A beautiful, moving read. This book is about family, friendship, sexuality, identity, and how not accepting others as they are can have monumental consequences. The message is a powerful one that I anticipate will be widely read in book clubs and includes in school libraries. The novel is a short read, but is beautifully written making you connect and understand each of the characters. A bittersweet novel that you'll hang onto long after finishing.

In the last few months, I've tried hard to bring about much needed diversity in my reading, primarily in the context of the authors I was reading and the worlds that they represent. The Death of Vivek Oji certainly fits the diversity box as far as my reading is concerned, and I am so much the richer for it.

It is a moving tale of family acceptance even under the weight of heavy grief, a story of complicated friendships, and a sharp look at the intolerances that seem to pervade our culture, no matter which part of the world we live in.

It's one of the best books I've read this year - the characters are richly painted, the plot is fantastic even if heartbreaking, and it packs a tender punch on the whole.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

#TheDeathofVivekOji #NetGalley

3.5 rounded up
Vivek Oji’s body was placed in front of the door and was discovered by his mother. Shocked and shaken, she was determined to find out the cause of his death. A novel set in the rural towns of Nigeria, this novel is about finding yourself and staying true to yourself, while navigating the world around you. It explored themes of love, sexuality and gender identity, family and acceptance. One would also learn about polygamy in Nigeria, the tension between the North and South which caused riots and how the society viewed a person like Vivek as mentally disturbed or possessed by an evil spirit.

I thought this was well-written, but I had my expectations set really high, especially after reading the glowing reviews. I was hoping for more in-depth characters, especially Vivek. He seemed like an interesting character but all we got from him were snippets of his thoughts, while his story was told by his friends and family. Also, the plot felt dragged out quite a bit that I skimmed some pages. It'd have helped if Vivek was given the chance to tell his part of the story.

I did however enjoy his friendship with the girls he met in Nigerwives and his relationship with Osita. It was tender, beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, to see what they had to do to protect Vivek from the people who were supposed to love him as he was.

Generally an okay read; one that I didn’t regret reading.

ARC provided by Faber and Faber Ltd via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warnings: death, incest, queerphobia, adultery, violence.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi is a book that from the first sentence grips your heart hard and keeps on tightening its hold on you until the very end.

The novel revolved around gender, family and love in such a way that even if the leading feelings exuded are sadness and sorrow, the writing makes it so you are almost “happy” to welcome them and let tears well in your eyes.

I really enjoyed reading The Death of Vivek Oji and I am very interested in the author’s other works, Freshwater and Pet.

A beautiful book! Inside and out! Captivating right from the start! I listened to the audiobook (thanks to @librofm for the copy) and I followed along with the text (thanks to @netgalley and @riverheadbooks for the copy). There were some parts that were difficult to read, but that is the point of the story. It's so heartbreaking that there is intolerance of homosexuality in society. This story will stick with me for awhile.

Wow...this book absolutely broke my heart. It's an extremely emotional, incredibly well-written book, about a young boy (Vivek) who identifies as a different gender. Vivek keeps it fairly well hidden from their family and most who knew them, however, they share their true self with a few select friends. 

When Vivek's mother opens the door to discover her son's body, wrapped in the colorful fabric of a woman's dress, she begins to uncover the secret of who her son really was. This is a story of family acceptance amidst deep grief, complicated friendships, and learning to honor thy true self, no matter the consequence. I definitely recommend this beautiful, yet heartbreaking story. The audiobook narration is performed with such emotion, it adds greatly to the already moving story. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Amazing and sensitive deep dive into stunningly personal issues. Absolutely unforgettable characters that force you to deeply think and feel. I was mesmerized by the book and it was a quick read for me. Very grateful for the advanced copy. This was a Book of the Month option and I know for a fact I will be picking it up to have a physical copy as well.

I appreciate the wholly unique point(s) of view and the author’s beautiful writing. Yet if you look closer, the book has more in common with a Netflix teen drama than anything else.

“They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died”

This striking sentence serves as the entire first chapter of the novel. We know Vivek Oji has died, we know some of the events surrounding his death (though not if they are related). What we do not know is how Vivek Oji died, nor who Vivek Oji was.

This is important – as the book opens Vivek’s character is missing, invisible, hidden by the weight of his family’s grief. The reader wants to know more, and so does Vivek’s mother: Kavita is “made of nothing but questions, hungry questions bending her into a shape that was starving for answers”. Through her desperate hunt, we come to know Vivek.

Vivek story is gripping, and language Akwaeke Emezi uses only heightens the impact. Vivek had a “temper like gunpowder packed into a pipe” and his parents live in “separate world that happen to be under the same roof, pressed against each other but never spilling, never overlapping.”

