"They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died".. and so starts the story of Vivek, of his death, of the troubles his mother go through, to find out how he died after his body was thrown out outside her house. And you would want to turn the pages hurriedly too if only to know who Vivek was and why his death matters. After all, this story is not about his death but rather about his life -- the kind of life he lived and the impact he left behind on the people in his life.

Vivek's lifeless body arrives at his mother's, Kavita, doorstep unaccompanied - without any note or anyone - covered only with an Akwete cloth. His family wasn't prepared for that. His mother goes into hysterical searches - from asking everyone from family to his friends - in her quest to find the truth of Vivek's death. But eventually, it leads to other truths about her son's identity which she willfully ignored throughout his life when all the signs were there!

At the core, Vivek's story is a mystery of his death, but Emezi has woven a story around human grief and loss, while tactfully layering other themes of identity, sexuality, love, friendship, loyalty and reincarnation(!). These themes are carried around by the different techniques of narration that are, quite frankly, powerful.

Emezi gives us not one but multiple povs - the point of view of different people in Vivek's life - along with the pov of Vivek. Vivek is dead but through his narration, Emezi presents him as a resurrecting ghost that came back from the dead into the readers' minds and who is always lurking around his family and friends watching their grief and giving his two cents while foreshadowing the events leading up to his death. It is quite a clever technique used by Emezi, I must say, using first and third-person narratives to give readers the illusion that Vivek is always there with us, listening to us.

The personal bond between Vivek and Osita, Vivek’s cousin, was perfectly captured in the prose. Osita's friendship, their separation and his despair over Vivek's death, all were some heartbreaking things to see, and so were the moments of Vivek's life with Juju and Elizabeth, his friends. These relations give a well-rounded picture of the tragedy that hit them because this was a family Vivek built out of trust and companionship, not blood. They were Vivek's safe space, always there to protect him, to provide him with the space he needed to explore his sexuality and identity.

Then there was Vivek's constant struggle to break the mould that society and his family wanted to fit him in. From the way he looked to the dizzy spells that he got, to his behaviour, everything was seen against him. Yet Vivek was the prettiest, most precious thing who was at times tender and fragile but fierce too.

This is a coming-of-age story, for sure, but it is also a narration of the community of once immigrants, now Half-caste, Nigerwives, and their struggle to belong. it is the struggle between two clans and increasing tensions. This story will leave you with tender hope and an aching heart, but a lasting impression.

I entered into the brilliant world of Akwaeke Emezi's writing through The Death of Vivek Oji and it is a world that I want to get myself immersed into.

I just finished reading The Death of Vivek Oji and guys, the last few chapters had me at my neck!
I was going to rate this book a 4-star rating but like I said the last few chapters weren’t something I envisioned 😭 Ended as 4.5 star 💫

I am very late to the train with this one, but I really enjoyed it. It was as heartwrenching as I expected and I can't wait to hand-sell this at work. I'm definitely interested in reading more of this author's work in the future.

Loved the witting and the overall message of the story, but I didn’t feel deeply connected to the characters. The emotion felt forced.

•Details•
Amazing Characters
Family
Birth to Death

•Rating•
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars
I highly recommend this book!

•Similar Recommended Reads•
If You Wants To Make God Laugh
The Vanishing Half
The Attic Child

Just as amazing as I expect from Emezi. Heart-rending and thought-provoking with excellent characters and plot.

The Death of Vivek Oji predictably tells the story of the life and death of Vivek Oji but mostly through the perspectives of those around them. The book takes place in Nigeria and gives a vivid glimpse into the world of Nigerwives, who are foreign born women who marry Nigerian men. Emezi has a stunning grasp of language and effortlessly immerses the reader into this world.

I didn't know what this book was about beyond the obvious nature of the title and it being written by Emezi, who I already knew I loved. But wow this book packs a punch. I read all 248 pages in a matter of hours because I was so gripped by this intense story. As you can see from the content warnings above this book deals with some tough and distasteful topics. When I realized what the romance was in this story I was shocked but I commend Emezi for taking the story to uncomfortable places.

Some of my favorite reads are books by authors who play with structure and narrative styles and Emezi cleverly delivers on both. I was hypnotized by how Emezi weaved this story together and how each thing we read built the life and death of Vivek. I'm avoiding spoilers but I also think the title of this book is compelling and upon reading the story I think it can be taken in more than one way.

