire to create a safer place for
children all over the world. After
laying down this book, I know I am one of those affected people, and I thank
Pastor Akpan for this powerful lesson.
Uwem Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003,
and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan
in 2006. "My Parents'
Bedroom", a story included in this, his first book, was one of five short
stories by African writers chosen as finalists for The Caine Prize for African
Writing.
Book Room Grade
A+
Review Posted: June 6, 2008
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