The Death of Vivek Oji is a novel that features a small Nigerian village and a young mother opening her doors to find the dead body of her son, Vivek Oji, wrapped in fabric and missing his necklace. As she desperately searches for his necklace and the person who dropped him at her step, she is faced with the secrets that her son had kept hidden. Specifically, his close bond with his cousin, Osita, and his desire to grow his hair long and change his name to Nnemdi, a name that was his grandmother’s. But, while Vivek dreamed of being free, it comes to the attention of his cousins that this village isn’t one to keep secrets hidden. Told in varying perspectives in the past and present, Vivek’s mother strives to figure out who her son was while Osita does all he can to keep the truth buried.
Okay! Let’s just say that I am glad that this book was fairly short. But I do have to say, the plot itself seemed really interesting and I was excited when it finally came in the mail. And now, I am excited to sell it in a much-needed garage sale. The book features various characters, which means various perspectives, leading to various points of confusion. Also, and this may be my fault, but there were a lot of phrases used that weren’t necessarily in English or in any glossary in the book that led me to confusion. Even after a google search, literally nothing came up… so maybe it's just my internet but there were many parts of the book that I didn’t understand solely because I didn’t understand some of the dialogue. Additionally, I felt as if some characteristics of the book felt half-baked or just not solved at all. First, the death of Vivek (the main part about the book) felt sort of one-dimensional as the reactions of the ones that were close to him didn’t really go as well as I thought it would have. And then there’s the biggest thing that annoyed and disgusted me: his relationship with Osita, his COUSIN???? I know it’s normalized in some cultures but there are other ways to make a relationship feel “forbidden” without having to go into incestuous relationships. For example, I felt as if the author could have expanded on Vivek’s identity instead. So, to sum it all up, this was not a book for me. Even though I see people rate it highly, it just shows how different people’s opinions are! But I did not expect controversy with THIS book.