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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.

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.

It begins in modern day Nigeria with a mother opening her front door to find her son’s dead body wrapped in a colorful fabric. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives and the events leading up to his death.

This is one of those books that leaves you breathless. It’s a coming of age story about love, friendship, family, and finding your identity within a culture that is at odds with gender identity/sexuality. The different perspectives of Vivek’s loved ones as they reconciled who they thought Vivek was, with who they learned he was post-death, was heart-wrenching. This book was so powerful and moving, and I loved every aching second of it. Just when you think you know what’s happening or how it’s going to end, you don’t. A beautiful story that was just as beautifully written; the fluidity of Emezi’s prose and vivid descriptions was mesmerizing. I can’t wait to read more from them.

Thank you Riverhead Books and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy, as well as Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the ALC

Well written, heart-wrenching book!

One day in Nigeria a woman finds the body of her son, Vivek, outside their house wrapped in colorful fabric, beaten to death. The book weaves the story of a mother desperate to understand what happened to her son in the hours between when she saw him earlier that morning.

Akwaeke Emezi wove a beautifully written story of love, grief, family, & identity. This is a book that will stay with you for a long time.

Thank you Akwaeke Emezi, Faber & Faber, and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheDeathofVivekOji #NetGalley

“There was something different about him, and it had nothing to do with how he looked on the outside. It was something more insidious, something coiled in his eyes that I’d never seen before. For the first time, I felt afraid around him. It didn’t feel like I was standing in a room with my cousin, with the man who was as close as I was ever going to get to a brother. Instead it felt like I’d fallen into the orbit of a stranger, like I’d stumbled across worlds and now I was here, out of breath and off balance.”

This was a deep and compelling story addressing being true to yourself and facing life head on amidst fear and the potential of being misunderstood. It was a beautiful, yet tragic story of love, acceptance, loss, betrayal, and secrets.

Vivek Oji has a beautiful spirit, but he’s always been a little different than the rest, a little hard to figure out and he’s often coined as “sick” or “different”. No one can quite figure it out, but Vivek lives by the beat of his own drum. Loving yet mysterious, and at times disconnected from the world and his family. His closest confidant, his cousin Osita, has had a hard time understanding Vivek as they grew into adulthood. But, they had a bond unlike any other. One day, Vivek’s mother opens her front door to find him dead on the doorstop. No one can understand what has happened, that has led to his untimely and tragic death. And so, the undoing of the mystery begins and we begin the journey of finding out what has transpired and led to his death.

As the characters struggle through their feelings and come through to realizations about themselves and each other the story unfolded.

“I knew exactly what he meant. It felt as if we had stepped out of everything we knew before and into something else entirely, as if what had just happened couldn’t have happened on the other side, only on this side.”

“You were the only person I could tell,” I said to Vivek, looking down at my hands. “So I came here.” He was silent for a moment. “Why did you need to tell anyone?” he asked, finally. “Why didn’t you just keep it a secret? Isn’t that what everyone does?”

Overall, this was a good book. At times I found it a little confusing to keep all of the characters straight and I think some of them really weren’t needed in the narrative. But, I would definitely recommend this read to anyone who might be considering picking it up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead books for the copy of this book in exchange for my review.

No question. A beautifully crafted story, like a painting, that's heartbreaking, tragic, poignant, emotional and very moving. I sat and read this in one sitting. Set in Nigeria the culture of the people came alive as did the sights and sounds of the market place and country. Some aspects are brutal and shocking, others the complete opposite. The ending was so bittersweet. It's not a long book but it is very powerful. The chapters are told by different people with Vivek's being very short which makes them hit home harder.
I absolutely loved this book. The main character's death is so annoying- by that I mean there was so much more to give, so much more and it's totally tragic that it will never be realised.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read a book I might not otherwise have found and it's a definite 5 stars from me

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

This book is a gut-wrenching story of grief, sexual identity and gender. It’s a short book, a snapshot of the days leading up to the death of Vivek Oji by showing glimpses of his life and relationships. The story is told from multiple perspectives. Vivek’s chapters are my favorite as they are told in short, devastating vignettes that depict just how lonely and isolating his life was, for example "alone is a feeling you can get used to, and it’s hard to believe in a better alternative." Emezi’s writing is truly exquisite. The pain this family felt was palpable and the Nigerian setting was so strong. Emezi’s musings on self expression and the limits of the body in this book (and Freshwater) are awe-inspiring. It’s so easy to see that they pour their entire soul into their stories. And I will read every single one of them.

Pet was one of my favorite books of 2019. I could not believe how deftly Emezi handled the subject matter. The story was beautiful and horrifying and marvelously crafted to deliver a powerful lesson without ever feeling like a morality tale. I had high hopes for this new title - unfortunately I never connected with it and I never found myself experiencing that same magic in the storytelling style this time around.

Don't get me wrong - Emezi is a talented writer and there are brilliant observations and statements sandwiched on here, but I just never fell into the story, I struggled from the beginning to connect with the characters and to feel that same powerful resonance with the story being told that I experienced so profoundly with Pet.

