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The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi review – a painfully invisible existence
This tender, visceral novel follows a character who is both dead and alive, male and female
Akwaeke Emezi’s Women’s prize-longlisted debut Freshwater was narrated by the multiple selves inhabiting a young Nigerian woman who was born with “one foot on the other side”.
- Sara Collins
- The Guardian
Their new novel occupies a similar spiritual plane.
Its protagonist is dead.
“They burned down the market the day Vivek Oji died,” it begins, interspersing recollections of Oji from friends and family with snippets of his own testimony from beyond the grave.
One minute we’re with Oji in childhood, playing with his…