At others, an omniscient third person shows us what’s happening with our main characters – and sometimes unexpected new characters – and what they’re feeling but not saying to each other. At times the story is told in the first person, either from Vivek or his cousin Osita. Sometimes we’re looking at the aftermath, watching people grieve and hold onto secrets they have about Vivek. Sometimes we’re seeing Vivek in different stages of his life. The novel jumps back and forth through time and between narrators. They choose not to understand him, and are left to figure it out only after it’s too late. While Vivek uncovers his own identity – including gender identity and sexuality – his family brushes him off as sick, like something’s wrong with him.
Set in Nigeria, primarily in the 1990s, it follows Vivek from childhood into early adulthood. Rather, it’s an examination of who a person is and who actually knows them. But The Death of Vivek Oji is more than a tale of life and death. The book starts with the death of the main character. So I was thrilled it was a pick for Book of the Month this month. I wanted this books for months, counting down the summer days until it finally came out. Queer, gender-nonconforming people in 1990s Nigeria take center stage here, illuminating the kind of trauma that can come out of confining people to narrow expectations.
Their third novel overall – and second for adults – it examines a complex character before and after their death, before and after loved ones really knew who they were. That’s absolutely true of Akwaeke Emezi‘s latest novel, The Death of Vivek Oji.
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