This book is beautiful. The storytelling is smooth, capitulating and soft. I had thought the multiple perspectives and the shifting timelines would confuse me but the writing is so good that I flowed into each perspective and each timeline seamlessly.
I did think some parts of the writing was trying too hard to be “deep”. But that didn’t take away from its brilliance.
It was such a nice experience getting to know Vivek Nnemdi Oji.

Emezi’s Freshwater was an incredible read and a real insight into a cultural perspective, taking you inside it and experiencing it, so I was very much looking forward to this next work.

Though we learn that Vivek is dead from the cover and in the opening pages, the novel is in a sense a mystery as the details around the death are not revealed until the end. The novel is set in Nigeria, in a community of mostly mixed race families.

The narrative is multi perspective, told through the voice of Vivek, his cousin and close friend Osita and a third-person omniscient narrator. The first chapter is one sentence:

"They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died."

The market burning down provides a beginning, a middle and an ending, it features in exactly those places, here as a marker or a clue, in the middle as an observation by a previously unknown character whose wife runs a stall in the middle of the market and at the end, when Vivek’s final day is shared.

The first half of the book we get to know the families, Chika, his brother Ekene, married to Mary, then later Chika’s Indian wife Kavita, mother to Vivek. The narrative tells the story of their marriage, of how they try to raise their only child. Kavita is part of a group of women referred to as the Nigerwives.

She had learned to cook Nigerian food from her friends – a group of women, foreign like her, who were married to Nigerian men and were aunties to each other’s children. They belonged to an organisation called Nigerwives, which helped them assimilate into these new lives so far away from the countries they’d come from. They weren’t wealthy expats, at least not the ones we knew. They didn’t come to work for oil companies; they simply came for their husbands, for their families.

Through the friendships of the mothers, Osita and Vivek become friends with JuJu and Elisabeth. Among themselves, away from school or family and outside of society, they are already a group who is different, and with each other, they are accepting, able to express themselves, though they have each inherited varying degrees of conditioning from their mixed parentage.

Vivek is sent away to school, about which we learn very little, we know he is unhappy and bears scars.

The narrative explores the development of their friendships and sexuality, interspersed with the present day obsession of Kavita, determined to find out how her son’s body mysteriously turned up on their front veranda wrapped in a fabric.

"Chika didn’t want to ask any questions. Kavita, though, was made of nothing but questions, hungry questions bending her into a shape that was starving for answers."

Maybe it was intentional, but in creating the element of mystery, much about the character of Vivek is held back, perhaps to recreate the effect of what the parent might have experienced, but for me personally, I found it disappointing that the character of Vivek was compromised and an opportunity missed to inhabit that character more.

The deliberate obscuring heightens the effect of the reveal, but sacrifices the opportunity to share something more profound with readers. It’s difficult to develop empathy for a character, when so much is held back and when the potential is clearly there.

That was why they’d kept it from their parents, to protect Vivek from those who didn’t understand him. They barely understood him themselves, but they loved him, and that had been enough.

It’s a novel of secrets and lies and the debate of truth versus respect, in that belief that the two can’t coexist. And the safety inherent within a fear of judgement by some, versus the danger of a lack of fear in others. A theme that is likely to continue to be explored by Emezi.

“Look,” she said, “eventually all secrets come out. It’s just a matter of time. And the longer it takes, the worse it is in the end.”

As I read, I can feel what I am bringing to the narrative, where I want the author to go and by the end they do go some of the way, but not all. And that is on me, it is asking an already courageous writer to go further, to places that us readers, like sports fans, might never go ourselves, but from the benches we shout in encouragement. So I leave the last words to the author, as a reminder to us all of what this is.

I had to remember why I was making this work. I wasn’t making it for institutional validation. I was making this work for specific people — all the people living in these realities feeling lonely and wanting to die because they’re like, this world thinks I’m crazy and I don’t belong here. All the little trans babies who are just like, there is no world in which my parents will love me and accept me. There’s a mission to all of this. Akwaeke Emezi

This was a tour de force in character. A study of a family and small community and how they treat a boy who might not be a boy, who is unafraid of self expression, their own style and embracing their sexuality. It shows how this is something to be treasured, but how this world beats this out of individuals who just need to be themselves. A vivid depiction of a modern Nigeria thanks to its transportive prose and narrative.

Beautifully written, heart wrenching story about the struggle to be who you are in a world that wants you to conform to tradition. I was wrapped up in this books pages and is sad story.
5 stars

This book was beautiful, so different in tone and content to Pet (which I also loved) but written with the same confidence and obvious tenderness. There's a lot to be troubled by, but Emezi never lets the reader feel unsafe; their writing is robust, and I never once felt less than totally sure that they knew what they were doing with this story. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Akwaeke Emezi's beautiful prose wraps you up and takes you into a real setting surrounded by pain, pleasure, and self-discovery.

