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A review by dejnozkova
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It’s funny that I was reading this book at the same time I was reading “The God of Small Things”, another novel of forbidden loves and the oppressive expectations of society, also told in a non-linear fashion.
I think I’m just becoming a fan of the non-linear style in general and this novel used it well. Emezi has written a mystery full of love and sorrow that ends with quite a twist that breaks your heart into a million pieces. The focus of this novel falls on the issues of what happens to people who deviate from the accepted gender norms of society —how families and friends interact, the importance of acceptance in ensuring happiness for a queer person, how conservative societies perceive and react to queer people; how does a queer person reconcile happiness and expectation?
I didn’t quite like all of the peripheral characters because they didn’t feel like they were fleshed out enough and felt more like two-dimensional stand-ins for the most part. But I think Vivek and Osita’s characterizations made up for it and provided a beautiful foil: a queer person who accepts themselves and seeks to push their limits, and a queer person who hides themselves and lives in fear. One lives and one dies, but who TRULY lives in the end?
I think my favorite chapters in this book were Vivek’s, which placed a wise, tender voice over the pain and frustration the other characters carried. Of all the characters in the book, Vivek was the one with the greatest understanding and the greatest inner peace, even though he was the one most hotly questioned by everyone else. I also loved how Emezi wove West African belief into Vivek’s identity, which must be very affirming and comforting for queer West Africans, but I also hope Western audiences take note of it too. Queer identities are neither new nor exclusively Western, and they sprout all over the world and in all cultures.
The ending of this book is what really took the cake for me though.
This is the first review I’m writing with an actual proper spoiler because the ending of this book was so impactful. I found it very interesting that it wasn’t Vivek that killed himself, and it wasn’t society or his family that killed him, but his closeted lover and cousin —even if it was an accident. Which is honestly the most beautiful way a tragic story like this could have ended. That sometimes it’s not the outside world but the FEAR of the outside world that will kill you. Nnemdi lived her life as full as she could live it despite all the risks because it’s better to die as she is than to live as who she wasn’t. And Osita could not grasp that wisdom, desiring to hide Nnemdi to keep her alive, but in the attempt, ended her life. I feel the greatest takeaway from this book isn’t that queer people can often expect oppression and rejection, because we already know that. It’s that regardless of what a queer person chooses to do with their lives, it’s the duty of the people around them to support them in their decisions and their identity. That trying to change them or trying to hide them, even with the right intentions, is a sure way to smother them.
I also hope that if an unsure parent out there reads this book they take away the lesson that Vivek’s parents learned: that to accept your child in life is better than having to accept them in death. Perhaps Vivek could’ve lived a longer life had he known his parents wanted to understand him and protect him.
I think I’m just becoming a fan of the non-linear style in general and this novel used it well. Emezi has written a mystery full of love and sorrow that ends with quite a twist that breaks your heart into a million pieces. The focus of this novel falls on the issues of what happens to people who deviate from the accepted gender norms of society —how families and friends interact, the importance of acceptance in ensuring happiness for a queer person, how conservative societies perceive and react to queer people; how does a queer person reconcile happiness and expectation?
I didn’t quite like all of the peripheral characters because they didn’t feel like they were fleshed out enough and felt more like two-dimensional stand-ins for the most part. But I think Vivek and Osita’s characterizations made up for it and provided a beautiful foil: a queer person who accepts themselves and seeks to push their limits, and a queer person who hides themselves and lives in fear. One lives and one dies, but who TRULY lives in the end?
I think my favorite chapters in this book were Vivek’s, which placed a wise, tender voice over the pain and frustration the other characters carried. Of all the characters in the book, Vivek was the one with the greatest understanding and the greatest inner peace, even though he was the one most hotly questioned by everyone else. I also loved how Emezi wove West African belief into Vivek’s identity, which must be very affirming and comforting for queer West Africans, but I also hope Western audiences take note of it too. Queer identities are neither new nor exclusively Western, and they sprout all over the world and in all cultures.
The ending of this book is what really took the cake for me though.
I also hope that if an unsure parent out there reads this book they take away the lesson that Vivek’s parents learned: that to accept your child in life is better than having to accept them in death. Perhaps Vivek could’ve lived a longer life had he known his parents wanted to understand him and protect him.