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Say You're One of Them

Uwem Akpan

Discussion: September/October 2008

Discussion leader: LynnB

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September/October 2008

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

Hailed as "a major literary debut" (San Diego Union-Tribune) and "brilliant" (USA Today), Uwem Akpan's collection Say You're One of Them fulfills the promise of his 2005 short story, "An Ex-Mas Feast," in the New Yorker. Without flinching or lecturing, Akpan shares the almost unimaginable horrors that threaten Africa's most vulnerable children. A Jesuit priest, he also evokes the love, grace, and other spiritual values that can emerge from the fight for survival. Critics universally praised Akpa

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Oct 20, 2009 Kathleen rated it really liked it

Oprah as always in my opinion selects sad books and this is one of them. Today's Africa in Kenya, Rawanda, Nigeria. This book was what I expected more sad stories of how life is in Africa. There are four different heart wrenching, crushing short story's. If you are the type of person to get sad very easily then do not read this. If you want to face the world head on and understand what is happening in this world then read this book. At times I has so much sorrow and was sick in the heart from wh ...more

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Oct 21, 2009 Wallace rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, short-stories

After reading each story in this book all I could think was thank God I live in America. Some would say this is a small minded, uncultured point of view. To those people I say; perhaps you need to educate yourself about the perils of living in some of the other countries in our world, and possibly you need to survey your surroundings and be grateful for the abundance, freedoms, rights, and opportunities we have in this country. That's not to say that the United States is perfect, it is far from After reading each story in this book all I could think was thank God I live in America. Some would say this is a small minded, uncultured point of view. To those people I say; perhaps you need to educate yourself about the perils of living in some of the other countries in our world, and possibly you need to survey your surroundings and be grateful for the abundance, freedoms, rights, and opportunities we have in this country. That's not to say that the United States is perfect, it is far from it. But we, who live in this country, are blessed beyond measure compared to others around the world, and lest we be arrogant enough to forget it Uwen Akpan has written a book that will strikingly remind you of it.

This wasn't the easiest book to read, and not just because of the heartbreak. The prose was often choppy, and the dialects used can be hard to follow unless you are reading carefully. It is not a book that you can speed through -- nor would you want to. I've heard people say they can't put this book down once they started, but I did not feel the same way. Though I wanted to know what ultimately happened to each child, it was not in a form of eagerness and excitement. It was because I felt like I should know what happened to each child, as they are representations of many, many human beings out there.

Whether they be facing the dark realities of religious intolerance, child trafficking, prostitution, or genocide, each child in these stories reminds us of the pure place from whence we all came. The dearness and innocence is prevalent throughout this book, and such an amazing eye opener. What incredibly different experiences human beings can have. Even if living in the same country, but especially living a world apart. What a fantastic reminder to not only open your heart to help with what's important (do we really need another building in someone's name when there are children being traded as sex objects?), and to be utterly grateful for the amazing blessings in our lives. If you are reading this on your computer, you are far and away more blessed than 80% (get that, eighty percent) of the world's population. So whether or not I think you'll love this book is irrelevant. Whether or not I think you should read this book is definite. You should. When was the last time each of us volunteered, donated, or reached out on a regular basis? These are important questions to ask oneself, and these are questions you will not be able to ignore after reading this book. ...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Suzanne Moore rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: oprah, africa-fiction, previously-nominated

This is a collection of stories about children from various African countries. There is an interview with the author on goodreads videos ...
Interview with Uwem Akpan and there once was an Oprah video blog about one of the stories. The Oprah video was disabled, but I found it on YouTube ... An Ex-Mas Feast

Oprah picked this book for her book club and discusses the story "An Ex-Mas Feast." This story is about a child prostitute who is working to help support her family and buy supplies for her brot ...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Christine Seifert rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-books, collections-of-short-stories

Beautifully done.

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Sep 18, 2009 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: oprah-bookclub-reads

Decided to read this now since Oprah selected this for her Book Club

I liked this book overall. A couple of the stories were a struggle because of the language, but well worth it. The last story My Parents Bedroom was very hard to read. The horrors of the killings in Rwanda thru the eyes of a child was heartbreaking.

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