A review by thestorydragon
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Pros:
✨Character Development 
✨Distinct Characters
✨Disability Rep -- Paralysis
✨Interesting Concept
✨Craft

Cons:
✨Connection to / Interest in Characters 
✨Unlikeable Characters
✨Slow Pacing
✨Underwhelming / Lackluster Conclusion  (Explained in spoiler)
✨Inciting Action

 

This was not a book for me, which I hate. After reading A TON of reviews to see if I missed something, I was forced to recognize I’m the cog in this machine. 

The craft here is executed with precision, the exploration of Nigerian culture, family dynamics, and near-future elements was integrated realistically, and the end twist was predictable for me only because I read SO MUCH that I knew something crazy was underfoot, and not because it’s truly predictable. It all worked from a technical level.

I just never engaged. And I tried to figure out why that was, because pulling these concepts apart, this sounds like my kind of read. Throw in the a-book-within-a-book aspect (not dissimilar to Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin) and I should have been foaming at the mouth hooked. 

So here’s my best guess at why this didn’t work for me.

Zelu’s chapters were, essentially, like getting an autobiography. But most readers (I imagine) pick those up because they’re already interested in the person the autobiography focuses on. It can be argued that Zelu is based off of Okorafor herself, and if you enjoy the author, you’re already invested. But as someone who knows nothing about the author, Zelu’s chapters were agonizingly slow and tedious. They were packed full of melodrama with no real indication of where we were going. At first, based on the interviews that reflected on Zelu’s life from people around her, as well as the semi-omniscient inserts that hint Zelu knows something about the future that we don’t, as though we’re being told the story from a further point, I really thought she was dead, and we were building to how she died. 

I was wrong. 

But, I still think those sections were set up as a reflection on Zelu’s life after she was “gone”, so I’m confused even a week after finishing the novel as to why they were written to make us believe something horrible happened to her.

The fact remains--we weren’t working towards any set goal. We were just bystanders with binoculars watching Zelu live her life, waiting for something to happen. And as a relatively unlikeable character surrounded by other unlikeable characters, I didn’t warm up to her until about 55% into the novel, which means I really didn’t care about what happened until that point, either.

What I did enjoy where the chapters we got from Rusted Robots. I wanted more of those characters, more of that plot, more of that world-build. Which means,

when we got to the twist and I realized the actual author was Ankara, and Zelu was the character in her book, a book that made the Ghosts find beauty in humanity, it felt a bit like a slap to the face. Zelu’s story made the Ghost’s feel so much that their murderous, deep-seated hatred for all things human evaporated? I’m just am not buying that.

 

 

I wish we had gotten the reverse: Ankara’s life with excerpts of her novel as they pertained to recognizing the aches and pain and joys and loves of humanity. Yes, it would have removed the twist, which I know so many people loved; I get why they did. But the two storylines would have woven together to touch on the beauty of life, nature, the physical world, family, Nigerian culture, automation, and more. The book would have been more than a twist--it would have been a journey.

I don’t know. I finished this and just felt unsatisfied.

Honestly, if this wasn’t getting so much acclaim, I would have DNF’d at 30%. And while I’m glad I read it so I can be a part of the discourse, I wish I was glad I read it because I gained something emotionally intrinsic.

I understand the raving reviews. The execution and technical craft prove Okorafor can Create with a capital “C”, just like her Hume, Ankara. Unfortunately, this was simply a novel I didn’t connect with.