This book is full of juxtapositions. One minute it is steamy. The next it is disturbing. Soul destroying and then epically poignant. The characters constantly straddle a line between shame and acceptance, desire and disgust, expression and repression. 

Vivek Oji is a a gay man who likes to wear drag and lives in contemporary Nigeria where just being gay is a death wish. Against all odds he manages to hide his secret and his sexuality from his parents but comes out to his friends and his cousin who agree to keep his secret. But his blissful bubble bursts and somewhat inevitably we start the novel with his death. 

This started of as a slow burn but by chapter three, I was engrossed. Following a mystery set up of who killed Vivek and why? We traverse time periods, from Vivek’s childhood, to his death and then from the perspectives of his loved ones, particularly his cousin following his death. These time periods are not chronological so we only get all the pieces of the puzzle at the end of the novel which I found satisfying and compelling. 

This book will haunt me for a while. The sadness imbued as a reader by knowing and accepting Vivek’s identity but knowing the Nigerian community never would, is painful. The pseudo sexual incestual relationship between the two cousins also made for extremely uncomfortable reading. I loved both characters and wanted them to be happy in their own skin but found their familial and sexual feelings for one another disturbing. 

This story is complex and the relationships between characters are gnarly and deeply hidden. Emezi is an extremely talented storyteller and this novel is well layered and multifaceted. Vivek will stay with me. An incandescent character. I am very impressed with this novel and will be going back and reading this authors other works. A sweeping and bittersweet story of love and loss.

Thanks to Faber and Faber, the author and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book broke my heart. The writing was amazing and I felt really connected to each of the characters. 

The only reason it wasn't a five-star read is that I often got confused while reading and often had to re-read a section multiple times. This is probably due to the fact that the timeline is non-linear and we have multiple narrators. It added a lot of value to the book though. 

Some of the secondary characters felt overwhelming, there were almost too many to keep track of. Sometimes they took away from the main characters. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for an advance copy.

God, Akwaeke Emezi is becoming one of my favourite authors. Their writing is amazing and their stories so unique, gripping and good. I was completely pulled into this story. It discusses the themes of grief so well. I also like the discussion around sexual/gender identity. The only reason this isn't a five star is because I got confused at certain moments. The timeline isn't lineair, which really added to the story and I think it was the best way to tell it, and there were some moments I was a bit lost. Overall, this was an amazing book that I would recommend to everyone.

We need more authors like Emezi ,who in "The Death of Vivek Oji" gives a beautifully balanced and deeply reflective insight into the importance of always being true to oneself. Set in Nigeria, amidst a  culture that is still prone to extreme acts of violence where societal norms are transgressed, we follow the all too short life of Vivek. Only gradually do we come to understand his gender confusion and the impact it has on the lives of those to whom he is closest. How the different generations respond to him, both in life and in death, is brutally exposed as the novel progresses ,and it would take an extraordinarily closed mind to not to be deeply moved by the agonising personal conflicts that Vivek has to square up to every day. However, in spite of these issues Vivek both gives and finds love. The final sections of this novel are written with such empathy and sincerity it is surely impossible for any reader not to be deeply affected.  Emezi is to be congratulated on writing this searingly honest novel built around LBGT issues - it will open many eyes and engender much-needed understanding

While I really enjoyed this one, I felt the way the multiple time lines confused the story.  Since the story jumped back and forth with very little warning, I had trouble figuring out where what I was reading fit into the story.  I also felt the inclusion of so many secondary characters that were introduced and then never talked about further kept me from loving the book.

However, this is such a powerful story of loss and love that I did enjoy the book a lot.

Wow. I have never read anything like The Death of Vivek Oji. I began this book based off of glowing recommendations- but knew next to nothing about it. This book surprised me at every turn. 

My heart goes out to everyone who ever has to struggle with their true identity & acceptance. This book exposed the lives of LGBQT teens in Nigeria. The Nigerian culture was something I enjoyed learning about through this book. It was done so well- I didn’t feel like I was reading facts. It was interwoven so the reader just figured out this is how things were. Vivek was a magical character. 

The only thing I struggled with was the heaviness of this book. It was so well written- but the story was painful at times. And rightfully so. Each time I picked it up I wanted to know more while simultaneously wanting to turn a blind eye. It’s so very sad the reality that faces those who don’t follow the stereotypical life path. This book did a beautiful job exposing lesbian/bi/gay culture and the pain it is filled with. It also painted a beautiful story of loving someone for who they are. I wish more people would be awakened to this. It has totally changed my view on what it’s like to hide who you are and how certain cultures handle that.

