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A review by teavani
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
3.0
3.6ish?
i know my taste in books, and i know i like literary fiction that's set in diverse places, so i had really high hopes for this. Emezi's writing uses a lot of metaphors and analogies, which i personally really like. and it did have an emotional pull, but i think just wanted a little more from the story itself. the ending was not as groundbreaking or worth the leadup. especially when we know what happens already. while it's satisfying going through this character's life without having to uncover some kind of unknown, sinister fate, i'd hoped the journey would be worth it. we get to live his life in an attempt to just understand him, and i'm not really sure i did.
- i wonder how a parent would feel reading this - a story about a child that doesn't feel like he can open up to the ones that are supposed to protect and support him. i'd be interested in that pov.
- while some of the characters served a purpose (ex: (Mary and Chike in exemplifying religious fanaticism and infidelity), they were kind of glossed over. like, i didn't really care that much about them. this goes for most of the characters, except Kavita honestly.
- i would feel weird if i didn't mention the elephant in the room. they're cousins... and i just think that this story would have worked just as well with them being close family friends or something.
- i liked the setting a lot. introduced to lots of new terms, especially different types of Nigerian foods and names. refers to Nigerwives, or women from other countries that settle with Nigerian men. Vivek and his mother, Kavita (a Nigerwife and Indian immigrant), both have Indian names. i think a lot of people don't realize the connections between Nigeria and India (including me, i just know someone that has a Nigerian/Indian background) that stretch back for commercial and economic reasons. and you can see the Indian influence from Kavita - nicknames like beta/beti, bhai. the sunsilk hair ads! and bournvita! and of course, the Ganesh charm. very cool
lines:
It felt safer, as if he wasn't giving any important parts of himself away: not his soul or heart, just his body, which didn't matter anyway (45).
Like they were living in two separate worlds that happened to be under the same roof, pressed against each other, but never spilling, never overlapping (85).
Perhaps I had just become the fulcrum, the point on which everything hinged, the turning (90).
Alone is a feeling you can get used to, and it's hard to believe in a better alternative (112).
I deliberately kept my mind empty, except for him, because I knew as soon as I started to think again, I might go mad from what I had just done (126).
i know my taste in books, and i know i like literary fiction that's set in diverse places, so i had really high hopes for this. Emezi's writing uses a lot of metaphors and analogies, which i personally really like. and it did have an emotional pull, but i think just wanted a little more from the story itself. the ending was not as groundbreaking or worth the leadup. especially when we know what happens already. while it's satisfying going through this character's life without having to uncover some kind of unknown, sinister fate, i'd hoped the journey would be worth it. we get to live his life in an attempt to just understand him, and i'm not really sure i did.
- i wonder how a parent would feel reading this - a story about a child that doesn't feel like he can open up to the ones that are supposed to protect and support him. i'd be interested in that pov.
- while some of the characters served a purpose (ex: (Mary and Chike in exemplifying religious fanaticism and infidelity), they were kind of glossed over. like, i didn't really care that much about them. this goes for most of the characters, except Kavita honestly.
- i would feel weird if i didn't mention the elephant in the room. they're cousins... and i just think that this story would have worked just as well with them being close family friends or something.
- i liked the setting a lot. introduced to lots of new terms, especially different types of Nigerian foods and names. refers to Nigerwives, or women from other countries that settle with Nigerian men. Vivek and his mother, Kavita (a Nigerwife and Indian immigrant), both have Indian names. i think a lot of people don't realize the connections between Nigeria and India (including me, i just know someone that has a Nigerian/Indian background) that stretch back for commercial and economic reasons. and you can see the Indian influence from Kavita - nicknames like beta/beti, bhai. the sunsilk hair ads! and bournvita! and of course, the Ganesh charm. very cool
lines:
It felt safer, as if he wasn't giving any important parts of himself away: not his soul or heart, just his body, which didn't matter anyway (45).
Like they were living in two separate worlds that happened to be under the same roof, pressed against each other, but never spilling, never overlapping (85).
Perhaps I had just become the fulcrum, the point on which everything hinged, the turning (90).
Alone is a feeling you can get used to, and it's hard to believe in a better alternative (112).
I deliberately kept my mind empty, except for him, because I knew as soon as I started to think again, I might go mad from what I had just done (126).