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

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

 
I'm calling it now: This is going to be my best book of the year (and a lot of other people's too, hopefully).

This book is so bittersweet. There's no denying there's tragedy to it (Oji's dead before the book even starts and I firmly believe that loss was a tragedy) but there's something still so beautiful and hopeful to it. This isn't your gay misery porn fiction, this is something a lot greater. The second I finished the book I wanted to start over because I didn't want to accept that it was done. I didn't want to say goodbye to Emezi's gorgeous turn of phrase and I certainly didn't want to leave our little cast of characters just yet.

I'm so excited to see that the author has written more novels and you can bet I'll be checking the other two out as soon as I can.

If nothing else can convince people to read it... Remember Everything I Never Told You? Remember how much everyone really enjoyed that and the whole 'how a tragedy changes a family' thing? Yeah? Great! Then I think you'll probably enjoy this.