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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
taviarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Incest, Sexism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Blood
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment, Islamophobia, Vomit, and Miscarriage
random19379's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Homophobia, and Incest
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
penofpossibilities's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, Rape, War, and Vomit
lpleitera'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
3.0
Spoiler: And, yes, the narrative builds up to the death scene as if it's a "reveal," in a manner that I honestly found to be in poor taste. Like, there's this powerful moment where Vivek finally says, "My name is Nnemdi," and the omniscient narrator begins using "she/her" pronouns to describe her... and not even a page later, she trips and falls to her death?!? Doesn't this outcome undercut her entire character arc? Doesn't that say to readers that the minute Nnemdi becomes her full, authentic self, some cataclysm immediately befalls her?
Anyway, there were some individual scenes I really enjoyed, but certain choices and themes felt underdeveloped.
Graphic: Incest, Transphobia, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
andreiaoh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However, from the middle onwards, there was a significant lull. Firstly, I thought there was a lot of unnecessary padding in terms of chapters I found added nothing to the story and characters that didn't need that much page time, for example, I still fail to understand the relevance of Ebeneezer's chapter other than a flawed attempt at foreshadowing. It was even more jarring considering how short this book was and I would have preferred that time spent to be reading about Vivek and the girls' friendships that we really didn't get to see much of.
Second, the major thing of this story that I just couldn't be on board with was the incestous relationship. It was uncomfortable to read and I personally didn't think it added much to the story. I understand Emezi has done an interview that explains their reasoning for this relationship but I don't believe that I have to understand the author's decision for this relationship to be included in this book to enjoy reading it. I understood their decision but I did not enjoy reading it regardless.
Lastly, the ending of this story ruined the book for me. I thought it was a weak ending and to avoid giving spoilers, I wish the mystery unfurled in a more satisfying manner that didn't feel like a rushed attempt at a plot twist.
This started off as a strong read for me but my critiques of the story as a whole did pile up towards the end – a shame, considering I was expecting to love this book. I am still glad I read it, the writing was genuinely stunning, and I did enjoy the read, but I did have personal issues with some of the author's plot decisions.
Graphic: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Infidelity, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Infertility
skudiklier's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Vomit, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Infidelity, Infertility, Incest, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Deadnaming, and Bullying
Moderate: Abortion, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Eating disorder, Cursing, and Rape
Minor: Ableism