At this point, I think I'll run out of words to describe Akwaeke Emezi's writing long before they run out of stories.

I don't even know if I want to talk about this in terms of "decentering" whiteness, cis-ness or eurocentricism l because I didn't feel like anything had been shifted out of place when I read THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, but rather it's a righting and a restoration. Emezi's characters are powerfully and viscerally drawn and there's real beauty in the communities they depict, even in critique. Writers like Emezi have converted me from a hater of multi-perspective narratives (it transpires I didn't hate them, I just hated hearing from ten different Janes in one book...) - it's a real gift to be able to weave so many authentic voices together to form such a vibrant narrative mosaic, a gift Emezi wields skilfully.

This novel screams from every page the necessity of living your life on your own terms and particularly challenged, for me, the notion that funerals are for the dead - in that our ownership of our own identities, and stories, shouldn't stop once we are no longer living.

I'm building my own canon of writers I can rely on to completely subvert my expectations yet consistently deliver. Undoubtedly, Akwaeke Emezi is one of them. This is a real love story.

Decolonising the curriculum: 'Romeo and Juliet'... 'Hamlet'... give the babies proper PROPER tragedy; break their hearts beautifully.

The Death of Vivek Oji begins with the day when the market was fired and Vivek was dead with the story describing Vivek's life. The body of Vivek was found in the veranda with blood stains and his mother was trying to find out how he died and who kept his body in the veranda. Vivek wants to live a different life but he felt his parents won't accept it so he doesn't say anything to them and only people to know what happens in his life was his friends. Vivek's mother is an Indian and they have a community called Nigerwives which is for the women who married Nigerians and living there.

I loved reading it and I felt pity for Vivek. When I came to how he died and his cousins love for him I felt so sad.
People don't live the way they want because of society and their parents are not open-minded and don't have acceptance. Parents should be open-minded to treat their children as friends and try to know what's going through them and accept them. If Vivek can trust his parents he may have existed in the world and lived a happy life.

"Some people can't see softness without wanting to hurt it" 

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwake Emezi. Vivek dies on the day that the market burns down and is left by his parents doorstep, convinced that his death was a hate crime or a targeted attack. His mother tries to uncover the truth behind this through his friends and family. (I'll use Vivek he/him here)
 
This story is heartbreaking, it is sad and heavy and as I read through the book I felt sorry for every character. There's Vivek who knows that he exists outside of the norm and even though he's scared, he does not change himself. He lives, till his last day brushing shoulders with death and being okay with that as long as he gets to be himself. But there's only so much one can take alone so there's need for a support system which he does find in his friends while his family is struggling to find a name for what Vivek is and how to help him even though this help does more harm than good. 
Through these pages, you get to experience Vivek from different perspectives and realize how utterly alone he really is. Osita's point of view is especially heart wrenching 

What I loved the most about it is the attempt to affirm the queer African experience. There's this part in the book where Mary tells Kavita that Vivek is only safe because he's mixed and that sooner or later people are going to get tired and he'll get what's coming for him. Though partly true, I think that by Vivek reclaiming the name 
'NNEMDI' makes him unapologetically tied to his fathers roots as he is to his mother.  The idea of immortality/ continuity of life in the African naming system also makes this book hopeful. 

This book had a lot more explicit scenes than I was expecting 😅

cw// queerphobia, conversion therapy, domestic violence mentioned, incest

"If nobody sees you, are you still there?"⁠

This book is so special; it’s one that grabbed me from the first sentence and wouldn’t let me go until the gripping conclusion. This will absolutely be one of my favorite books of the year.

A shorter read at just 240 pages, Emezi crafts a moving, spellbinding tale of Vivek and those who loved Vivek’s individuality, warm and kindness. It’s so hard to know what to say without spoiling the book and its emotional punch, but it deals with a number of deeper issues - to name just a few, it covers caste, gender identity, sexuality, transphobia, family dynamics, and religion.

This hyped book was worth every once of the hype, and I’ll be carrying it close to my heart for awhile.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. We look forward to adding it to our collection and recommending it to our patrons!

What a beautiful story. This one took me out of my comfort zone, I’ll admit, but I don’t think I’ve ever loved a fictional person more than I love Vivek. 💕 I devoured this in less than five hours but never wanted it to end.

