Dit boek is Oprah Winfrey's 2009 Book club selection (in het engels).
Het is een boek met korte verhalen over gebeurtenissen in Afrika geschreven vanuit het standpunt van kinderen.
Het is geen vrolijk boek, het snijdt diverse thema's aan die in dit continent zeer actueel zijn, kinderprostitutie, slavenhandel e.d. Hoewel het mooi geschreven is leest het niet makkelijk, omdat de schrijver veel uitdrukkingen gebruikt uit de taal van het land waar het verhaal speelt. Ik moet eerlijk bekennen dat ik niet alle verhalen gelezen heb, omdat de verhalen me zo aangrepen dat ik niet verder kon lezen.

Beschrijving achterop het boek:
Say You're One of Them is an extraordinary debut about children fighting for survival throughout the African Continent. A family live in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya; a Rwandan girl witnesses unspeakable acts; a brother and sister cope with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery in Gabon; and a Muslim boy takes a terrifying ride through Nigeria: everywhere Uwen Akpan reveals the wisdom an resilience of Africa's children.

Er is een Ring voor dit boek.
1. Plinius
2. Dutch-Book
3. Wandering
4. Bookquide (hier is het boek naar onderweg)
5. dibana
6. Jij?

Het boek is onderweg naar Plinius.

Dank je Tienie, ik ben benieuwd!

Not at all a quick read, but very compelling. A family Xmas in the slums of Nairobi, two Benin children will be sold to Gabon by their uncle, the friendship between two Ethiopean girls is broken because of religious struggle, a Muslim boy takes a bustrip in Nigeria and a Rwandese girl and her brother witness the death of their mother. Not very easy to read, because Uwem Akpan puts in local words, dialects and even speech impediments, and also hard to read because of the emotional impact of these stories. But there´s no sentimentality at all in this book, only harsh reality. I wouldn´t have missed this!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

posted this today

travels to Dutch-book
Wandering
Bookguide

And there it is. I think these are some great stories.

I finished it. I thought the second story was great, I felt like I was in Africa. Later I held a pizzabox and I looked at it and thought: wow, I have a pizza, how wonderful. So engrossing that story was. Will PM wandering and then the book will travel to her by friday.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to the next reader.

Ontvangen!

Finished reading this book last evening. The stories in this book are very impressive. I cannot even begin to imagine what the children in war zones go through, even though I've read about it now and before. The children in this book display behaviour that is very mature, they are forced to grow up very fast and understand things that they are not supposed to be dealing with yet. One can only hope that the current generation will hold on to the notion that even though other people may belong to other cultural groups, they are still all human and there must be a way for all to live together in peace. That they can be educated and build up the countries torn by wars.

I think the short chapters were the best. In 'what language is that?', it only takes a few pages to set an atmosphere and show how two little girls deal with suddenly being separated without any explanation. The last story is very impressive, especially how the little boy Jean comes to realise what is happening. Very well written. The two long stories, however, were too long for my taste. They started dragging and I kept thinking: I see where this is heading, please make your point now. On the other hand, the pace is typical for African life, which is much less frantic than in our part of the world. All in its own time, even horrible things.

I already received bookguide's address, so I will send the book tomorrow.

Arrived safely today, ready to wait a while on my bookring shelf. Thank you Tienie for making a ring of this, and thank you Wandering for sending it on.

Although I've "seen it all before" on television, telling personal stories like this (albeit fictionalised) really brings home the terrible reality of life for many people in Africa. I've never really subscribed to the view that something is worse if it's happening to children, but it is appalling that some people are reduced to such desperation that they sniff glue because it's cheaper than eating, selling their bodies to earn money to eat or go to school, or are tempted to sell their children (or in this case, relative's children). Although 'Luxurious Hearses' was far too long, and difficult to read because of the accents and interjections, it gave a fascinating insight into the different points of view and dilemmas in Nigeria, with the various passengers on the bus representing their tribe or religion, and interesting commentary on various political choices and the pollution caused by the oil companies (particularly ironic as at the moment, there is a BP oil rig pumping vast quantities of oil into the sea off Florida and Louisiana). It was a shame there was no explanation of the African words, particularly in 'Luxurious Hearses', where 'dey' seemed to put in just about anywhere in the sentence, and I never did manage to work out what it meant. I think the comment on the back cover sums the book up well: "Uwem Akpan reveals the wisdom and resilience of Africa's children", able to cope with whatever life throws at them, and the ultimate advice "Say you're one of them".

Posted to Dibana in Nieuwegein.
UDPDATE SEPT. 6TH: I'm afraid I was away unexpectedly in England for an extra ten days during the summer holiday period, and I was unable to send this on. Things are now getting back to normal after the summer holiday, and so it's time to visit the post office. I apologise for the delay, and hope you enjoy the book.

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This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2010. My goal is 24,000.
- Set It Yourself Challenge

Sorry dat ik het nu pas meld, helemaal vergeten, maar ik heb het boekje vorige week ontvangen. Ik zal er binnenkort in beginnen.