The story begins when Vivek Oji's corpse is left at the door of his parents' house, laying there for them to find. As the book progresses, we discover how his death affects everyone around and how the characters learn to continue with their lives as the truth unfolds for the reader.

Narrated in different periods of time, "The Death of Vivek Oji" gives you a complete perspective of the main character's life and his growing realization of his sexuality while we see him explore his options. The book touches on issues like internalized homophobia, rejection from your family due to your sexual orientation, and unrequited love, focusing specifically on how underprivileged queer people suffer from this. The way Emezi handled these topics was direct, they did not beat around the bush and I loved how straightforward they were in the delivery.

I am glad I had the opportunity to read this amazing story and would recommend it to anyone who is looking to get their heart broken by the cruel reality for the LGBTQ+ community in our world.

The topics being discussed are important, the writing is beautiful, the author is amazing, this story just wasn't for me. It was too sexualized for me personally, like... sex in a story can be fine if it makes sense, but if it doesn't mean anything to the story then I'd rather not see it.
Overall I think it's a well-written book, just not for me

The writing in this book was beautiful and lyrical.
I felt that there were too many characters in the book considering the length of it and that we didn’t hear enough about the main character.
The second half of the book was much better and it did tackle some important issues.

This was such a hard hitting book, I was in tears by the end of it. Beautiful writing, compelling characters and a very well structured story. I don't really know how to talk about this book and I don't want to give too much away because I think it's better to go in blind. What I can say for sure is that it was amazing and I'll definitely pick other books by Akwaeke Emezi :)

Bookstagram and Goodreads have been full of praise for this book so I was excited to get access to a copy! And wow, it's brilliant! Expectations achieved, honestly. It's a book that needs to be read with sensitivity and sincerity.

This was such a moving story. Thank you to the publishers and author for the opportunity to “read now”.

I cannot write a proper review for this novel because my words will not do it any justice. The Death of Vivek Oji was nothing short of exceptional. My heart broke, repaired itself and broke all over again. I will be thinking about this for days to come.

Emezi is an amazing writer. They painted a portrait of each character and Nigeria so vividly that I could picture the market place and the realistic characters in my mind.

As the title suggests, this novel explores the death of Vivek Oji. We learn about his life and inner turmoils, with the help of his supportive friends. I just wished we got a bit more of Vivek’s POV because I found him so fascinating. I wanted to learn about what he was feeling during those times. Other topics such as grief, loss and love were addressed and this made the story so much more poignant. Emezi's honest approach of intolerance towards the members of the LGBTQ+ was handled so well.

Overall, this was an incredible book! It was heartbreaking and touching. I will be looking forward to more books by Emezi.

The Death of Vivek Oji is a compulsively heartbreaking novel of identity, sexuality, of freedom to live in one's own skin. Akwaeke Emezi is a gifted writer who transcended boundaries with her writing style, oscillating between first and third person narration, beautifully capturing the essence of the Nigerian traditions and customs.

This book was an emotional gut punch. Once I got started, I couldn’t stop reading it. Trust me when I say this book is worth the hype. And let me just say the last two chapters destroyed me.

This story wove a tragic event alongside a queer experience in 1990s Nigeria. The supporting characters were the ones who told Vivek’s story, but I do wish we heard more from Vivek themselves. But looking back, the structure of the book makes complete sense.

I will read anything Akwaeke Emezi writes. I’ll follow them to the ends of this earth if I have to.

(I’m counting this as a December read! Yes I’m cheating, but whatever.)
•••
Thank you Net Galley and Riverhead Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a solid 5 stars.

*Thanks to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for granting me this book in exchange for an honest review.*

TW for loss of a loved one, discrimination against trans people and mental health.

I don’t think there are enough words to describe it, but I’ll do my best to do so.

She did it again, got to my heart, nurtured it, surprised my brain, shocked it and then destroyed me with a full blow.

The Death of Vivek Oji is the coming-of-age story of Vivek, or better said, Nmendi, a trans girl who’s born and lives in a small town in Nigeria. Because of her culture, she is rejected, thought of as needing fixing even by her family, and deeply loved by her friends and cousin.

The plot is perfect and leaves you hanging and needing to know what happened from page 1. The way she starts unveiling little parts of the story; just the perfect words to leave you intrigued and craving for more, was masterfully done. I would feel one word less would have made me delay reading and one extra would have disappointed me.

