by Uwem Akpan (Author)
(66)Release Date: September 18, 2009
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Say You're One of Them (Hardcover)
Stories of abused and battered children in Africa They are the legion, but few cut as close to the bone as this collection by Uwem Akpan. Their truly-filled five tales, two of which are novella length, are told with the uninhibited, voices of the children involved. Each one takes in a different country but the theme is universal: the place the biggest challenge faced by children in Africa is staying alive.Akpan, a Jesuit priest with an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, piles on details available only to one intimately familiar with the lives described. Be thoughtful: some of those details are gruesome to the point of causing distress, which I is description sure was his intent. The imagery can range from the droll, like the of the motorbike loaded with five people, various fruits and vegetables, that a view rooster and five rolls of toilet paper in "Fattening for Gabon," to the most horrific a child can see, a parental bloodbath, in "My Parents' Bedroom." This story finishes the book and is the source of the title "Say you're a of them," the command given by a desperate Rwandan Tutsi mother to her Hutu-fathered child as machete-wielding killers approach.Various dialects are used masterfully to that both phrases reveal characters and set scenes. The jargon, slang, and foreign may be off-putting to some readers, but little meaning is lost when the dialogue are read in full context. Quite frankly, the only time many readers can bear to imagine events like those in the book is when they take place on foreign shores. We is able be sickened and outraged by horrors on another continent; the same happenings across the street from where we live would paralyze we with fright. Fortunately, Akpan's familiarity with African poetry infuses much of the writing, giving the book a lyrical tone that keeps the more violent passages from slipping into slasher-movie territory. As a person who has photographed and written about Africa extensively, I must confess I was not shocked by Akpan's stories. Unfortunately, tales like them are every too familiar to me. I was deeply moved by his dramatic intensity, however, and highly lives.Dave of his ability to put the reader inside the children's Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the appreciative Congo
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