sercem_w_ksiazkach's reviews
418 reviews

SO MUCH FUN

CW: death, incest, homophobia, transphobia

How to put in words everything that I felt while reading this book? I will bear it close to my heart for a long time.

In simple yet beautiful writing Akwaeki Emezi tells a story of Vivek Oji’s life and death. We start from the finale: Vivek’s parents find his body on their doorstep, cold, naked and in a pool of blood. Their sorrow starts.

Then we come back to the beginning, to the story of Vivek’s parents meeting and falling in love. Third-person narration recounts Vivek’s growing up on a Nigerian countryside, playing around with his cousin Osita and other kids in the neighborhood, children of ‘Nigerwives’ – group of women from different countries who wedded Nigérian men and decided to stay there. It’s not only a story about Vivek; it’s a story about family, community, being queer in a deeply homophobic country and finding yourself.

Through these characters and their doubts I felt myself seen. Similarly to the queer characters in the book who have found comfort in each other, this book has acknowledged me, hugged me and said everything was alright.

At the end, when we finally discovered how Vivek died, I felt regret and pain at how it came to be and how it was all the fault of the fear of homophobia. Tragic in its simplicity.

The Death of Vivek Oji is a beautiful book. It packs an emotional punch, a deep exploration of one’s individual self and of a community, and is written in a simple but touching way. However, I’m afraid that many people won’t like this book for characters’ faults, their decisions, and most of all - incest.

It’s a pity that incest was included, because if they hadn’t been a family, I would have no complaints about this book (well, maybe for kinda weird parings and timings of sex scenes). But it was done so well that I understood why the characters felt that connection.

I understood characters’ motivations and deeply connected to the book nonetheless, so all my complaints fall to the background of my amazement at how well crafted the story was. I don’t know, man. The Death of Vivek Oji just dug a hole in my heart and made itself comfortable there, and I will think about it for a long time.