Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - La morte di Vivek

While this was a well written book in terms of imagery and foreshadowing. I also thought the progression of understanding Vivek’s identity and his transition was well done. I loved the commentary on spiritual psychosis. HOWEVER….

there was really no need for the cousin incest to be described to that degree and portrayed as “true love”. Upon reflection, Osita was repressed and he had an innocent crush on Vivek as a young child, growing up jealous of Vivek’s openness and identity—so his repression and reluctance to live his life freely as a gay man in Nigeria led him to turn to the only other queer male he knew and had a emotional relationship leading him to change the relationship to a physical one made sense. However, that does not mean we have to pretend like incest is true love lol or have to describe the physicality to such a degree. Additionally, there were a couple plot holes like Vivek’s spells. Lastly, I actually hated the ending. I was hoping that, as the book went between pre- and post-death, Osita would not be in any way connected to Vivek’s death. To me that would have been too predictable. To make matters worse, Nnemdi died in the most ridiculous way possible.

In my opinion there were many unnecessary plot lines that actually had no effect on the plot. So much went on in that book. Like too much.

Content Warnings

egg_apologist's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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micksland's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars

This novel is emotional, dark, and cathartic. It contains several extremely violent and explicit passages which unfortunately relate to story spoilers, but please look up content warning if you choose to read it. It will rip your heart out. Fans of Shakspearean and Greek tragedies will love this modern equivalent.

I am convinced that Emezi's prose is some of the best in the English language. Each sentence is carefully placed and this short novel hits far above its page count. For example:

"Life was like being dragged through concrete in circles, wet and setting concrete that dried with each rotation of my unwilling body. As a child, I was light. It didn’t matter too much; I slid through it, and maybe it even felt like a game, like I was just playing in mud, like nothing about that slipperiness would ever change, not really. But then I got bigger and it started drying on me and eventually I turned into an uneven block, chipping and sparking on the hard ground, tearing off into painful chunks. I wanted to stay empty, like the eagle in the proverb, left to perch, my bones filled with air pockets, but heaviness found me and I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t shake it off; I couldn’t transform it, evaporate or melt it. It was distinct from me, but it hooked itself into my body like a parasite. I couldn’t figure out if something was wrong with me or if this was just my life—if this was just how people felt, like concrete was dragging their flesh off their bones."

So, why not the full five stars? I was somewhat confused by the way that the narration was done. Sometimes it felt as if Vivek's ghost was commenting on the story, and sometimes it was written as if Vivek would have been commenting. It was almost like the novel could not decide if it was literary fiction or truly magical realism. Aside from that, just fantastic.

Content Warnings

bruhbruh's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Another book about trans people for cis people, very disappointing from a non-binary author. And let's not even talk about the sexual/romantic cousin relationship.

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