'Say You're One of Them' by Uwem Akpan

thebibliophilesemissary.blogspot.com

Akpan creates a masterpiece out of this book, which is a compilation of five short stories that span the breadth of Africa; set in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Benin, and told through the eyes of children.

It is heart-wrenching and the reader is drawn into the terrifying world that these children find themselves in, each caught in brutal conflict that has ravaged (and continues to ravage) Africa; civil war, the plight of the refugee, poverty, religious intolerance, human trafficking.

Akpan’s writing is simple, easy to understand, easy to feel. I read it two years ago and, like any good book, it has stuck with me. The sadness I felt reading it has stayed with me.