I know that I’m always on to a winner with an Akwaeke Emezi novel, so I was delighted when I was approved for their new release. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for how much of a stomach punch it would be.

One afternoon in southern Nigeria, Kavita opens her front door to discover the naked body of her dead son on the doorstep, the whole family is forced to contend with not only their unimaginable grief but the notion that they never really knew their beloved child.

The story is told after Vivek’s death through first person accounts from Vivek in the afterlife and Vivek’s cousin Osita as well as third person perspectives from Kavita and Juju.

Vivek was raised by an overprotective Indian mother and a largely absent Nigerian father. Throughout adolescence, Vivek struggles with episodes of dissociation and blackouts. The self inside is not the same as the self that the world sees, so of course Vivek grows up stifled and lost.

‘Some people can’t see softness without wanting to hurt it.’

Vivek finds freedom in friendships with the daughters of the Nigerwives (foreign women who are married to Nigerian men). These girls allow Vivek to express their genderqueerness in a safe, understanding environment. Vivek’s relationship with Juju is incredibly complex, layered and so beautiful. Juju is coming to terms with her own sexuality but she is undeniably in love with Vivek, as is Vivek’s cousin Osita. There is a scene in the second half of the book that had me sobbing, as Juju and Osita deal with their grief in a way that is so unique to them and unbelievably heartbreaking.

One very small detail that says so much is the mentioning of Vivek hiding things in a copy of The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ari Kwei Armah, a Ghanaian novel about a man fighting the pressures of African society to push him to corruption. When you know that Vivek was killed because of a non-conforming gender and queerness, their love for this book becomes hugely poignant. Vivek had hope for the future of queer Africans, refusing to bow to the pressures and restrictions of Nigerian society, and this legacy is something that ripples through those who loved Vivek.

Motherhood is another very strong theme in the novel. Kavita is so desperate to hold on to her boy that she becomes determined to solve the mystery of what happened to him. This, of course, leads her to discovering the truth about who her child was. We all know mothers like Kavita. The over-anxious, helicopter mothers, who are besotted with their children but who project their own expectations as to who they are, in such a way that they fail to see or accept their children’s true selves. Kavita’s last act for her child told me that despite all of the unaccepting ingrained attitudes of her society, she finally saw Vivek.

Vivek’s discovery of happiness and the strength it takes to put that above the intense fear of being killed is incredibly inspirational. I felt that perhaps Vivek was some kind of otherworldly being, who patently didn’t belong in this society, sent to teach other outsiders that the true self is always beautiful and should never be hidden. This method of storytelling always touches my heart and Emezi does it beautifully.

The prose is unlike any other. It’s so stunning, evocative and sensual that it completely captivates the reader. I finished the book with a strange concoction in my mouth that tasted like both sorrow and hope. I knew that Osita, Juju, Elizabeth and even Kavita had learned so much from knowing and loving Vivek. That Vivek’s story and message would reshape their minds and change the rest of their lives. Yes, Vivek died in the most tragic, heart-wrenching way but it wasn’t for nothing and their spirit is still very much alive.

Masterfully written, extremely powerful and compulsively readable, The Death of Vivek Oji is a vital, urgent read for today.

As I closed the last page of the book, I realized I had been crying. Which was strange....because I didn't feel remember being particularly awed or moved - but here I was sobbing over the death of Vivek Oji.

Emezi's novel deals with many ideas but for me the most potent were the ideas of love, acceptance and the many way grief manifests itself when a loved one dies.

In a town in Nigeria, Vivek spends his day trying to both hide and show who he really is. Help comes from the most unlikely quarter - a group of childhood friends. But in the end that's not enough!

“ Picture: a house thrown into wailing the day he left it, restored to the way it was when he entered.”

This story gripped me from it the start and only pulled me further and further in with each chapter. Every character is vivid and different, their emotion soaring off the page in waves.

This is a stunningly beautiful exploration of family, grief, love, loss, and acceptance.

This. Moved. Me. To. Tears. I'll admit that I wasn't sold on it in the first third or so, but The Death of Vivek Oji quickly sunk it's talons into me (UMM THE GRAVEYARD SCENE?!). Beautiful prose and definitely one of my top reads for the year. 4.5 stars.

While this is a story that begins with a death, it’s truly a story about a life.

This book broke my heart, and left me weeping. It’s lovely, and tragic & I sense that it’s the kind of story that will stay with be & haunt me. The concepts of unconditional love, identity & grief are elegantly explored. The setting is beautiful, and fascinating and is a preference as much as any of the characters.

Thank you Netgalley & Faber and Faber for this e-ARC.

This was quite the beautiful gut punch. The writing of this book is just incredible, almost feeling like poetry in the cadance and style of the prose. Akwaeke Emezi makes you feel like an observer, looking in from the outside on this community filled with secrets, many of those secrets kept from you as the reader. You cannot help but feel you're not getting the full story —and you're not.

