Vivek asks: “ if nobody sees you, are you still there?” Think about how this line resonates with you and the emotions it evokes.The book’s opening line paints a picture of a burnt market, what were your first impressions and what assumptions did you make about Vivek’s death?.I couldn’t shake it off I couldn’t transform it, evaporate or melt it.” - Chapter ten, p. Life was like being dragged through concrete in circles, wet and setting concrete that dried with each rotation of my unwilling body…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 always thought that death would be the heaviest thing of all, but it wasn’t, it really wasn’t. Other characters such as Osita- Vivek’s cousin who he shares a very personal bond with, Juju, and Elizabeth give a well-rounded picture of a tragedy that forces you to think about what it means to make a home out of trust, and not blood or familial ties. In lyrical prose, Akwaeke Emezi employs different narration techniques that alternate between the 1st and 3rd person between chapters, resurrecting Vivek Oji back to life in the minds of the reader like a ghost always lurking around his family, observing their grief and foreshadowing the tiny details that contextualize his death. “Perhaps I had just become the fulcrum, the point on which everything hinged, the turning.” - Chapter ten, p. It starts off by unravelling a family’s history using the idea of photographs - “ the old kind, rounded at the corners and kept in albums under the glass and lace doilies of centre tables,” introducing each character like a deck of cards until the second chapter ends with words that paint a powerful picture of sorrow as “ the beginning and end of everything.” Truths because it is hard to say Vivek kept secrets that were glaringly obvious.Īkwaeke Emezi strings together a tale that carries grief beyond mere human emotions and loss, meshing it into layered themes such as reincarnation, identity, loyalty, sexuality, and love. The Death of Vivek Oji follows a mother’s quest for answers that will eventually flirt with insanity, and lead her to truths she willfully ignored about her son’s identity. There is no note or sad face to prepare a family for what comes next after they lift the akwete cloth off their son’s body.

This story is a powerful account of how a family mourns when their only son’s lifeless body is delivered at their doorstep unaccompanied. The Death of Vivek Oji is a gripping tale that provokes you to flip its pages hurriedly, in search of answers because you need to know who Vivek Oji is and why you should care about his death. These are the opening words of a story that dares to move you in unexpected ways.

“ They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died” - One line, the first chapter. “Some people can’t see softness without wanting to hurt it.” - Chapter twelve, p.

The death of vivek