Uwem Akpan: Say You're One of Them

[chika]

Uwem Akpan's debut collection of short stories, Say You're One of Them has just been picked by Oprah as her book club choice. This- as far as I know- is a first for an African (Nigerian) writer. And most likely the first for a Jesuit priest
Say You're One of Them is a collection of five stroies ( one of which had been published in the Kenyan Kwani and later reproduced in the New Yorker), each set in a different African country and with children, mainly, as protagonists. It's a dark read: child prostitutes; child trafficking; religious riots; ethnic cleansing and I've forgotten the fifth. Each story is heartbreaking and at the end of each one, one feels like he has been taken on a very harrowing journey but the brilliance of the storytelling compensates for the darkness.

 

[Daniel del Real]

Uwem Akpan's debut collection of short stories, Say You're One of Them has just been picked by Oprah as her book club choice.

Just for this reason I'd say no to read this one. I just hate that woman.

 

[chika]

aaarrrg Daniel,

Your'e letting your hatred deprive you of a good book. I am no Oprah fan btw but this time, she's shown some good (reading) taste

 

[Stewart]

I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand like that Daniel, as the book has been in contention for a number of awards and prizes, winning the Commonwealth Prize (African category) earlier this year. Oprah's brand may have picked a bunch of dross over the years and caused a few controversies, but some of her selections would go down well with many members here, for example: Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, McCarthy's The Road, both Marquez's A Hundred Years Of Solitude and Love In The Time Of Cholera.

I bought this book a number of months back and it's sat on the shelf, partly becuse I find it hard to maintain focus throught a short story collection, but reading this review in the Times has renewed my interest.

Fictional debuts accompanied by a ballyhoo of critical plaudits are likely to arouse suspicion. Two stories in this collection by the Nigerian writer Uwem Akpan have been published in the New Yorker; one was shortlisted for the Caine prize (the “African Booker”) in 2007. Can Akpan really be as good as this suggests? Some readers of his tale Fattening for Gabon might initially have doubts. Focusing on impoverished children in Benin, whose uncle plans to sell them into slavery, it confronts us with colloquial dialogue that not only mixes languages (French, English, Idaatcha, Egun) but also dialects: “Mais, il est un bon homme. Very good man. For now make you just dey enjoy me, dugbe se to ayawhenume se. Once I become rich, my dogs no go even let una come near my gate o, comme Lazarus.” Even readers prepared to acknowledge Akpan’s accuracy might find this heavy going.


They should, nevertheless, persevere.​

A quick glance at other reviews show similar praise in things like The Guardian, NY Times, and Chicago Tribune.

 

[Daniel del Real]

Yes, you're right Stewart, I was too visceral about this book. But you have to agree with me that it is one of the worst forms to introduce a book here in the WLF.

If instead of this:

Uwem Akpan's debut collection of short stories, Say You're One of Them has just been picked by Oprah as her book club choice.

It would've started with this:

the book has been in contention for a number of awards and prizes, winning the Commonwealth Prize (African category) earlier this year.

or

A quick glance at other reviews show similar praise in things like The Guardian, NY Times, and Chicago Tribune.

many things would be different.

 

[Stewart]

...you have to agree with me that it is one of the worst forms to introduce a book here in the WLF.

I'm not fussed, as I wouldn't like to get snooty about it all. Oprah's not somebody I would look to for my reading choices but some would, and I can respect that. Still, a thread now is appropriate because the book's newsworthy now - it originally came out midway last year - and that we now have a thread on it which means it's one Google search for people to find the forum. Not a bad thing, plus it's a discussion point after all.

 

[Mirabell]

aaarrrg Daniel,

Your'e letting your hatred deprive you of a good book. I am no Oprah fan btw but this time, she's shown some good (reading) taste

not just this time. intermittently, there's good or even great stuff among her picks. bill faulkner, rohinton mistry, toni morrison, cormac mccarthy, edwige danticat, bernhard schlink, leo tolstoy, john steinbeck, elie wiesel, gabriel garcia marquez, jeffrey eugenides, carson mccullers, jc oates.

nothing to sneeze at.

 

[chika]

But you have to agree with me that it is one of the worst forms to introduce a book here in the WLF.

No, Daniel, I disagree with you. But I am not going to get into an argument over how I should introduce a book I think is a great read and which has received a boost (deservedly) because of the pick. I don't think you should be prescriptive( what arrogance!) about how I introduce a thread. And if you hate Oprah so much you'd never read anything she chooses for her book club, be my guest. You've got a list now to choose from. Read Akpan or don't read Akpan, dump Tolstoy and Marquez, it's your choice.

 

[Daniel del Real]

I?m not even aware what Oprah picks or does not pick. I really don?t care. I?d be giving her too much importance if I start checking what she likes so I can take it out of my reading list. I?m just saying that for me that woman is not a valuable or reliable source to say what books are good or not. Some of the books she recommends can be good, most of them are terrible. The problem is that people have a level of worshiping to her that the actually believe everything she picks for book of the month is going to be a great one.

Akpan can be a great writer, and you?re right I should not avoid it just because it had the terrible misfortune to be chosen as Oprah?s monthly book (a blessing economically, I know). I apologize for the way I reacted to your thread, everybody can introduce a book however they want, and I?m no one to say it?s not a good way.

 

[Kobayashi]

Just discovered this thread.

Irrespective of the merits - or otherwise - of a writer being championed by Oprah (or by the New Yorker, for that matter), I have to say that the collection of short stories is pretty weak.

Akpan is a one trick pony - he relies on visceral, grisly detail to make his point. Once he runs out of adjectives to drive home the point about how awful he thinks life in "Africa" is today, he literally has nothing more to say. The stories aspire to social commentary, but come across as impotent voyeurism.

I don't particularly have anything against writers portraying "Africa" (which, remember, is 53 extraordinarily diverse countries) as a neglected sore on the buttocks of the world - but at least, have the decency to try to explore why. Akpan is singularly unable - incapable, perhaps? - of doing so, other than by repeating the same litany which, essentially, boils down to "there are bad people in 'Africa'. No one knows why, but pity us all the same."

A thoroughly dishonest book.

There, now I've got that off my chest, I feel better...

 

[Refus de Sejour]

I haven't read Say You're One of Them, but Akpan had a short story in a recent issue of the New Yorker: "Baptizing the Gun" (archived temporarily on line - they seem to take down their stories after a year or so).

I thought it was very good; a gripping narrative with a strong sense of place and a nice little twist in its tail. I don't know if this differs from his first collection, but it certainly can't be summed up as just "there are bad people in Africa" etc.