Their novels are glorious, but also challenging. A release of one of their books is an event in my literary calendar and I have been looking forward to this one from the moment it was released, but I did not feel that I was in the right place to read it. Thank you for supporting our publishing ministry.Akwaeke Emezi is one of my favourite contemporary writers. To keep reading, subscribe-subscriptions begin at $4.95-or log in. This article is available to Christian Century magazine subscribers only.
This is the legacy of Vivek Oji: taking the air around us and converting it to what we need to breathe, to be. Though we may not understand every prognostic breath, breathing will sustain our lives. Vivek and their friends-turned-family teach us to take in the air given us it will become what we need.
Neither our air nor our formations are clear. But the loving and lovely relationships between Vivek and their friends-Osita, Juju, Elizabeth, Somto, and Olunne-will remind you to breathe in the air of this complicated life, not to ignore its hazy texture or pretend it is either clear or opaque. The stories of Vivek’s family- their parents Chika and Kavita, their uncle Ekene, their aunt Mary-will show you that what you’ve been doing is more akin to gasping than breathing. But it is important to accept Emezi’s invitation into this aching realization, especially through the book’s gender-nonbinary Indian-Nigerian protagonist, Vivek.ĭear reader, I must warn you: Emezi’s masterpiece will leave you broken, in painful ways but also in critical ways, ways that let back into your lungs the air that you didn’t know was slowly seeping out in the first place. This feels like a problem as The Death of Vivek Oji unfolds, and it even hurts. It is difficult to know how to speak of “unknowing.” Novelist Akwaeke Emezi thrusts this reality into the room, holding nothing back, signaling the obvious: humanity is not well versed in recognizing its complexity.
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