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miaaa_lenaaa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Potentially spoilers!!
‘Some people can't see softness without wanting to hurt it.’
‘if you didn't tell other people, was it real or was it just something the two of you were telling yourselves?’
‘“I’m not sure my belief matters," he says. "If it is, it is, whether I believe it or not."’
‘ No one else could feel that lifetime of loss. No one else had lost him more than she had, yet they cried in front of her as if it meant something. They're still children, Kavita tried to tell herself, not mature enough to do her the courtesy of keeping their tears in their bedrooms, among their own complete families. But still she thought of them as selfish brats without home training or compassion or empathy, and this in turn made her angry at these girls she knew she still loved, somewhere under the rage and pain and the grief that she felt belonged to her and only her.’
‘“We can't keep insisting he was who we thought he was, when he wanted to be someone else and he died being that person, Chika. We failed, don't you see We didn't see him and we failed."’
‘when you've stood on ground and known your child's bones are rotting beneath you, rage and ego fade like dust in a strong wind.’
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
sonyareadsbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
_noidea_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Death and Violence
Minor: Vomit
sercem_w_ksiazkach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
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.
Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, and Transphobia
Minor: Violence and Vomit
summerb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
taviarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, Islamophobia, and Sexual harassment
random19379's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
penofpossibilities's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Vomit, and War
lpleitera's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Spoiler: And, yes, the narrative builds up to the death scene as if it's a "reveal," in a manner that I honestly found to be in poor taste. Like, there's this powerful moment where Vivek finally says, "My name is Nnemdi," and the omniscient narrator begins using "she/her" pronouns to describe her... and not even a page later, she trips and falls to her death?!? Doesn't this outcome undercut her entire character arc? Doesn't that say to readers that the minute Nnemdi becomes her full, authentic self, some cataclysm immediately befalls her?
Anyway, there were some individual scenes I really enjoyed, but certain choices and themes felt underdeveloped.
Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Vomit
andreiaoh's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
However, from the middle onwards, there was a significant lull. Firstly, I thought there was a lot of unnecessary padding in terms of chapters I found added nothing to the story and characters that didn't need that much page time, for example, I still fail to understand the relevance of Ebeneezer's chapter other than a flawed attempt at foreshadowing. It was even more jarring considering how short this book was and I would have preferred that time spent to be reading about Vivek and the girls' friendships that we really didn't get to see much of.
Second, the major thing of this story that I just couldn't be on board with was the incestous relationship. It was uncomfortable to read and I personally didn't think it added much to the story. I understand Emezi has done an interview that explains their reasoning for this relationship but I don't believe that I have to understand the author's decision for this relationship to be included in this book to enjoy reading it. I understood their decision but I did not enjoy reading it regardless.
Lastly, the ending of this story ruined the book for me. I thought it was a weak ending and to avoid giving spoilers, I wish the mystery unfurled in a more satisfying manner that didn't feel like a rushed attempt at a plot twist.
This started off as a strong read for me but my critiques of the story as a whole did pile up towards the end – a shame, considering I was expecting to love this book. I am still glad I read it, the writing was genuinely stunning, and I did enjoy the read, but I did have personal issues with some of the author's plot decisions.
Graphic: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, and Vomit
Minor: Infertility