The Death of Vivek Oji - Akwaeke Emezi
This book is both beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking. I couldn’t put it down (literally woke up in the middle of the night dreaming about it and had to read on right then). I also didn’t want it to end, because I knew the end would bring a conclusion I didn’t want to hear.
Set in southeastern Nigeria, The Death of Vivek Oji revolves around the life and death of a young person called Vivek. The novel starts at the end (the death), and then jumps to the beginning of Vivek’s life in order to work back towards the end again. We start with a woman named Kavita who finds her dead son’s body wrapped in fabric on her doorstep. The story then goes back in time to before Vivek was born, detailing the lives of his parents and uncle and auntie and how they met, Vivek’s birth, and childhood, and eventually his breakdown and rebirth, and everything that happens right before his death. The story is made up of multiple viewpoints along its journey, Kavita and Chika (Vivek’s parents), Mary and Ekene (his auntie and uncle), his cousin Osita, and his close girl friends Juju, Elizabeth, Somto, and Olunne, among a few others. Each viewpoint provides a new piece to Vivek’s story.
Vivek’s story is one of sadness and fear, of not being allowed to accept who they are and who they want to be, but defying the odds anyway. It is also a story of grief, of self-discovery, of sexual identity, and how as humans we force each other, and ourselves, to fit into specific boxes, when we should all be granted the freedom to discover ourselves naturally.
Akwaeke Emezi has such talent: this is not a long read but it has so much depth! The characters are developed so perfectly, and there are so many layers to uncover as you read. Beautiful writing, heart wrenching story, one that will linger in my heart for a very long time. Vivek became very, very real for me, as they most likely will for any reader.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.