Vivek was a gentle soul, a free spirit who felt chained by a world that sought to define him.

She is the one who found him that faithful morning, and all she wants is to understand the events that led up to that moment. Asking questions to anyone until she has the answers she desperately needs. Kavita is desperate to understand what happened to her son. Chika fights with accepting that these things might happen in a country torn asunder by violence. She becomes so much more to Vivek through his transformation. Juju starts as a childhood acquaintance in a group called the Nigerwives. We see his mental breakdown, his weight loss, the need to grow out his hair, and the devastation of finding his body on the porch when he is left dead.Īnd then there is Juju. From his mother, Kavita, we see a mother’s perspective. His father essentially sees him as weak, and too sensitive. We learn that Vivek fights ALOT, he spends most of his childhood in military school to toughen up. From Osita, Vivek’s cousin and oldest friend, turned lover (this honestly is weird, but hey) we learn about Vivek’s childhood. She reminisced on that sweetness and treasuring it as if it was the last moment it was.Īs the book progresses, we witness Vivek’s life unfurl through the eyes of the people who loved him most. In this moment, Kavita remembered every moment of her child feeding himself, as if it was the first time. Of course, he ate the cornflakes quickly – he never liked them soggy – then tipped the bowl to his mouth and drank the sweetened milk. “Of course he picked out his three cubes of sugar, let them dissolve into the milk. It is the moment Kavita is looking back on Vivek’s final meal with the family at home. There are many moving passages in Akwaeke Emezi’s novel, but one in particular sticks with me. But “How else could that scar have entered the world on flesh if it had not left in the first place? A thing cannot be in two places at once.” Chika once said. His parents decided not to speak of it, as they did not want to burden Vivek with the tale. And although they considered it reincarnation in their Igbo heritage, Vivek ended up with the same starfish scar on the exact placement that his grandmother Alhunna had. Vivek Oji son to Chika, and Kavita was born on the day his grandmother died. One that it is not only Vivek’s story, but that of his grieving mother looking back on the life of the son she thought she knew, but never really understood. Set in the1980s Nigeria, when you read Vivek’s story, you will realize many things. The Death of Vivek Oji is a heartbreaking tale of making sure you lead the life YOU want to live.

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