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tea_kettle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, Grief, Child death, Incest, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Hate crime, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse, Deportation, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Vomit, Infertility, and Rape
angiepoggi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Vivek's death is not only about the act of not ever being able to breath anymore, it's about the death of who his family thought he was, and, as well as his birth that was accompanied by grief, about her rebirth.
It's such a carefully woven story that never let's go of the nuances of every decision and thought of It's characters, who, if you told me were real, I would've believed without sparing a doubt.
Even thought there were some relationships that I have conflicted feelings about and believe could've been brought here in a different way, I'll still cary this story for life and think about it.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Drug use, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Infidelity, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Rape
stephmcoakley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Deadnaming, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Outing, Sexual content, Transphobia, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail
angievansprang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Mental illness, Eating disorder, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, and Hate crime
Minor: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, and Infertility
litliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Vomit, Homophobia, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Potentially spoilers!!
‘Some people can't see softness without wanting to hurt it.’
‘if you didn't tell other people, was it real or was it just something the two of you were telling yourselves?’
‘“I’m not sure my belief matters," he says. "If it is, it is, whether I believe it or not."’
‘ No one else could feel that lifetime of loss. No one else had lost him more than she had, yet they cried in front of her as if it meant something. They're still children, Kavita tried to tell herself, not mature enough to do her the courtesy of keeping their tears in their bedrooms, among their own complete families. But still she thought of them as selfish brats without home training or compassion or empathy, and this in turn made her angry at these girls she knew she still loved, somewhere under the rage and pain and the grief that she felt belonged to her and only her.’
‘“We can't keep insisting he was who we thought he was, when he wanted to be someone else and he died being that person, Chika. We failed, don't you see We didn't see him and we failed."’
‘when you've stood on ground and known your child's bones are rotting beneath you, rage and ego fade like dust in a strong wind.’
Graphic: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Vomit, Miscarriage, Rape, Blood, Homophobia, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Violence
sonyareadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Rape
_noidea_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death and Violence
Minor: Vomit
sercem_w_ksiazkach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
How to put in words everything that I felt while reading this book? I will bear it close to my heart for a long time.
In simple yet beautiful writing Akwaeki Emezi tells a story of Vivek Oji’s life and death. We start from the finale: Vivek’s parents find his body on their doorstep, cold, naked and in a pool of blood. Their sorrow starts.
Then we come back to the beginning, to the story of Vivek’s parents meeting and falling in love. Third-person narration recounts Vivek’s growing up on a Nigerian countryside, playing around with his cousin Osita and other kids in the neighborhood, children of ‘Nigerwives’ – group of women from different countries who wedded Nigérian men and decided to stay there. It’s not only a story about Vivek; it’s a story about family, community, being queer in a deeply homophobic country and finding yourself.
Through these characters and their doubts I felt myself seen. Similarly to the queer characters in the book who have found comfort in each other, this book has acknowledged me, hugged me and said everything was alright.
At the end, when we finally discovered how Vivek died, I felt regret and pain at how it came to be and how it was all the fault of the fear of homophobia. Tragic in its simplicity.
The Death of Vivek Oji is a beautiful book. It packs an emotional punch, a deep exploration of one’s individual self and of a community, and is written in a simple but touching way. However, I’m afraid that many people won’t like this book for characters’ faults, their decisions, and most of all - incest.
It’s a pity that incest was included, because if they hadn’t been a family, I would have no complaints about this book (well, maybe for kinda weird parings and timings of sex scenes). But it was done so well that I understood why the characters felt that connection.
I understood characters’ motivations and deeply connected to the book nonetheless, so all my complaints fall to the background of my amazement at how well crafted the story was. I don’t know, man. The Death of Vivek Oji just dug a hole in my heart and made itself comfortable there, and I will think about it for a long time.
Graphic: Incest, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Minor: Violence and Vomit
summerb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Dysphoria, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Grief, Incest, and Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit