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A review by jentidders
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
5.0
Confession, I really didn't get on with Emezi's Freshwater and ended up DNFing it, but I was really intrigued by the sound of their new novel, even if a little trepidatious.
Then I saw a fellow Bookstagrammer say they were already certain it would be in their top 10 books of the year which was all the convincing I needed to pick it up, and I'm glad I did. WOW. This is a beautiful, heartbreaking and important book.
Vivek Oji's body is found on the porch of their family house, breaking the hearts of their mother and father - but did they really know their child?
Born at the moment their grandmother died and marked with the same scar, Vivek is assigned male, but in adolescence begins experiencing blackout dissociations, where they feel the spirit of another person.
Told in alternate third- or first-person chapters from different perspectives, we gradually learn about the gentle and mysterious Vivek and those who loved them, including their closest friends and their cousin, Osita.
Through beautiful heartfelt prose, Emezi highlights the plight of LGBT persons in Nigeria, which does not allow or recognise LGBT rights and where the punishment for same-sex activity is often imprisonment or death by stoning. Nonetheless, they emphasise that both gender and sexuality are fluid, and that love is love.
As I read through the weaving mystery and got closer to the end, even though the eventual conclusion is inevitable, I could feel my heart hurting and my eyes welling up. Be warned this is not an easy read in terms of homophobia, transphobia and violence (and the sex scenes are pretty graphic so this probably isn’t one for YAs).
.
This is a stunning read, which will no doubt cement Emezi as an author to watch out for.
Then I saw a fellow Bookstagrammer say they were already certain it would be in their top 10 books of the year which was all the convincing I needed to pick it up, and I'm glad I did. WOW. This is a beautiful, heartbreaking and important book.
Vivek Oji's body is found on the porch of their family house, breaking the hearts of their mother and father - but did they really know their child?
Born at the moment their grandmother died and marked with the same scar, Vivek is assigned male, but in adolescence begins experiencing blackout dissociations, where they feel the spirit of another person.
Told in alternate third- or first-person chapters from different perspectives, we gradually learn about the gentle and mysterious Vivek and those who loved them, including their closest friends and their cousin, Osita.
Through beautiful heartfelt prose, Emezi highlights the plight of LGBT persons in Nigeria, which does not allow or recognise LGBT rights and where the punishment for same-sex activity is often imprisonment or death by stoning. Nonetheless, they emphasise that both gender and sexuality are fluid, and that love is love.
As I read through the weaving mystery and got closer to the end, even though the eventual conclusion is inevitable, I could feel my heart hurting and my eyes welling up. Be warned this is not an easy read in terms of homophobia, transphobia and violence (and the sex scenes are pretty graphic so this probably isn’t one for YAs).
.
This is a stunning read, which will no doubt cement Emezi as an author to watch out for.