Say You're One of Them - Uwem Akpan

Apparently graduating and moving severely limit my time to review the books I read.

Say You're One of Them is a collection of 5 short stories about the resilience of children based in various African countries. None of the stories, however, are uplifting. They are fictional accounts of real suffering in these countries.

In "An Ex-Mas Feast," a mother, father, and several children all live in a shanty. As a prostitute, the oldest daughter brings home the only real money the family gets. She is saving to pay for her younger brother to go to school. The family looks down on her and frequently criticizes her for the way she earns her money even though their only other source of income is begging, which usually in unproductive. In the end, she pays off her family's debts, brings home a feast, and prepares to leave the house to work full time. Her younger brother threatens to run away and not go to school if she follows through with it.

"Fattening for Gabon" is the story of a young boy and girl who are sent by their parents to live with an uncle in a distant city. They are happy with him, but soon new people appear in their lives and say they are going to take them away to give them a better life. Even though they are both about 10 years old, their new "mother" changes their names to European names and they are forced to be called by these new names. As time passes, it becomes clear that their uncle sold them to these people. He becomes remorseful, but he has already received part of the payment for them and so he is killed by those who plan to take the children away. The older brother manages to get a spare key to allow him and his sister to escape. His sister screams and refuses to come as they try to escape, and he runs away without her.

"What Language is That" is the story of two little girls, one Christian, the other Muslim. They enjoy playing together and their families have no problem with their friendship until tensions break out. Neither of them understands why she is not allowed to see the other.

"Luxurious Hearses" is the story of a Muslim teenage boy who is trying to flee south to escape his fellow Muslims who are planning to kill him for being the son of a Christian father. He spends an exhausting couple of days trying to hid his religion from a bus full of Christians who are fleeing the same violence. However, upon reaching the south, they realize that tensions are just as bad there with the Christians persecuting the Muslims, and the southern Muslims are trying to flee north.

Set in Rwanda, "My Parent's Bedroom" is about two young children who find themselves in the middle of a conflict because their parents are from two different tribes. Their father's family is demanding that he kill their mother, which he refuses to do. In the mean time, he is hiding injured Tutsis in their ceiling, causing it to sag all over. The children are barely able to escape. Their father's family kills their father, and drags away their mother after setting their house on fire.