Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.
In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa.
Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent.
Say You're One of Them
Uwem Akpan
Summary
Say You're One of Them
Narrarated by: Robin Miles, Kevin Freeman, Dion Graham
eMusic Review 0
11.06.09
Uwem Akpan, Say You’re One of Them
2009 | Label: Hachette Audio
Sharp African stories from a promising new voice
Given the weight of his compelling New Yorker short stories and the fact that he was shortlisted for the "African Booker," Uwem Akpan's first collection, Say You're One of Them, comes with high expectations. Akpan, a Jesuit priest turned writer, grandly delivers. His stories of an impoverished Africa are bracing without being heavy-handed, and the strong audio narration might make you forget you're listening to someone reading a book.
From the horrors of the Rwandan genocide to a mother letting her son sniff glue in order to stave off hunger pangs on "Ex-mas" night, Akpan's themes are bleak. Yet his light touch and skillful presentation make the stories more engrossing than depressing. Part of this is due to Akpan's narrators, as each of the tales in this collection is seen through the eyes of a child. Without sentimentalizing his subjects, Akpan uses his young protagonists' naïveté to both deconstruct the lives of the adults and imbue his stories with hope. The results are daringly honest, energetic narratives.
Much has been made of Akpan's dialogue, which mixes French and English with pidgins and African languages like Idaatcha and Egun. Although the mélange of tongues can be difficult to navigate on the page, the audio version shines. Wire cast member Dion Graham and actor Robin Miles draw on African accents and rich impressions to render the dialogue at once foreign and comprehensible.
Say You're One of Them marks the powerful debut of a talented voice in contemporary fiction. One longs to see which side of Africa Akpan will explore next.
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