But even with the reader kept at a distance, oh did I get attached to the characters! Their happiness, pain, love, sorrow, everything was so palpale on the page. They truly glowed.

I've had Emezi's debut Freshwater on myself for awhile and I am absolutely KICKING myself for not picking it up sooner. It will be one of my next reads very soon and Akwaeke Emezi has now become an auto-buy author for me.

wow wow wow!!! what a book this one was, powerful from start to finish, so emotional and no spoilers but I just can't get over that ending :( as it states in the synopsis we know that something terrible happens to Vivek Oji and that's how we start the novel. from the first page I was sucked into this story and with what Emezi does best and we follow few different characters significant to the story and the switch between before and after of this incident that happens. Yes it is about the death of Vivek Oji but its not just that is explores the life of Vivek Oji and the company he kept (his family and friends) and how they treated Vivek with the ongoings of so many societal issues being put into these characters day in and out.

The way that Emezi can just write these stories is mind blowing and they are a force to be reckoned with from their writing and the beautiful prose to the characters and you can feel the emotion just rolling of the page with every novel Emezi writes, and this one did not disappoint. Auto buy author forever and always!!

this book deals with many subject matters that many readers could not want to read about but if you feel you are up for this novel I would recommend so so much!!!

Akwaeke Emezi’s third novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, dazzles in its powerfully disruptive approach to storytelling. Set in Southeastern Nigeria and written as something between an extended prose poem and a mystery novel, the book tells the events that occur after a mother steps outside her door to discover her child, Vivek, stripped naked and dead. She doesn’t know how he died or how he got to her door, but she knows she must find out.

Told through a triply-shifting perspective—narrative responsibility split between Vivek, his cousin Osita, and a limited third-person narrator—the novel undergoes a tenuous investigation of the titular death. Languages, speakers, and stories meld and shift as the voice moves between the three persons; as each narrator brings different thoughts, backgrounds, and beliefs to the fore, each chapter shifts new information out of shadow and into the light.

Emezi’s writing, wrapped in their own form of “bizarre world,” continuously reminds us that the known can quickly change to become unknown—nothing is permanent in this novel, not family, not gender, and perhaps not even death.

***4.0***

How did Vivek Oji die? Emezi weaves in several points of view throughout the novel, introducing you to Vivek's parents, friends and family.
Set in Nigeria, Vivek is born to Indian Mother Kavitha and Igbo father Charles. On the day of local riots Vivek's body is found in front of his parent’s doorstep, bloodied, his clothes removed, but wrapped in bright cloth. Then it is the story of grief and Vivek's past. People just thought he was not quite right in the mind or even possessed by demons. Vivek grows his hair long, which in this conservative culture, men don’t wear their hair long. People are unsure about Vivek. And Osita, Vivek's cousin, first finds him strange but grows to love him beyond life.

Who was Vivek and why did he end up dead when people around him loved so fiercely.
His struggles to become what he is and wanted to be accepted what he is, all that emotions was unraveled slowly and wonderfully in the book. Emezi is a wonderful writer without doubt.

Thanks to Netgalley for the book in exchange of unbiased and honest reviews!

Beautifully written story of the life of Vivek Oji and his loved ones told after his death. The setting of Nigeria really made the story come to life. The author does a wonderful job exploring grief and I think it Would be impossible to read this book without feeling a wave of different emotions.

The story of Vivek Oji begins with his death, naked and wrapped only in smoky fabric, and deposited at the door of his parent's house. The story then goes back in time, beautifully recounting how Vivek's parents met, Vivek's life, and ultimately concludes with revealing the mystery surrounding Vivek's death and how he landed up naked on the porch.

I feel like I grew to know Vivek, his parents, his extended family (aunties, uncle cousin Osita), his friends, and the Nigerian mothers, in Akwaeke Emezi's tale. I could feel how tortured they were, each one struggling to protect themselves but at the same time always questioning the appropriateness of their actions, and trying to do what they believe to be right. Vivek's mother loved him so much, her courage to not give up, inspired me, while at the same time, her pain was visceral and its palpable. (Vivek must have inherited his courage from her.)

There is one clear message shouting to me from the pages of this book:

"There's no beauty without difference and diversity. Love unconditionally." - Rashid Ogunlaru

Read this incredible story of resilience, courage and love.

