Say You're One of Them

by Uwem Akpan
PRMS hardcover 358 pages
genre: short stories, realistic

Likes:

• This is unlike anything I've ever read before. 
• Although the stories make me sad, I think it's important to be aware of others' realities. Storytelling is a powerful way to share.
• Themes of Christian faith in the midst of the despair . . . 

Dislikes:

• So incredibly depressing! A 12-year-old girl prostituting herself so her family has food to eat, families sniffing strong glue to stave off hunger pains, children being sold into slavery by family members to have a higher standard of living, corruption, . . . ugh.
• Language. Thankfully, I know French and am pretty good at figuring out meanings from context. Sentences like this were off-putting all the same: "N'do na dio face se, military face. Den una no go know again wheder I dey vex o, wheder I dey sad o, wheder I dey lie o . . . I mean, even now, who tell una say I dey happy wid una?" It kind of hurt my brain to "translate" this into understandable language as I was reading.
• I've already decided I'll delete it from the collection. I can't see this as a book middle schoolers would choose and it doesn't really fit the curriculum (8th grade social studies . . . but not in a convenient way).

My dilemma - can I actually stop after only two stories?  I read Ex-mas Feast and Fattening for Gabon, but do not really want to make myself read What Language Is That?, Luxurious Hearses, and My Parents' Bedroom. Or perhaps I will . . . the stories are gripping and important in a sense. But really, really depressing.