The Death of Vivek Oji

Author: Akwaeke Emezi
Publisher: Faber
Reviewer: Orielle Berry
Wherever you are in the world, parents are protective and want what they think is best for their children. And wherever you may be in the world, parents often do not see the truth that is dangled before their eyes. When children are different and battling with inner demons there is a sort of denial. A protective shield goes up. 
In a small Nigerian market town, the 

​teenager Vivek Oji spends his days dreaming. He's from what could best be described as a comfortably-off family. His mother is over protective; his father largely absent. 
Emezi is astoundingly adept at taking small family issues and describing them in a way that leaves you wanting for more. They may sound benign but they lead to a more significant picture. Parents beget children. Two people meet and fall in love. A man asks for the hand of another. A marriage happens and new children come into the world.  Vivek is born the day his grandmother Ahunna dies. 
Vivek is a young boy. Shirtless, he places necklaces on his small chest and clips his ears with gold earrings from his parents' jewelley box. His hair tumbles over his shoulders.
Enter Osita, his cousin. As tall as Vivek but with broader shoulders. His skin is described as the colour of loam, his mouth "full beyond belief". The two are like brothers. But more than that... 
One savours the clever use of words, the sentences and the paragraphs that Emezi magnificently wields with her pen. 
On one level we seen the unhingeing of the young Vivek. Coming of age, he straddles the world of a seemingly conservative family milieu. Back in his bedroom or on the streets during his evening walks he is more himself. But there are inevitable clashes as the family are unable to find the real boy/man.  
Juxtaposed is the political and social malaise that is happening in the market town as unrest seethes and it becomes more and more urgent.  
Vivek and Osita have to keep the secret of their love well-hidden both from the family and from the more threatening Nigerian society at large. 
When a fire engulfs the market town - Vivek's body, enshrouded in a piece of traditional akwete material, is brought to the family's home. It's then that secrets tightly packaged are slowly are unwrapped and matters kept hidden beneath the surface, begin to emerge. 
It would be an understatement to again reiterate what a superb read this is. One to be savoured. Emezi paints a fascinating picture of how a young boy with a gentle spirit touches all he comes into contact with. It is also a beautiful coming of age story subtly showing how life's expectations, disappointments - the optismism we hold as youth and the acceptance of ageing adulthood are all to be embraced. 
*Go to www.akwaeke.com/biography to find out more about the author.