Say You're One of Them

I think there are authors who think that happy endings are boring, predictable, and less meaningful to the reader. They may be right. I also think that Uwem Akpan, author of Say You're One of Them, is one of these authors.

This collection of fictional stories by a smiley Jesuit priest from Nigeria doesn't have a single happy ending. There are bittersweet endings, endings that are twisted with relief and regret, and endings that leave you cold. But, as I recently learned how to say in Spanish, Todas las cuentas acaban mal. They have sad endings.

If you feel like you now don't have to read these stories, don't get me wrong; the endings are often unpredictable, some ending with what we hoped for all along, but not quite as happy, and some ending with what the characters dreaded, but we were too naive to believe possible.

These stories of Africa, exploring ordeals that happen to people there, and not rarely, are all unnerving. I had to ask myself, over and over, what seperates me from them? There are answers - physical distance, money, language - but they pale in comparison to the similarities, the unnerving proximities. Like Jubril, am I not at the mercy of the crowd whenever I take a bus or a train, or a plane? Could the others not kill me, if all incensed and united against me? Could I not lose my parents in an instant, like Kotchikpa, and find myself at the mercy of the world? These stories take place in an alternate universe, one that exists, only a plane ride away.

Some people don't read "depressing" stories, because they say that there isn't anything they can do about it. But maybe, if we read about the struggles of others, we won't be tempted to prey upon the one Muslim in a group of Christians, even in times of desperation and fear. Maybe we won't turn against our neighbors and families when there is a crisis, because we see how horrific it was when it happened in Rwanda. Maybe we won't ignore those charities that help child slaves just because they seem so far away, and we'll be careful where and how we get our oil and diamonds. So read Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan. Maybe you'll learn something about life, or yourself.

Things Fall Apart

Little Bee is all about what the world and its people do to people. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, explains a lot about why the world (specifically Africa) is the way it is.


Doesn't seem like the country borders match up with tribal/kindom borders very well, do they? Might explain a lot about current political issues...



We all know that Africa is a chaotic place, full of sudden wars and horrifying poverty. I recently talked to some people who now live in France, who had to flee Zimbabwe because they were related to a human rights lawyer, and if you read Little Bee, you get the idea that wars spring up and wipe out innocent bystanders, and then governments hunt down the witnesses and kill them, too. Africa has problems. But it wasn't always that way; for a long time, there were just mostly-peaceful tribes with sophisticated cultural, religious and social traditions. When they fought, it was often to humiliate their enemy, rather than kill, and they knew how to survive in the most inhospitable climates. But then a variety of European powers came along, and infiltratred their society, destroying them using a variety of weapons, from military force to money to religious persuasion.


Things Fall Apart is the story of this infiltration. We can look at it with purely Western eyes, and maybe sustain the notion that Europeans were better and stronger and it was good that we conquered the Africans. If we have any level of sensitivity, however, we begin to understand that this beautiful civilization was no better or worse than Western society, then or now. The outsiders came to Africa, and started doing unforgivable things, like massacring an entire village on market day, or converting peoples' children to Christianity. We see how a group of people reacts, when there are suddenly outsiders with new ideas and lacking morals, and how they survive - or dont.



This story is written by an African, and gives the account of a very specific tribe and it's slow descent. Parallels can be drawn between every culture that was colonized by Europeans, though the British never wiped out an entire tribe by poisoning their water supply (like the Germans) or left a large disabled population by cutting off the right hand of anyone who didn't work up to speed (like the Dutch in the Congo). What we see in Things Fall Apart is really the moral and social destruction of a culture, rather than a aqueiescence to force. In order to understand Africa now, I think it's important to understand what it underwent to get where it is.


I'm curious - has anyone else read Things Fall Apart? I know it's a well-known book, and taught in a lot of history classes, (although probably not as commonly as Heart of Darkness, which I never finished). It's not as riveting as Little Bee, but I still wouldn't pass it up!


Happy Reading!

ps - Thanks to my AP Euro teacher for a lot of the ideas/information relating to African colonialization!

Little Bee

Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, is the story of a girl whose real name I will not tell you, who flees to the UK for typical yet tragic reasons (as she often says, "The stories always begin with 'The men, they came and they...'"). So she finds herself in England, upon the day of her release from a detention facility. This is where the book begins, although the story of Little Bee starts much earlier.

This is not what one would call a "brief" read, because it is not transient or easily forgotten. It's left me with the same sensation I feel after a shocking new article about a true event, or when a fabulous movie is suddenly over; it is as if the floor has fallen and nothing will ever be the same. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but reading Little Bee has made me think more about my life, my priorities, and the world than anything has in years. The characters, Little Bee and Sarah, are fighting opposite wars until they meet: Little Bee is trying to survive men with guns, while Sarah is trying to survive the miseries of a suburban life that is spiraling out of control. Little Bee is hanging on to her life for all she's worth, while Sarah is questioning her life and its true worth. When they meet, all of the death, fear, hope, and determination that rule their lives meet in a maelstrom of questions.

People are always talking about what they got out of something. Like, "Oh, I went to this wonderful seminar on the benefits of getting sleep - I just got so much out of it!" or something along those lines. Well, personally, I got so much out of this book I don't think I have the words to share it all, but I'll try to give you an idea. Little Bee, the character, is a heroine. She fights bad guys and survives tragedies and keeps her wits about her. Sarah is a lost soul, struggling with a failed marriage and a career that just isn't changing the world the way she once hoped it would. Between the two of them, they exemplify everything I want to be and everything I'm terrified of becoming. The story speaks to so many of my unspoken hopes and fears, and feels like something I've just been waiting to read. This is the sort of book that makes all those let-down, why-did-I-waste-my-time? books shrink in comparison, and I dearly hope you read it.

While Little Bee is "soon to be a major motion picture," I suggest the book, and soon. Click here to go to Borders to buy Little Bee (they have new and used) or else go to Amazon... I apologize for seeming like some pushy advertisment, but I can't suppress the desire to share this fabulous book with everyone!