Very, almost punishingly, harrowing, but as beautifully written and empathetic as Emezi's other work. More traditionally narrative than Freshwater, and ultimately slightly less successful for me, but I can see that varying wildly from reader to reader.

This book is one of the most beautiful books I read in 2020. It was short but it truly packed a punch for me. This is one of those books that I would qualify as a true work of art. I cried and felt every part of this book so deeply and that truly made it that much better of an experience. Vivek Oji was left on his parents doorstep wrapped in a colorful cloth after being beaten to death. This book was an amazing story of love, sexuality, self identity, loss of a loved one, frienship, and the effects of living in a place where being yourself is looked down upon and often times can cause you to be killed. This is one of those books that I would recommend to anyone, because I think it would truly open their eyes into peoples lives who live in persecution.

I don’t really have words to describe this book. Opening with Vivek Oji’s death, the story follows the arc of their life in Nigeria, and the impact on their family and friends. It is very character driven, as Vivek’s cousin and mother struggle to understand them throughout the story. With flashes of Vivek’s own voice throughout, it’s fascinating to see how things unravel, but are simultaneously coming together to tell the story of what happened to Vivek Oji.

I couldn’t put it down. It’s devastating and a bit confusing at times (but you’re supposed to be puzzling it out with the characters). Akwaeke Emezi is an extraordinary writer, and their books are becoming a must-read for me!

Some MAJOR content warnings:
Death (obviously), incest, transphobia and homophobia, sexual content

I had high hopes for this novel, having heard wonderful things about Akwaeke Emezi's writing. Set in southeast Nigeria and beginning when a woman finds the body of her dead son, the novel explores the somewhat controversial life of Vivek Oji.

The central characters were a highlight in this novel. Vivek Oji always felt different; never feeling seen by their distant, traditional parents and the community around them. Through various characters' stories and the narrative jumping around in the time, we are allowed to explore different aspects of Vivek's identity, surrounding themes of love, friendship, sexuality, family and gender identity, all through the lens of the tight-knit Nigerian community.

Akwaeke Emezi clearly has a lot of interesting things to say surrounding the aforementioned themes, and on the whole the way they said these things was effective. The narrative has a fresh and unflinching, and quite unique, feel to it. That being said, something stopped me from falling in love with the book. I didn't feel totally connected to or invested in the characters as a read, and was often left feeling a little distant from the story. I found myself to be more in interested in what the characters were representing - what they were vehicles for exploring - rather than being interested in them for themselves.

Overall, I found this to be an interesting and on the whole engaging novel. While I didn't feel completely connected to it throughout, I appreciated Akwaeke Emezi's writing and insight. I'm excited to see what they bring out in the future.

This book was a unique and beautiful portrayal about the life of a boy who never truly fit in to his community. The writing sucked me in from the beginning - it was so beautiful. As with a lot of other people, this book definitely made me cry! It is a unique coming of age story that doesn't focus on the hetero-normative structure that so many of these stories take. I fully recommend this book, absolutely beautiful. And thank you net galley for giving me the opportunity to read it!

The Death of Vivek Oji was a beautiful and emotional read dealing with identity. The writing of this novel was wonderful and made the book come to life for me. The grief portrayed throughout the book was real and heartbreaking. There are a lot of characters and relationships throughout the book which made it difficult for me to follow at times. This was overall a beautiful and unforgettable read.

I received a copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

I have really mixed feelings about this book - the writing was fantastic, the structure and much of the plot really well crafted, and I mostly enjoyed reading the death, and life, of Vivek, a troubled young Nigerian man.

However, the explicit sex scenes, and specifically the relationship between Vivek and his cousin were much for me. I understand what the writer’s agenda was, and some of the ideas they wanted to convey, but the incest was a stage too far. It, along with what seemed like a determination to have every character be either unfaithful, gay, gender-non conforming, or in some cases all 3 at once, marred my enjoyment of the book as it went on, and would make me very cautious about recommending it to others.

I didn't end up finishing this book. So many people loved it, but it just wasn't for me. The whole story was a bit of a slog, and I couldn't push myself to finish it.

