![]() ![]() We see his birth and his childhood and his quest for his own identity we also hear his voice from beyond the grave and those were perhaps the most poignant passages. We learn who Vivek was we learn to love him we learn (eventually) how he died we learn the impact his death has had on his family, friends and community.Īnd despite being dead, Vivek remains a vital character in the novel: we are treated to flashbacks all the way back to to his parents’ courtship in a bravura opening chapter imagining a sequence of photographs telling their own own stories. And this image of Vivek, naked, wrapped in a cloth, delivered dead to his parents door is the brutal central moment around which this novel revolves. This is one of the most potent opening lines I have come across. ![]() They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died. And the opening line delivered exactly that: What was I expecting? The usual from Emezi: brutal and unflinching honesty, glorious language, compelling characters and heart ache. ![]() 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. Akwaeke Emezi is one of my favourite contemporary writers. ![]()
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