After Kavita drags Vivek’s cousin Osita from his booze-soaked grief we begin to understand the secrets Vivek kept in life. We meet the children of a community of immigrant wives that Kavita belongs to, and who knew Vivek far more intimately than his family. We begin to see Vivek. More devastatingly, we begin to see that Vivek was in many ways invisible even in life: “If nobody sees you are you still there”. As Vivek never had the opportunity to seen in life, so in death – the scant few chapters from Vivek’s perspective are short, and from beyond the grave. This story is told by those he left behind.

It is not safe for anyone to see Vivek’s preference for men, lest he end up “blackened by fire … gashes from machetes showing old red flesh underneath”. Others are hiding too: Vivek wearing his mother’s gold jewellery is “so beautiful he made the air around him dull. Made Osita hard with desire” yet Osita cannot admit this aloud. After his death he “would give anything to see him like that one more time, alive and covered with wealth.”

Vivek’s own search mirrors Kavita’s. Where Kavita is searching for answers, Vivek seeks his identity, and the privilege of being recognised. Male pronouns are used to describe Vivek for most of the book. It is only towards the very end that the reader can truly see Vivek and realise which pronouns should have been used, along with a name: Nnemdi.

Osita’s face in a photograph looking at Vivek is open, “unfettered” and so in the end is Nnemdi. It was a pleasure to read her story, I would highly recommend it.

Beautiful and brutal. Tender and heartwrenching. Hopeful and hateful. Akwaeke Emezi touched my soul with her evocative storytelling. A stunning tale of tolerance, acceptance, friendship, and grief. This is the story of Vivek, A young Nigerian looking to discover who they are in a world that does not want to truly know them. The story starts with Vivek’s mother discovering their dead body wrapped in colorful cloth at the front door of the family home. The story then bounces around in time and between the perspectives of several characters. As much as I would have liked to get inside Vivek’s head a little more. I thought it was tremendously impactful to get to know them through the impressions of others. Parts of this book were hard to read, the story really shows us the ugliest side of humanity, but ultimately the story left me feeling hopeful. The audiobook is narrated by Yetide Badaki and Chukwudi Iwuji Who brought such raw authenticity to this gorgeous story. I loved listening to the lovely Nigerian accent and appreciated that I was able to understand every beautiful word. I know my words have not done this story justice, just read it or listen to it, it will stay with you.

*** Big thank you to Faber and Faber & LibroFM for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Rep: Nigerian rep, Indian rep, LGBTQIA+ rep

TW: homophobia, sexual assault, rioting

What started off as an intriguing story soon left me in tears. The Death of Vivek Oji is a beautifully written story that explores themes of identity and relationships, through the perspectives of various characters. The story flits between different characters, and different time points in the story to show how Vivek Oji’s life and death affected those around him. We see how various characters, Vivek included, struggle to define themselves, refusing to accept the gender and sexuality conformity forced upon them by their community. This is a powerfully-charged book about exploration, community, and acceptance. I loved Freshwater by this author, and I’m happy to say that this book has continued to raise the bar for me. I’m looking forward to reading more by Akwaeke Emezi.

Rep: Nigerian rep, Indian rep, LGBTQIA+ rep

TW: homophobia, sexual assault, rioting

What started off as an intriguing story soon left me in tears. The Death of Vivek Oji is a beautifully written story that explores themes of identity and relationships, through the perspectives of various characters. The story flits between different characters, and different time points in the story to show how Vivek Oji’s life and death affected those around him. We see how various characters, Vivek included, struggle to define themselves, refusing to accept the gender and sexuality conformity forced upon them by their community. This is a powerfully-charged book about exploration, community, and acceptance. I loved Freshwater by this author, and I’m happy to say that this book has continued to raise the bar for me. I’m looking forward to reading more by Akwaeke Emezi.

The Death of Vivek Oji, is a beautifully written book about identity and love and loss. It very gradually tells its truth in dribs and drabs, until all is revealed at the very end. Whilst this makes for a compelling read I sort of wish the truth would have come out sooner in the story and allowed for more exploration of its nuances. That said, this book is an interesting look at the consequences of living out your gender expression, vs keeping it hidden and conforming to societies expectations. It’s an important perspective, and certainly has made me want to read more of the author’s work.

This book is 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because I am not quite sure why the second half of the book 'lost' me.

Until about half-way through I found the writing compelling. Despite the fact that I wasn't drawn to the character of Vivek I did enjoy the 'Nigerian-style' English and the interactions with the Nigerwives and their families. The lives of the characters seemed to roll off the page and into my imagination.

But when the narrative began to revolve around the younger generation the story became restricted and claustrophobic. Their actions seemed disjointed, disconnecting me from them emotionally.