I don't know how Emezi does it but they can do no wrong in my eyes. This is one of the most sensitive novels I've ever read. Granted, there are some plot holes I would have loved to see through but I understand why it ended where it did. I've recommended this book to all my friends. Even made a book club choice.

“They burned down the market the day Vivek Oji died.” From the very first sentence, this lyrical, poetic novel draws in the reader and immerses them forever in the lives of Vivek’s family and friends. The narrative moves in time and viewpoint, revealing the impact of the central character’s sensitive, independent personality on those who love him, as he grows up, from the day of his birth and his grandmother’s death, to the days after his funeral.
It is a poignant study of grief, as Vivek’s mother seeks to find out how her son was killed and who laid him, wrapped in akwete cloth on their doorstep and his father sinks ever deeper into depressive inertia. It is also a moving exploration of young people developing their self-awareness and trying to live in a way that is true to themselves.
I loved this beautifully written and emotionally astute novel and I am delighted to have been introduced to the work of this talented writer of whom I was previously unaware. My library can't purchase it because my oldest readers are only 11, but I will be recommending it in all my book related discussions.

A very engaging and emotional read.
Very well written and an intriguing story of identity, belonging and grief that is quite complex and culturally rich.

The end however felt somewhat unsatisfactory because of all the suspense the rest of the story had created.
Also, depiction of a particular relationship felt very wrong to me as a reader.
Other than that this is a unique story.

Very moving, sad story of a young Nigerian man who identifies with another gender and is trying to navigate through life within his community and family. The story is told through different points of view from his closest friends and mother so it was interesting to learn about Vivek this way.
Honestly, the story broke my heart and the timing right now probably wasn’t the best. It was very well written and the second half of the book went very fast for me. I would read more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have really mixed feelings about this book that definitely need some time to unpack but I like that aspect of it! Emezi tells a thought-provoking story that is in no way sugarcoated for Western cultures (again, a plus for me) and has some thematically sound images throughout. The heartbreak in this story is tangible and the aspects of each dynamic explored were interesting. I did feel that although I enjoyed the short length of this book there were so many aspects that felt glossed over and I would have liked to see more of. Overall The Death of Vivek Oji was for sure a win for me but one that needs some time to ponder over and deliberate in my own time - narratively weak at times but poetically strong in its delving into sexual identities of all kinds. Content warnings apply for incest.

A short but beautiful book that will break your heart. It has everything to grab your interests: culture, the love of a parent, the difficulty of youth, LGBTQ issues, and so much more, I can't wait to read more from this author.

Akwaeke Emezi is the only person in recent memory who can accomplish this level of complicated narrative structure while also bending genres in whichever direction they want them to. Having read Pet and Freshwater as well, I knew what I was in for with The Death of Vivek Oji and I wasn't let down - the writing is very strong, but so are the very memorable characters and the themes that are discussed here. It always amazes me when writers manage to pack a lot into a relatively small number of pages and that's something Emezi excels at, in my opinion.

There's a very distinct atmosphere here and it doesn't necessarily comes from its cultural and intersectional setting, though those obviously play a big part, too. What I find mesmerizing about this novel is that even though the characters are very deeply anchored in the real world, their inner worlds are rich and run deep. Through their actions we see them as people who exist within themselves as well as outside, with one reflecting the other.

I've read a lot of books in the last couple of years where the "clever" narrative structure consists of various characters giving their feelings/experiences/statements about the key character it all revolves around, but it's hardly ever made an impact for me. Even excluding the occasional chapters written from Vivek's point of view, it completely works here - in every chapter, it is deeply personal or purposely not so.

There is a lot to think about with this novel and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This book is very messed up.

You obviously realize, by the title, that the main character is going to die. There's something wrong with him, but you're not exactly sure what. Is it a physical problem? Is it a mental illness? Is there a magical or mystical element at play?

There are multiple narrators and the timeline is always shifting, which can be a little difficult to track. I was annoyed by the fact that the narrators were dropping seemingly useless bread crumbs while we struggle to understand what the hell is going on. They clearly know -- why are they torturing us?

I can't see myself considering any books from this author in the future.

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