Once in a while, you come across a book that really makes you stop and think about just why you’re a reader in the first place. These are the moments that make you grateful to be able to step out of our world and experience life, briefly, through the eyes of someone else.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi is a book full of masterfully crafted language. It is a novel that will make you think, yet also, in the end, cause you to shatter into a million small pieces. There is no denying that The Death of Vivek Oji is full of harsh, grating scenes, yet still has moments of joy sprinkled throughout the pages. The Death of Vivek Oji follows the life of the title character, Vivek Oji, detailing moments of his existence through the eyes of characters that were touched by his presence. It also details events that occur for these characters, such as his cousin, his father, his mother, etc. after his passing.
Akwaeke Emezi is a Nigerian, award winning author who published their first novel in 2018. The Death of Vivek Oji is now Emezi’s third novel, however this is their sophomore adult fiction novel. In between The Death of Vivek Oji and their first novel, Freshwater Emezi also wrote a young adult novel, Pet that was released in 2019. The Death of Vivek Oji also ended up winning Akwaeke Emezi the Audie Award for Literary Fiction and Classics. Emezi writes characters and stories for those that they wish to see. Emezi wishes for others to see themselves in their characters, for they were never able to see themselves in any characters in their life as a trans person. Emezi just wants others to feel seen, to feel as if they are heard, to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and joy can be found. There is not nearly as much representation for trans people out there, and Emezi writing about trans characters as a trans author is so important for today’s media.
There is this inherent belief that one needs to categorize a book in order for it to be readable, but even discussing what genre Vivek Oji falls under is tricky. There is definitely a love story element to the text, as Vivek ends up finding love in the most unlikely of places. There is also a mystery element to the novel right from the beginning, since we never find out what happened to Vivek and how he died until the very end. There is also an element of history to the novel, due to the fact that it details events in Vivek’s past and also there are elements of Nigerian history sprinkled into the text as well. In the end, it is shelved under literary fiction, but is this really fair when there are so many more elements to the story?
It’s not a spoiler to say that Vivek Oji was doomed from the start. The first sentence of the book is the entire first chapter of the novel, “They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died (1).” If it wasn’t evident enough that Vivek passes away, just from the title, the first chapter makes that very clear. The entirety of Vivek’s life is rooted in strife and hardship, making the novel a difficult read at times. In the opening few chapters, Emezi writes about Vivek’s early years through his relationship with his cousin, and also about the few episodes that Vivek begins to have. “There were moments when he would become very, very still, just stop moving while the world continued around him (19).” These would occur several times throughout the novel, considered episodes where Vivek would no longer remember where he is or what to do in any situation.
While the story is told through the perspectives of characters within Vivek’s life, the reader also gets little vignettes of Vivek’s thoughts from beyond the grave. “I didn’t have the mouth to put into words, to say what was wrong, to change the things I felt I needed to change (38).” These thoughts are relatively vague, never longer than a page, but offer a little bit of insight into Vivek’s mind. This ends up being very helpful towards the end of the novel, when the reader is able to put all the pieces together about what it is that Vivek was going through and what ended up happening to him.
It is moments within these sections of Vivek’s thoughts beyond the grave that truly makes the reader stop and think for a moment. “And every day it was difficult walking around and knowing that people saw me one way, knowing that they were wrong, so completely wrong, that the real me was invisible to them (38).” It calls into question why it is that Vivek says this about himself, why he feels as though he is invisible to everyone, especially considering the story mostly takes place through the eyes of other characters. A large majority of the chapters are told through the eyes of Vivek’s parents and their struggle to cope with the death of their son. Their views are skewed, since they are blinded by their immense grief. It makes the reader stop to think about just how reliable these narrators and characters are. How are they telling Vivek’s story when they don’t even know Vivek for who he truly is?
While the life of Vivek was not necessarily beautiful, the masterfully crafted prose and language that Emezi uses within the story is exquisite. “Perhaps he was right and it was a birth of sorts, but Chika had forgotten that births come with blood, and in the case of his son, they came with loss as well, birthdays and deathdays all tangled up in each other (92).” While this is a very dark line, there is a sense of gracefulness, due to the beauty within the prose. Emezi has a way of cutting away parts of the aggression and hardship through the use of their beautiful word choice.
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi is the kind of book you should read if you are looking to think and have your heart broken. Now this doesn’t seem like the kind of response anyone is looking for, but the way this book will break you is in a way that will live with you forever. There is no forgetting Vivek Oji and the short life that he was able to live. There are so many interconnecting details that don’t seem necessary right away, but in the last thirty pages of the novel, they all come together in a way that is mind blowing. The twists and turns that Emezi throws in the ending of the novel make for the perfect storm to call a finale. This novel tackles several topics within it without ever feeling too heavy or that it can’t handle it all within the page limit. Needless to say, Vivek Oji is a character that will be staying with me for a while. “I was born and I died. I will come back. Somewhere in the river of time, I am already alive (245).”
Book Reviews From a Novel Nerd 