Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
Reviewed by L.D.Y.
Hardcover, 364 pages, 2008
Rating: 10/10
Reason for Reading: I love reading books set in India and Africa and this met the latter requirement.
Synopsis: In this collection of five short stories (though I’d make the argument that two of them approach novella length), each story focuses on children in a different African country. In one, two siblings might be sold into slavery by their uncle, in another a Muslim boy tries to fake Christianity in order to survive a dangerous bus ride across the border, in another a young boy watches his sister as she aims to turn prostitution into a way to capture the riches of white men. In all of the stories there’s a terrible but hopeful struggle for survival and even a quest for something better on a continent where life is often brutal and short.