All main and side characters were logical, real and relatable. Their feelings were so coherent it was impossible for me not to feel with them, so much so that I cried for hours when I finished the book and 5 days later I still feel grief and emptiness.

I had previously read PET, by the same author, and fell in love with it. This one, however, got even deeper into my heart and I don’t think I’ll be able to forget it.

There are a few morals that can be drawn from this story. Love implies acceptance, not wanting to change others; support networks are essential and needed for your mental health, express love to those close to you every day because you never know when they won’t be with you, take daily steps to know those next to you as deeply as possible because you cannot say you love that you do not know.

I highly recommend this book. Please, read it if you think it will not affect your mental health.

Anne

This is a beautiful, moving, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching book. The story is about Vivek - about the life and who Vivek came into contact. It's also about family and love and this misguided belief that parents somehow own or have a say in who their children become. Sure, we try to get some morals and teach right and wrong and how to function in society, but children are people - with their own ideas and thoughts, ones that their parents have no say it.

We have a saying in my house. When my kids want to shave their heads or dye their hair purple, we joke that they "have to ask for approval to cut or color the family hair." It's a joke because of course, it's NOT the family hair and I have zero say in what color it is and what style they want - they are people with their own ideas and minds and I'm just here to help them explore and discover and try to help them find their happy.

I loved Nnemdi's friends and I wish she had gotten more time to fully explore what made her happy. I definitely ugly cried to this one, and I don't regret a single moment.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this book, but it wasn’t this.

Firstly, the writing was excellent. The author has that rare skill (imo) of knowing when to be flowery and extravagant with their prose and when to be economical and let the starkness speak for itself.

This book also captures the atmosphere of Nigeria incredibly well. The setting feels rich and vibrant, and provides a wide range of perspectives - we get native Nigerians and those who have immigrated from elsewhere; characters of different religious persuasions; etc.

But, I didn’t really connect to any of these characters. There were too many POVs and we bounced between them so fast that I didn’t feel like I got to know anyone. The book is also incredibly blasé about the incestuous relationship between Vivek and Ostia. It came out of nowhere and given that so much of the plot hinges on their love for each other, I needed to better understand how they felt and what it meant for them to be both ‘brothers’ and lovers..

Finally, Vivek’s story is by far the most interesting and we never really get that POV. Maybe that’s deliberate - this is a book about the death of someone whose family didn’t really know him - but I would have preferred that a story about trans discrimination actually centred its trans characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for my ARC.

I read Pet earlier this year and was utterly amazed so I knew when I saw this on NetGalley I had to request it. And now after reading this I know I need to read everything Emezi has ever or will ever write.

Once I started this I ended up reading it in one sitting; it's addictive. It's also visceral, gritty, raw, dark, uncomfortable, extremely upsetting and so so powerful.

It's hard to explain this book without giving away spoilers but the basic premise is that Vivek's body is found by his mother after he has been left on his doorstep wrapped in material.

From here we travel back in time to before Vivek's parents have met and the story builds from there.

I guess you would probably class this book as a mystery but not necessarily 'what happened to Vivek?' but 'who was Vivek and why did this happen?'.
We have different POVs from family members & friends, who build the story around Vivek, whilst also delving into their changing attitudes towards each other and life itself. I feel that Emezi is perfectly happy letting you make your own mind up about the characters and all of them are delightfully and distressingly complex. Also, for one reason or another, most of them have been pushed to the extreme - religious bigotry, internalised homophobia, over protectiveness, stigma against mental illness and more.

There is a huge focus on relationships in this book and it's a testament to Emezi's skills that you can route for a couple when there are a lot of complicated issues surrounding them.

This book delves into taboos, the life of niger-wives, found family vs blood family, embracing who you are and how devastatingly cruel life can be.

CW: Rape, incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, homophobia, death, religious extremism, physical abuse, violence, infidelity, death, rape, sexual assualt, sexual favours, hate crime, grief, domestic abuse, deadnaming

This Book of the Month pick did not disappoint! Such a touching story, The hype around this book is very well-founded! I thoroughly enjoyed this one and the writing style and I cannot wait to read Emezi's other works!

This book was hauntingly beautiful. I liked the fact that the book starts from the end and the reader is then taken back again. I liked to see Vivek through other people's eyes and how the depiction of her was in her happiest moments. This might have been my favorite part of the book. My heart was aching for Vivek and knowing that he did not make it, was deeply saddening throughout the story.

As every chapter is from a different perspective we get to see different sides of the story, however I think I would have liked to get to know some characters more. The book read quite like a compilation of snippets, which made the story move in a nice way.

Thank you Faber & Faber and Netgalley for my e-copy.