A review by zoe_
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

I feel myself in a bit of a pickle here. On the one hand, I think this was a really good book and I'm soooo glad that I'm able to get rid of some of the bitter taste I had developed towards Emezi because of Pet. On the other hand, I (emotionally) disconnected from the book at some point in the second half.

The latter is mostly what happens all too often when I read about gay romances and it's nothing against those gay romances whatsoever it's just that sex isn't for me. I don't even know why it is, but sex just seems a lot more prominent in gay romances and it seems to do a lot of the heavy lifting for  emotional and inter-personal relationships. This would be completely fine but I'm usually pretty disassociated from sex so I can almost see the train driving off without me on it. I'm obviously not blaming the book for this (I'm also not blaming myself), merely stating what didn't work for me.

Oh, and also that whole incest-thing is completely beyond me. I was all questionmarks on that front.

So, yeah, emotionally this is more of a 3-star read, but I think the execution and much of the craft warrants at least 4 stars. So I'm meeting myself in the middle. I hope future books of Emezi will be more hits for me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings