Akwaeke Emezi’s third novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, dazzles in its powerfully disruptive approach to storytelling. Set in Southeastern Nigeria and written as something between an extended prose poem and a mystery novel, the book tells the events that occur after a mother steps outside her door to discover her child, Vivek, stripped naked and dead. She doesn’t know how he died or how he got to her door, but she knows she must find out.

Told through a triply-shifting perspective—narrative responsibility split between Vivek, his cousin Osita, and a limited third-person narrator—the novel undergoes a tenuous investigation of the titular death. Languages, speakers, and stories meld and shift as the voice moves between the three persons; as each narrator brings different thoughts, backgrounds, and beliefs to the fore, each chapter shifts new information out of shadow and into the light.

Emezi’s writing, wrapped in their own form of “bizarre world,” continuously reminds us that the known can quickly change to become unknown—nothing is permanent in this novel, not family, not gender, and perhaps not even death.

***4.0***

How did Vivek Oji die? Emezi weaves in several points of view throughout the novel, introducing you to Vivek's parents, friends and family.
Set in Nigeria, Vivek is born to Indian Mother Kavitha and Igbo father Charles. On the day of local riots Vivek's body is found in front of his parent’s doorstep, bloodied, his clothes removed, but wrapped in bright cloth. Then it is the story of grief and Vivek's past. People just thought he was not quite right in the mind or even possessed by demons. Vivek grows his hair long, which in this conservative culture, men don’t wear their hair long. People are unsure about Vivek. And Osita, Vivek's cousin, first finds him strange but grows to love him beyond life.

Who was Vivek and why did he end up dead when people around him loved so fiercely.
His struggles to become what he is and wanted to be accepted what he is, all that emotions was unraveled slowly and wonderfully in the book. Emezi is a wonderful writer without doubt.

Thanks to Netgalley for the book in exchange of unbiased and honest reviews!

Beautifully written story of the life of Vivek Oji and his loved ones told after his death. The setting of Nigeria really made the story come to life. The author does a wonderful job exploring grief and I think it Would be impossible to read this book without feeling a wave of different emotions.

The story of Vivek Oji begins with his death, naked and wrapped only in smoky fabric, and deposited at the door of his parent's house. The story then goes back in time, beautifully recounting how Vivek's parents met, Vivek's life, and ultimately concludes with revealing the mystery surrounding Vivek's death and how he landed up naked on the porch.

I feel like I grew to know Vivek, his parents, his extended family (aunties, uncle cousin Osita), his friends, and the Nigerian mothers, in Akwaeke Emezi's tale. I could feel how tortured they were, each one struggling to protect themselves but at the same time always questioning the appropriateness of their actions, and trying to do what they believe to be right. Vivek's mother loved him so much, her courage to not give up, inspired me, while at the same time, her pain was visceral and its palpable. (Vivek must have inherited his courage from her.)

There is one clear message shouting to me from the pages of this book:

"There's no beauty without difference and diversity. Love unconditionally." - Rashid Ogunlaru

Read this incredible story of resilience, courage and love.

Literary fiction at its best .A story so beautifully written a story of Nigeria of family life emotions..A book I read late into the night with tears streaming down my face a book that will stay with me.an author I will be following & recommending,#netgalley#faber&faber

One of the most powerful novels I’ve read about sexual identification is The Death of Vivek Oji. Slowly unfolding, it is the story of a bi-racial boy in Nigeria with a Nigerian father and a South Asian mother. Told in the voices of himself, his mother, his cousin, and friends, it focuses most on Vivek’s life and his relationships with family and friends. There has been much well-deserved praise heaped on this book, and I can only add to that praise. When I finished the book, I sat there hoping I, too, wasn’t complicit in refusing to accept the identity that a friend had chosen for themselves. Putting this story in a Nigerian setting brought home the world-wide challenge of learning to let our kids be our kids, the importance of our not wanting to ignore what they are trying to tell us, and to be accepting of whom they are. The ending was so powerful, so simple and yet so emotional. This will be one of my top books of 2020.

The Death of Vivek Oji is a short novel exploring sexuality, gender identity, friendship, and blurred boundaries while looking back at the events leading up to the death of Vivek Oji - both in literal and metaphorical terms.

It’s very much a whistle-stop tour jumping through a stream of consciousness. There are times when you’re a bit confused about what’s going on. But I think that’s part of the magic of Emezi’s writing. It also makes it feel like an opportunity to get a glimpse into Oji’s life, without being too voyeuristic.

It’s beautifully written and it’s wonderfully representative. It’s haunting and heartbreaking, but as ‘death’ also refers to the death of one identity and development of another, it’s also empowering and joyful.

Luscious and heartbreaking. I got teary-eyed when it became too stinging sad, and teary-eyed again when it grew too beautiful.

Impeccable pacing that kept me reading well past midnight and again over my morning coffee. The language demanded to be savoured but I couldn't help but devour it whole.

I really wanted to like this one. There are some raving reviews for this one (and I can totally see why!) it just didn't resonate with me as much.

Things I liked:
- I thought the writing and storytelling was well done. There were some beautiful passages and even though you know Vivek's fate it was still a captivating enough story to the reader to keep reading to learn more about Vivek.
- The themes: coming of age novel, exploring self and sexuality, finding your chosen family.
- Learning about Vivek: For a book about Vivek, he is seemingly kept at an arm's length to readers. Even though you know his fate, it is up to the other charracters in the book: Vivek's family and friends to tell the story of who he really was.

Things that were a miss:
- It took me a while to get into this book and keep up with all of the characters. Had to stop and restart a few times.
- The incestual relationship between Vivek and Ossita (cousins). For me, personally it is really hard to read about incest. I felt there could have been a similar impact making them childhood friends rather than relatives, but I'm sure that the author had their reasons for this.

I adored this. Freshwater is still my favourite by Emezi, but this is a brilliant follow-up.
This, as the title suggests, is about the death of Vivek Oji, but also his life before that, and the lives of people who surround and love him, even if they don't always understand him.
It is about otherness in a country that doesn't know how to celebrate it, about grief and the many ways people deal with it, and identity and the struggles to find and accept it.
This book is beautifully written. The intricacy with which Emezi writes their characters and the relationships between them is just remarkable, and hauntingly so. There's something about their characters and settings that just stays with you, long after the book is over.
It's definitely a lot more accessible than Freshwater, and a lot less disjointed and claustrophobic. The only reason I haven't given it the full five stars part of me wishes to give it is because Freshwater hit me the slightest bit harder, despite these books sharing similar core themes. I highly, highly recommend giving all of Emezi's works a try, they're absolutely brilliant 🖤

I opened this book not knowing what to expect (and I really had no idea where this book was going to end up) but the pages fly by. The author has done an amazing job of constructing a beautiful story that is so masterfully woven you feel every moment, ache, and triumph that each character experiences. They have taken the reader to a controversial place in Nigeria, one that exists and needs to be more broadly recognized for what it is. The Death of Vivek Oji opens eyes and paints a beautiful picture ending in unexpected tragedy. 5 Stars.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Faber & Faber for an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for a review.

One afternoon, a mother opens her front door to find the length of her son's body stretched out on the veranda, swaddled in akwete material, his head on her welcome mat. It is the story of an over protective mother and a distant father, and the heart-wrenching tale of one family's struggle to understand their child, just as Vivek learns to recognise himself.

As soon as I started reading this, I knew this would be a favourite. The writing is just so beautiful and engaging. This book hurt me.

Vivek is of dual heritage, Nigerian and Indian, and his traditional parents see his individuality and expression as an illness.
The does not focus on his death, instead using it a focal point to delve deeper into familial relationships, grief, love and guilt.

This was stunning and I cannot do it justice.
This is an immediate buy for me.

It's in the title. Vivek Oji dies. Knowing that couldn't stop me from caring about Vivek and his death broke my heart. Emezi paints vivid pictures that sear onto the mind and linger, making you fully connect with the story. It's been 2 days since I finished the book, but I am still grappling with its transcendence. It's a defiant book, which dares you to predict it.
A perfect pick for book clubs, I cannot recommend it enough.

Full Review has been posted at:
https://thatcommonreader.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/the-death-of-vivek-oji-by-akwaeke-emezi/

“Somewhere, you see, in the river of time, I am already alive”
.
.
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On the day that Vivek was born, his grandmother died. He was marked with the same scar in the shape of a limp starfish that Ahunna had had on her foot. Born “after death and into grief” Vivek’s “whole life was a mourning.” A start that foretold the end


Set in southeastern Nigeria, The Death of Vivek Oji starts and ends with a stack of photographs. Told from multiple viewpoints, it feels as if this fragmented structure offers snapshots of Vivek at various points of his life. The boy catching the sunlight trying on his mother’s dowry jewellery, the adolescent peering through the window at his cousin Osita and his girlfriend Elizabeth, the long-haired student sleeping in a plumeria tree. The people that love Vivek offer up their perceptions of him, but no-one sees the whole leaving the reader to piece the parts together. It’s the need to be seen that ultimately leads to Vivek’s death
“If nobody sees you, are you still there”


Vivek is forced to live a life of half truths. His gender and sexual identities are reserved for a handful of trusted friends. The use of male pronouns throughout the novel seems to accentuate a sense of entrapment. Meanwhile the damage of being forced to hide your true self splinters lives and relationships throughout the book


Powerful and visceral, there’s violence punctuated by moments of great tenderness. A caved-in skull followed by the soft part at the back of a knee that must be kissed. Vivek’s mother’s grief, particularly when she thinks she’s failed her child, is hard to read in places. There’s a sense of absolution at the end, but it feels faint against the unresolved issues for those that remain. Brilliant and brutal

I have no words to describe the feelings swirling through me as I finished this book. The ending brought me to tears and the writing was lyrical and consistently beautiful. This is the first time I've had to stop my reading and actually go find tabs to mark quotes that I never want to lose. The story itself is so moving - it starts with the death of Vivek Oji and then goes through the events and circumstances that brought us there. I can't recommend this book enough.

I enjoyed this, but felt like I would have appreciated more from Vivek's point of view. I consistently enjoyed those chapters the most! Otherwise, I found their writing compelling and am looking forward to picking up Pet as well.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, is an adult fiction, LGBTQ+ contemporary set in a town of southeastern Nigeria, about the main character named Vivek Oji, who was figuring out his own identity and his life. Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings.

Author's lucid narrative style has bought the character of Vivek Oji and Osita to real life. It's narrated in two time frames, one where Vivek's mother tries her best to uncover the truth behind her son's sudden death and who bought his body back to his house. Who killed Vivek Oji? Was it someone who knew him?

And another time frame is about Vivek's life and his friends - Osita, Elizabeth, etc. Many characters in this book are coming of age and figuring out their self, restricted by the bounds of society. Also, we see two POVs in this book - Vivek and Osita, his cousin.

This one is a bittersweet yet powerfully moving story. The ending was phenomenal. Even thought the book is under 250 pages, the prose is beautiful and it will keep you thinking even after you have long finished the book. I would highly recommend you all to pick this book.
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Thank You to NetGalley and Publisher - Riverhead Books for providing me with the e-copy in exchange of a honest opinion.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A story of love, grief, secrets and family set in Nigeria. This book explores sexuality and gender identity but at it’s heart it is about the dynamics of human relationships.

This novel is so well written; it is non-linear and uses local dialect but never feels confusing. Utterly emotional and it feels important and vital.

I was totally invested in this and will be thinking about this for a long time to come.

Beautiful poetic writing.
A vivid portrait of contemporary Nigeria. Cultural prejudices of the past, expresssed by the older generation of Vivek's parents and relatives, and real hope for future acceptance of non-binary lives in the younger generation of Vivek's friends.
Will definitely recommend this title to our customers.

This was such a satisfying read.

Emezi's writing is so fluid, so smooth and inviting; the images flowing into one another. The characters are enchanting, flawed, raw. They blur the boundary between the worldly and other-worldly; the human and the more-than-human world. All edges are blurred, all binaries destroyed. The writing is authentic and evocative. It’s never ‘dumbed down’ for a Western or English-speaking audience.

The story itself is beautiful and heartbreaking. I didn’t know much about the plot at all, and that worked really well for this novel. The first sentence draws you in. The rest of the novel is equally as captivating, although I did take my time reading to savour every last sentence.

I've read two of Emezi’s three books now, and I cannot recommend this author highly enough!

I will also be posting this review on Goodreads and my Instagram, @_dizzyreads.