Jeffrey's Reviews > Say You're One of Them

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Tragic, frustrating, majestic, bewildering are all words I would use to describe this short story collection. I have never read so many sad tales that did not come out of Russian literature. This collection is breathtaking in so many ways that mere words do no justice. Akpan is a true artist that paints with words a world so tragically wrong that it bothers you to your core. To know that such a world exists shames us all. Yet the writing is so beautiful that you realize that you are reading great literature.
Uwem Akpan is a Jesuit Priest and an obvious observer of the conflicts that ensnare his country and continent. This work will move you to tears, but there are so many deeply good people that you come away with hope for the future and hope that Akpan writes even more stories. It would be a shame for his talents to go to waste. He is a master storyteller and there simply needs to be work of this caliber available.
The short story format has seen better days, too many low rent talent and not enough avenues for the works to be exposed, it is rare to see such a glaring amount of talent in the format from a new writer. I hope that this collection can revive the format that has fallen on hard times as of late.