Say You're One of Them

By: Uwem Akpan

Narrated by: Robin Miles, Dion Graham, Kevin R. Free

An Oprah's Book Club selection: this "electrifying" book (Washington Post) pays tribute to the wisdom and resilience of children even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances.

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.

One of the best books of the year: Wall Street Journal, People, Bloomberg News, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post Book World, and Entertainment Weekly

Just Couldn't Get Into It

I chose to try this book because it was one of Oprah's book club selections. I usually don't listen to book club selections of any kind. It was obviously a well written book and well read by the narrator. It was mildly interesting. I managed to plod through most of the stories, but I just couldn't get into the book enough to finish it.

Ugly but Beautiful

I picked this up because of a review I heard on NPR, not because of anything to do with Oprah, but I almost feel like I must have listened to a different book than the other reviewers. The stories were fresh and engaging. Akpan is a morbid O'Henry, or maybe a Rhole Dahl (as in his adult stories, not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). If I had any criticisms of this book they would be that first, I knew where each train wreck was headed (though like a train wreak I could not look away) and second that I could see where someone could have a hard time with the ascent of the first narrator (though it makes sense for an African to narrate a story of an African child). I loved this book.

Fantastic narratives in the eyes of the world’s most vulnerable

A terrific depiction of the resilience of children in the midst of a continent’s worst atrocities. Great read.

Can't believe it is fiction!

I can't believe it is fiction, It is so real. Just so real! There were cracking moments that drew my memory back home in Nigeria and there were sad moments that were too true. My 8 year old is so interested in writing now more than ever. Good job Akpan.

Highly Recommended!!!

This book invokes so many different emotions. I makes you wonder how much of it is fiction because the narrators did such a wonderful job at reading the story that one would think that they were telling their own life stories. I love this book and I recommend it.