If you are looking for a hard hitting book that will push you outside your comfort zones than I highly recommend this book. I was there for the story but I also feel like I learned about a different culture and this book enriched my understanding of a different way of life.

3.5 stars? I’m not sure what to make of this book. I loved the Nigerian setting — the food, the code-switching between English and Igbo, the culture clash between the Nigerian and non-Nigerian characters. It reminded me a bit of Middlesex — multigenerational, polyphonic, centered on a character with a complicated relationship to gender, involving immigration and civil unrest and (consensual) incestuous relationships.

This feels like perhaps a silly complaint, but given that Vivek is the titular character, I was expecting more of the book to be in Vivek’s POV. I can come up with good reasons for why most of it wasn’t — the book is (obviously) about Vivek’s death, so it makes sense for the reader to feel Vivek’s absence, for Vivek to be almost as much an enigma to us as to many of the characters. Still, part of me wishes we got more time in Vivek’s POV.

I also had complicated feelings about the circumstances of Vivek’s death. (Spoiler) For most of the book it seems like Vivek has been murdered in an anti-queer hate crime, and while I have no wish to police or dictate how much queer trauma queer authors write about, I also personally felt a lack of desire to read such a story. When it became clear that it’s not a hate crime but basically just a freak accident, part of me felt relieved, and part of me felt frustrated that the central mystery of the book resolved in such a random event. Of course, random, meaningless tragedies are a real part of life, but to me this one felt a little bit “rocks fall, everyone dies.”

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this title, but my reading interests have changed. I will not be finishing this book, but look forward to others in the future.

This was my first book from Emezi, but definitely not my last. The beautiful writing had me engaged right from the first page to the last. I look forward to being immersed in her writing again.

Vivek's story is sure to be a polarizing one among readers, but for me it was a heartbreaking vivid story of love. In fact there was so much love and hope among the fully developed characters. I enjoyed how nothing was what I expected.

It’s taken me a while to sit with this book and figure out how I feel about it. Out of all of Akwaeke Emezi’s books, I’ve only read Pet and Bitter and loved them both. This book however, took me much longer to get into. It is beautifully written but the book is slow to start and not very cohesive as the different timelines and points of views are a bit muddled together.

But, give it time. The last third of this book was where it really came into its own, and is why it’s sat with me for a long time. It’s a beautiful story.

TW for homophobia; transphobia, misgendering, violence

I also want to talk about the relationship in this book. From what I gather from reading other reviews of this book, I’m possibly quite ignorant about cousin/cousin relationships in other cultures and how it’s viewed differently in the uk. It was quite jarring to read and because of that I didn’t root for the characters or relationships in the way that maybe I was intended to.

Overall, definitely a book that hits hard and makes you think, and has rooted Akwaeke Emezi in my top ranking of authors.

Yes, it is worth the hype!

This book hooked me from the start, and put the voice of "this is supposed to be great - you need to like it" out of my head and just let me be absorbed into the narrative.

I found it hard to put this book down, and when I finished it I found it hard to pick myself up - a lie on the bed and think about the ending book for sure.

Imagine one thing about yourself that you love and accept.

Now, imagine that, that one thing is not acceptable to others.

It could be anything, your nose, weight, gender, sexual orientation, favorite book even, anything.

Lastly, imagine having to hide that part of yourself from the rest of the world cause you might be mocked for it, or worse you could get killed cause of it.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi is a coming of age story which revolves around the life of Vivek & their family & friends. It’s a character oriented book & while not enough pages talked about Vivek’s perspective of everything around them, I personally felt like despite that I knew them enough. I knew their hurt, their suffering, their confusion & also their acceptance.

The book progresses on with multiple POVs to answer the questions placed in your mind from the very first chapter - who killed Vivek Oji, how & why?

The book depicts different forms of loves & asks all sorts of relevant questions. Vivek at one point asks, “Why are you afraid? Because something is different from what you know?”.

This book is heartbreaking in every form, to see Vivek struggle with their identity, to see a family mourn the death of their son & to see friends choose between keeping their friend’s secret & giving their friend’s mother some form of closure.

I could not put the book down & it’s the fastest I’ve finished a book this year. The metaphors used by the author clearly show how talented they are & I loved it. The only part of the book which leaves me feeling a bit underwhelmed but also distraught is the ending, I felt like it wasn’t justified - how Vivek died. Maybe I felt that way because I hoped that his short life could’ve been celebrated more, maybe because his life should have meant more!