Beautifully written tome navigating themes of feminine intuition, taboo, secrecy, repression, delusion and the dangers of holding someone back (both literally and figuratively, as the book skillfully explores). 

At first I figured it was an allegory for transitioning, but I was delighted to see that the transition was made complete by the choices of those who were impacted by Nnmendi's voracious tenacity.

Emezi constantly reminds us that life and death are but one; that with destruction, comes rebirth, and vice versa, poignantly culminating in Osita, bringer of life and death, carrying Nnemdi home. It reminded me of a quote I read by Clarissa Pinkola Estés just yesterday: "To know a person's true name means to know the life path and the soul attributes of that person."

After Vivek Oji's mother finds the dead body of her son on her verandah wrapped in a piece of cloth, she can't stop asking questions. Who left him there? How did he die? She searches his room for hints, she questions all his friends but they all claim to know nothing. Her husband and friends try to console her but she can't give up trying to find out what happened to him.  

Vivek was a shy and gentle boy. Born in Nigeria to an Indian mother and a Nigerian he was close to his cousin Osita and found friendship amongst the children of other immigrant wives married to Nigerians. The Nigerwives they called themselves, forming their own community and friendships. Before his death, Vivek had dropped out of University due to a mental health crisis, baffling his parents, but seemed to be improving after reconnecting with his cousin Osita and his old childhood friends. 

Vivek's voice is only heard in the few short sections related by him, giving us a glimpse of his pain and confusion. I would have liked to have heard more of what he was experiencing from Vivek, however the story of his life and death is mostly seen through the eyes of others and we can only infer what is happening to him through their points of view. Although the novel is quite short, the writing is rich and powerful telling of the clash of cultures in the Nigeria of the 1990s; the traditional village family life of the older people and the more modern life in the cities, the immigrants who marry Nigerians but always remain outsiders as well as the strict moral views of society. The grief of his friends and family is heart wrenching, particularly that of his mother, Kavita, who is struggling to accept what became of her only child, one she might not have known as well as she thought. The revelation of how Vivek died was not what I thought it would be but was nonetheless very moving.

Wow! This story left me breathless and heartbroken.

This beautiful story starts with the death of Vivek. How his mother finds him dead on her doorstep. The story is told in different point of views from those that cared and loved Vivek. His father,friends and family. His close relationship with his cousin Osita. Most importantly it speaks of Vivek's life. The life he wanted to live but also the fear of acceptance from his family. 
I can't put into words how this story is perfection. ONE of the best books of 2020

This novel is about the death of Vivek Oji, yes, but more so it's about his life—his growing up as a young man in Nigeria, experiencing some troubling symptoms including a series of blackouts, figuring out who he is and settling into that identity. Parts of the story are pretty brutal, both physically and emotionally, but it's beautifully written and well told.

This book.....It is beautifully, lyrically written—I bookmarked so many passages to consider & think about. It is a devistatingly heartbreaking story, about regret and love and friendship and finding your identity.
 As a mother of a son, I really felt Vivek’s mother’s sorrow. What parent doesn’t fear that they may fail their child because they missed something? That their child has a whole different life that you don’t know about, because they choose not to share it with you? That is just a fact of growing up, of course, but it’s still painful....and how much more painful if that lack of knowledge helps to lead to your child’s death??
This was such a powerful book, & I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

A poignant read about birth and found families. The title refers to a literal death that kicks off the story and the figurative death of an identity. The writing style is descriptive and alluring. It's interesting how dramatically it varies between each of Emezi's novels. If I didn't know that they had written this, Freshwater, and Pet, I don't know if I would've guessed. I loved the camaraderie among the children of the Nigerwives and the tenderness they had for Nnemdi. Of all the characters, I most related to Juju wrestling with her internalized biphobia. I think the rawest moment was Vivek's parents mourning his death but also realizing that they wouldn't have accepted the whole truth if they'd lived. I'm still mulling on how Emezi entwines sensuality/ sexuality and family. Aside from me not comprehending Emezi's galaxy brain, I'm not Nigerian, and I know I missed a lot of cultural references.

The writing was beautiful!!

From the beginning you want to know what happened and the book flows.

It was a captivating story.

A stunning novel.  It took me a while to get a handle on who all of the characters were, but the effort was well worth it. This novel is rich and powerful.