By Megan Thomas
I’ve done this in the past by coincidence, but this book convinced me that the only audiobooks I want to listen to are ones narrated by the author. Going forward, I’m aiming to do this exclusively (unless I somehow run out of memoirs, which seems unlikely).
One of Them: An Eton College Memoir is Musa Okwonga autobiographical account of his time at one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious schools. Naturally, I was intrigued to learn about the experience from of a Black man who grew up in a predominantly working-class town to parents who had fled Uganda under Idi Amin’s dictatorship and settled in the UK. This is, according to the FT, is the second memoir about Etonian life for a black pupil in its history. I have added the first, A Black Boy at Eton by Dillibe Onyeama, to my TBR pile.
I don’t imagine anyone reading this will be surprised to learn that I was not surprised to hear that Okwonga’s experience was different to his white peers. There is not an overwhelming bitterness or distaste for the school, he seems mostly grateful for the education he received, but there is no question that his experience was stressful, alienating and racially charged throughout. To me, it felt like Okwonga was particularly eager to make readers understand why his very presence there does not somehow erase his experiences, as well as just share his story.
Outside of the personal, the memoir provides a real insight into how so many past students have become the public figures they are today. Okwonga explains how it’s almost inevitable, when you consider the fact that, every day of their school year, the attendees are wearing outfits that most men wear once in their lives (a tux on their wedding day), or the fact that the boys are presented with a book featuring every student’s name at the start of each school year. When from 11 years old you are reminded of your significance in the world, it is no shock that so many of Eton’s alumni seek careers not just rooted in financial acquisition, but that of power.
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