So much so that although the end was logical and completed the narrative, it did not move me as much as I had expected, which both surprised and disappointed me.

I would still recommend it as a book worth reading just be warned there are some quite graphic sex scenes

Powerful, moving and thought-provoking, Vivek Oji’s true identity begins to unfold after his heartbreaking death in a Nigerian town. The book is a lesson on acceptance and loving people just the way they are - and the consequences that arise from not doing so.

Emezi’s writing almost has a lyrical quality to it - as if the words sing off the page. The book is short but I read each chapter slowly as to take in all of its rich and vivid prose.

Thank you NetGalley and Faber & Faber for providing an eARC of the book although I did purchase it on my own.

Such an interesting take on the mystery genre, because from the start we know, what happened, but not how it could possibly happen. Really enjoyed.

The book starts off strong, with some really strong imagery, building Vivek’s world, and exploring his family and how he came to be born. There is some beautiful language and description throughout the entire book. The strength of the writing is probably my favourite part of the book.

It’s a non-linear narrative, so the only mystery is really how Vivek dies at the end. This does weave through the story quite well. It kept my interest throughout the whole story.

The characters are intriguing, though I think this story suffers from a lack of depth at points. I really liked Osita’s character, and most of the story is told from his perspective. Though there are some sections that are told from a more omniscient point of view.

We see both Osita and Vivek grow up, and as they do, the LGBT+ undertones get stronger. The reaction to these themes by the characters within the story shows that not everywhere in the world is as accepting of LGBT+ people as the West. It was a good reminder for me that in some places of the world it can still be very dangerous to no conform to sexual and gender norms.

There are also some odd moments in the story that felt almost like they didn’t belong. There was a whole chapter with a character, and I couldn’t work out why it was there. It didn’t seem to add anything to the story and the character literally wasn’t even mentioned anywhere else in the book.

There is also an element of Vivek’s character and experience that isn’t fully explained. It feels like it was added for effect early on in the story, but didn’t really matter to the overall story.

Whilst I enjoyed reading The Death of Vivek Oji, and found it a fast read, I also didn’t enjoy it as much as Freshwater. For me, it felt unfinished, like it needed another round of editing to remove the unneeded elements.

Like Freshwater, it’s an unusual style and has a really important message. I would recommend it to people who like experimental writing in their fiction, and to expand your understanding of the LGBT+ space across the world.

Like always I dove into the book without reading the blurb or knowing anything about it as that’s what I prefer.

The story starts with a woman finding a body of her son outside her home and thus the story begins. We know Vivek has died from the very beginning (and also from the title) so the story moves on from different perspectives and how the event unfolds at the end.

This is my first book from Akwaeke and The storytelling is absolutely fantastic and kept me gripped and curious throughout. The book is definitely powerful, beautiful, sad and powerful. This is definitely one of the best and most impactful books of 2020 for me. It pains me to accept that the story of Vivek is not just fiction but there are numerous people even in this generation (let alone earlier days) who struggle with their identity and sexuality. The society we live in doesn’t make it easy and especially some countries are totally against same sex couples or marrriage making them illegal and outcast. It’s saddening to hear when people mark it as ‘unnatural’ or ‘sick’ when someone born and identified a specific gender doesn’t behave the way the gender is supposed to. These topics are so well written by the author through the characters in Nigeria. To read the book and to realise this happens in real saddens me more than I can contemplate.

The author has done such an amazing work to make us feel the grief, loss and pain the mother, father, relatives and their friends feel.
I loved how Awkwaeke has used different persepectives for storytelling and how well written the characters are. I liked how it was just to the point and wasn’t unnecessarily lengthy. The ending in a way I did see it coming but somehow it was a bit more/less than I thought it would be.

Here is to the loveliest and now one of my best characters ‘Nnemdi’!

3.5 stars. Emezi writes a heartfelt tale of transformation and love, heartbreak and friendship set in Nigeria. It's difficult for me to discuss what I loved about this book and what I didn't because of possible spoilers, but here goes... I loved the description and handling of Vivek's metamorphoses, the raw emotion felt by his family (especially his mother) and the setting of the story in Nigeria.

I liked the glimpses into the lives of the Nigerwives and their more progressive children.

Yet I still struggled to feel a real connection to the characters - they felt just a little out of reach.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I decided to read this book as I'd seen the title come up on quite a few lists I follow and I had enjoyed Freshwater. However, I had no idea what this book was about as I hadn't even read the blurb.

All I can say is wow, wow, wow!!! Captivating, breathtaking, heart-wrenching, devastating, unputdownable. All in only 256 pages of mesmerizing writing. Read it already!