Imagine hiding the most important part of yourself because that thought is what will help you be more emphatic & more accepting of others. This book teaches you exactly that. Love, celebrate, live & ffs let live.

Read the book. And yes talk about it so so so much more! This isn’t a story of a fictional character, unfortunately it’s the story of thousands of millions of people living this reality.

This was disappointing. I loved Freshwater and especially Emezi's incredible prose and while this is emotionally resonant and interestingly structured, I didn't love the prose even nearly as much.

I thought this was a fantastic, thought-provoking book, which I read in just a day. The story is multi-layered yet simple - although my one criticism would be that the multiple points of view did make the book feel a bit disjointed at times. But this was definitely different and refreshing, as well as sad.

I don’t even know where to start on this one. Absolutely beautiful, heart breaking and impactful. 100% a new favourite!

This book starts with Vivek Oji's death. We as a reader are made aware that he has been killed and his body left at his parent's front door. We are then walked through Vivek's life and the circumstances that lead to his death. Being homosexual in Nigeria comes with many risks and because of this Vivek was unable to be the person he wanted to be, but his close friends protected him and allowed him to explore his sexuality and desires to be a person unrestrained by cultural and social perceptions. I cried for all of the character's in this book, not just Vivek, but also his misguided family who wanted to protect him. His friends who wanted the best for him and to see him happy, whilst going through their own uncertainties. His Cousin Osita who grew up with Vivek and knew him better than anyone and loved him with all his heart. The combination of this outpouring of love for Vivek only made the fact that we already knew he was dead more painful.
This book had surprises (very steamy in parts) but mainly it tells a tale of expression and repression and how shame and disgust can stop acceptance of ones true self. It was heartbreaking to read, but written with beauty and eloquence. A touching and poignant read full of sensitivity and exceptional insight.

Gorgeous novel about family and belonging and culture and the spirit. It’s wonderful. I appreciated non-linear prose as well as the lgbtq representation. Secrets and cultures are tenets of this lovely novel and I can confidently say that I will read whatever this author we’re in the future.

I wasn't able to engage with this story. Sometimes you can objectively, with some detachment, see that the writing is good, even admire the author's talent, but it just doesn't connect. That was the case here,

Vivek is a half-Igbo half-Indian youth living in Nigeria who, as set out from the onset by the book's title, dies during a market riot and whose naked body, wrapped in cloth, is deposited outside his parents' home.
The story winds its way across time and narrators to bring us to what happened that fateful day. Other notable characters are his parents, auntie, uncle, cousin and grandmother and his mother's circle of non-Nigerian wives of Nigerian men and relative mixed offspring.

I found the book quite strong to begin with, but by the mid-way mark I started losing my belief in the story and characters, which made it more of a slog to reach the end. I enjoyed the sense of place and the food references wetted my appetite, but ultimately in terms of narrative arc it was fairly predictable.

In terms of quality of writing instead it was average (e.g. "Juju stared back at her as the news of his death ground to powder the pieces Elizabeth had left her heart in, until there was nothing remaining in her chest to come up...") and certain passages read more like a literal or poor translation than English, but perhaps that's more my own ignorance or the fact that I was reading a galley (e.g. "...and somehow Chika found the liver to ask her to lunch.", "I don't want her pim about this again", "Wow, I've really been an idiot. You've been here making a fool of me this whole time. I hail you!").

I feel like had the canvas been wider the contrast between the generations in terms of lifestyle choices and societal norms would have been more believable. Instead I felt that this story presented too much of a dramatic contrast between the two generations across only a handful of people.
On the one hand we had the patriarchal, traditional, religious and homophobic heteronormative generation and on the other we had a generation much more comfortable juggling gender and sexual orientation. I can't help thinking that a generation was skipped, but frankly I can't say I have any direct experience of the social context being narrated, so perhaps this is completely incorrect.

The theme of re-incarnation, or if you like the blurring of the line between life and death, is also timidly addressed but not enough to make much of it really. I would have found it interesting if the matter of the "half caste" experience had been developed more as it intrigued me, particularly within a context of which I am quite ignorant.

I hear that Emezi's Freshwater debut novel is a more distinctly original novel and reading The Death of Vivek Oji has not been such a negative experience for me to put me off reading Freshwater eventually.

Many thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.