¶ … Parents' Bedroom" brings true life tragedy to reality with its often shocking, heartbreaking and detailed story of genocide in Rwanda. Even though they are safe in their own lives, Uwem Akpan forces the reader to be a part of the Rwandan genocide through the first-person voice of Monique, a 9-year-old girl. In this story, she recites the confusing, horrifying and immoral acts forced upon her and her family, which are representative of the larger genocide and all that was experienced by the Tutsi, Twa and Hutu peoples. Akpan engages the reader through masterful vivid imagery, character development and dialogue. He conjured images in my head that are so disturbing, I will never forget how real and devastating the Rwandan genocide was. It brought an issue that I saw on the news, removed and far away, to my own home, to my family and friends. An example of this vivid description is Monique's account of her attack:

"I call out to Tonton Andre, who is pacing in the corridor. He doesn't come. I keep screaming. I'm twisting and holding my knees together. Then I snap at the naked man with my teeth. He hits my face, this way and that, until my saliva is salted with...

I spit in his face. Twice. He bangs my head on the floor, pinning my neck down, punching my left thigh."
She is helpless against her attacker's strength and hurt. Trying to bite or spit on him were the only ways she could attempt to protect herself, as she is small, unprepared, defenseless and vulnerable, much like the Tutsi population. Her description of each moment expressed confusion, terror and desperation to survive. It paints a clear image and points again to the theme of the overall genocide, foreshadowing the widespread situation of the Rwandan people and their feelings of helplessness during a brutal period.

Akpan also presented characters' appearances in the simple, matter-of-fact voice of a female child, which was really well done: "My mother is a very beautiful Tutsi woman. She has high cheekbones, a narrow nose, a sweet mouth, slim fingers, big eyes, and a lean frame." He painted Maman's portrait in peaceful, admiring rhetoric, making the reader feel the peace Monique's feels when she is with her mother. She is beloved by Monique and thus becomes beloved to the reader. Instead of saying, "I love my mother," he gently lays Monique's thoughts…