“I'm not what anyone thinks I am. I never was. I didn't have the mouth to put it into words, to say what was wrong, to change the things I felt I needed to change. And every day it was difficult, walking around and knowing that people saw me one way, knowing that they were wrong, so completely wrong, that the real me was invisible to them. It didn't even exist to them. So: If nobody sees you, are you still there?”
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Thanks @netgalley and @librofm for advanced copies of this one #freebook. This book is too beautiful for words. I read it in one day. I cannot wait to read every book by @azemezi. The last chapter had me sobbing, not because it was overly climactic (the biggest spoiler is in the title and in the first sentence, like Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng), but because it was written in the most gentle, loving fashion and I just loved Vivek Oji with my entire heart. It was wrapped up perfectly and sadly and lovingly and wow holy moly I’m tearing up right now thinking about it. There is a consanguineous relationship in the center of the book, so if that triggers you, just know that going in. But I’m not going to comment on it because I understand there are cultures different than my own and I don’t think it detracted anything from the story for me. Above all, it is about standing softly in your truth, forgoing society’s standards on gender and queerness, and the crushing guilt of grief. “Some people can't see softness without wanting to hurt it.”
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4.5/5

The first thing I need to point out is that this book is very much about transitioning. I will refer to our main character in this review as Vivek, as this is what she is referred to by throughout the novel and in the title, but it must be made clear that Vivek chooses to fully embrace her identity at the end of the novel and changes her name to Nnemdi. I will be using she/her pronouns.

"But if that pleasure was supposed to stop me from being a man, then fine. They could have it. I'd take the blinding light of his touch, the blessed peace of having him so close, and I would stop being a man.

I was never one to begin with, anyway."


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It goes without saying: Akwaeke Emezi has an incredible command over the English language. Their ability to truly capture so much atmosphere and so much depth in such a short space is astounding. Emezi's writing is truly beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

"I was drowning. Not quickly, not enough for panic, but a slow and inexorable sinking, when you know where you're going to end up, so you stop fighting and you wait for it all to be over.


The Death of Vivek Oji is very much a character-driven novel, with this underlying mystery that begs to be solved. Each character is multifaceted with their own individual stories to follow. There was an interesting commentary on 'ready-made' communities through the Nigerwives, a group of women who had married Nigerian men and left their home countries to be with them. There was an intriguing moment of wondering if the bonds between characters were 'real' or 'ready-made'. For me, they were absolutely real. The completely unconditional love and protection that Vivek's friends offer her in her moments of vulnerability had my heart soaring beyond belief.

"I know what they say about men who allow other men to penetrate them. Ugly things, ugly words. Calling them women as if that's supposed to be ugly too."


The relationship between Vivek and Osita was heart-wrenchingly beautiful: the feeling of true understanding between them; the ease with which Osita accepts Vivek's true identity as Nnemdi. It was a little difficult at times to ignore the fact that they were cousins, but aside from this, the bond they had was incomparable. It felt as though Osita was the only person to really know Vivek, inside and out.

"You know what's been happening in your head. You're the only person who knows So ask yourself if it feels right, and somewhere, deep inside of you, there's a compass that will tell you whether you're right or wrong."


The ending had my jaw on the floor. Part of me knew it was coming, but I suppose I spent the book wishing it wasn't true. This isn't a book with a mystery you can solve. It's a book with a mystery that you've already solved, that you hope will unravel because the true resolution couldn't possibly be real. The Death of Vivek Oji isn't 200 pages of physical death, but a rapid descent down the rabbit hole that leads to the eventual death -- both literal and figurative -- of Vivek Oji.

I can only highly recommend this book.

Trigger Warnings: rape, death, incest, adultery, abuse, misogyny, homophobia, graphic sex scenes, internalised homophobia.

Thank you to Netgalley, Faber & Faber and Akwaeke Emezi for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

The Death of Vivek Oji had me completely hooked from the very first sentence through to the very end. The writing was superb. Not a word was wasted and it was beautifully and cleverly crafted. Close and attentive reading was richly rewarded. The story switched narrators and points of view, it moved around in time yet I was never ever confused.

Although the title leads us to believe this book would be about Vivek’s death it was actually about Vivek’s life, a life that was slowly revealed, mostly through the eyes of Osita and other friends and family members. Death, when it came, was maybe more mundane than we had expected, anti-climactic in some ways but also reinforcing the message that it was the life that was important and valuable.

As a reader themes of self-acceptance, living your true life, and loving, accepting and valuing people for who they truly are really struck me.

“I’m not what anyone thinks I am. I never was. I didn’t have the mouth to put it into words, to say what was wrong, to change the things I felt I needed to change...If nobody sees you, are you still there?”

“Beautyful. I had no idea why that spelling was chosen, but I liked it because it kept the beauty in tact. Beauty. I wanted to be as whole as that word.”

"Why are you so afraid? Because something is different from what you know?"

As the title of this book states, this story is about the death of Vivek Oji! But it is even more so about his life and the influence ha had on the people around him. Vivek was a complex character, growing up in Southeatern Nigeria, the son of a Nigerian father and immigrant Indian Mother.
It's a coming of age story and on finding your sexual identity.

We get to see how Nigerian culture leaves little room for those who are different and it shows the restrictions that society puts on us.

Another thread throughout the book is that of the Nigerwives (foreign women married to Nigerian men) and the challenges they face in their roles as immigrants and it explores another concept of the "otherness" of people that is looked at in the novel.

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

Thank you netgalley and Faber books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is definitely a book that I would recommend!

What a stunning story. I’ve seen so much praise for this book and it definitely lives up to the hype. The last few chapters WRECKED my soul.