Literary fiction at its best .A story so beautifully written a story of Nigeria of family life emotions..A book I read late into the night with tears streaming down my face a book that will stay with me.an author I will be following & recommending,#netgalley#faber&faber

One of the most powerful novels I’ve read about sexual identification is The Death of Vivek Oji. Slowly unfolding, it is the story of a bi-racial boy in Nigeria with a Nigerian father and a South Asian mother. Told in the voices of himself, his mother, his cousin, and friends, it focuses most on Vivek’s life and his relationships with family and friends. There has been much well-deserved praise heaped on this book, and I can only add to that praise. When I finished the book, I sat there hoping I, too, wasn’t complicit in refusing to accept the identity that a friend had chosen for themselves. Putting this story in a Nigerian setting brought home the world-wide challenge of learning to let our kids be our kids, the importance of our not wanting to ignore what they are trying to tell us, and to be accepting of whom they are. The ending was so powerful, so simple and yet so emotional. This will be one of my top books of 2020.

The Death of Vivek Oji is a short novel exploring sexuality, gender identity, friendship, and blurred boundaries while looking back at the events leading up to the death of Vivek Oji - both in literal and metaphorical terms.

It’s very much a whistle-stop tour jumping through a stream of consciousness. There are times when you’re a bit confused about what’s going on. But I think that’s part of the magic of Emezi’s writing. It also makes it feel like an opportunity to get a glimpse into Oji’s life, without being too voyeuristic.

It’s beautifully written and it’s wonderfully representative. It’s haunting and heartbreaking, but as ‘death’ also refers to the death of one identity and development of another, it’s also empowering and joyful.

Luscious and heartbreaking. I got teary-eyed when it became too stinging sad, and teary-eyed again when it grew too beautiful.

Impeccable pacing that kept me reading well past midnight and again over my morning coffee. The language demanded to be savoured but I couldn't help but devour it whole.

I really wanted to like this one. There are some raving reviews for this one (and I can totally see why!) it just didn't resonate with me as much.

Things I liked:
- I thought the writing and storytelling was well done. There were some beautiful passages and even though you know Vivek's fate it was still a captivating enough story to the reader to keep reading to learn more about Vivek.
- The themes: coming of age novel, exploring self and sexuality, finding your chosen family.
- Learning about Vivek: For a book about Vivek, he is seemingly kept at an arm's length to readers. Even though you know his fate, it is up to the other charracters in the book: Vivek's family and friends to tell the story of who he really was.

Things that were a miss:
- It took me a while to get into this book and keep up with all of the characters. Had to stop and restart a few times.
- The incestual relationship between Vivek and Ossita (cousins). For me, personally it is really hard to read about incest. I felt there could have been a similar impact making them childhood friends rather than relatives, but I'm sure that the author had their reasons for this.

I adored this. Freshwater is still my favourite by Emezi, but this is a brilliant follow-up.
This, as the title suggests, is about the death of Vivek Oji, but also his life before that, and the lives of people who surround and love him, even if they don't always understand him.
It is about otherness in a country that doesn't know how to celebrate it, about grief and the many ways people deal with it, and identity and the struggles to find and accept it.
This book is beautifully written. The intricacy with which Emezi writes their characters and the relationships between them is just remarkable, and hauntingly so. There's something about their characters and settings that just stays with you, long after the book is over.
It's definitely a lot more accessible than Freshwater, and a lot less disjointed and claustrophobic. The only reason I haven't given it the full five stars part of me wishes to give it is because Freshwater hit me the slightest bit harder, despite these books sharing similar core themes. I highly, highly recommend giving all of Emezi's works a try, they're absolutely brilliant 🖤

I opened this book not knowing what to expect (and I really had no idea where this book was going to end up) but the pages fly by. The author has done an amazing job of constructing a beautiful story that is so masterfully woven you feel every moment, ache, and triumph that each character experiences. They have taken the reader to a controversial place in Nigeria, one that exists and needs to be more broadly recognized for what it is. The Death of Vivek Oji opens eyes and paints a beautiful picture ending in unexpected tragedy. 5 Stars.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Faber & Faber for an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for a review.

One afternoon, a mother opens her front door to find the length of her son's body stretched out on the veranda, swaddled in akwete material, his head on her welcome mat. It is the story of an over protective mother and a distant father, and the heart-wrenching tale of one family's struggle to understand their child, just as Vivek learns to recognise himself.

As soon as I started reading this, I knew this would be a favourite. The writing is just so beautiful and engaging. This book hurt me.

Vivek is of dual heritage, Nigerian and Indian, and his traditional parents see his individuality and expression as an illness.
The does not focus on his death, instead using it a focal point to delve deeper into familial relationships, grief, love and guilt.

This was stunning and I cannot do it justice.
This is an immediate buy for me.

It's in the title. Vivek Oji dies. Knowing that couldn't stop me from caring about Vivek and his death broke my heart. Emezi paints vivid pictures that sear onto the mind and linger, making you fully connect with the story. It's been 2 days since I finished the book, but I am still grappling with its transcendence. It's a defiant book, which dares you to predict it.
A perfect pick for book clubs, I cannot recommend it enough.

Full Review has been posted at:
https://thatcommonreader.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/the-death-of-vivek-oji-by-akwaeke-emezi/