A review by paracosim
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

What good was love if she could only see it through a window?

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It took me forever to read this book. The summary sounded right up my alley, the cover is gorgeous, I like the author, I loved Yellowface which the book was compared to, annnnd for some reason I hit 44% and could go no further. It wasn’t until today that I forced myself to power through and finish reading.

Death of the Author isn’t a bad book for what it is, but I went in expecting a heavier critique on the publishing industry and systemic racism and ableism. What I got was a bit of a melodrama about Zelu’s somewhat insufferable family, a super cool but somewhat detached story-within-a-story about robots, and…Elon……Musk? (Mostly, I just got hungry lol. Fried plantains sound amazing right now.)

It felt at times like this book didn’t know what it wanted to be. I think that’s why I ultimately had such a hard time powering through to the finish line. The pacing was a little off in a few places, and it felt like Zelu was so heavily detached from reality at times that it fell into patterns of “she comes up with something new and amazing, her family hates on her for it, she cries alone in her old bedroom, she does the thing anyway and comes to regret it because her family was right, then boom she comes up with something new and yet again for the third time this chapter she mentions that her agent is nagging her for updates on the sequel to Rusted Robots…”

Rinse and repeat. Ultimately the book just felt repetitive, and though the writing itself was excellent on a craft level, I haven’t come away feeling very good about the time I spent on this novel.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go buy some plantains. I have a real hankering for them all of a sudden.
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