The Death of Vivek Oji

3.25

What I Liked
* Culture representation was VERY much appreciated - loved reading about other countries' cultures because it plays such a prevalent role in my own life. I enjoyed reading about their lives, the social dynamics between not only nuclear families but also the Nigerwives and their cultivation of familial community and support.
* Vivek's perspective/dedicated chapters - His chapters had the most raw emotional impact because he/the author crafts the way he feels in unmistakably vulnerable language that is beautiful as much as it is heartbreaking.
* The nuance of the relationships Vivek had with family and friends - the points where he showed up in the ongoing narrative of the perspectives of those closest to him were insightful - and at the risk of saying too much - portrayed his transition from feeling weighed down and trapped to recovering and accepting himself bit by bit in a gradual build that crescendoed beautifully from beginning to end and how that rubbed off on those around him (in both good and bad ways).

What I Disliked/Was Disappointing
* The other characters not including Vivek, Osita, and Juju (and by the end, Vivek's parents) - where is the nuance with the characters that surround Vivek? I understand this is most likely intentional - to talk about the events surrounding Vivek's death, obviously - but why does that have to translate to a lack of emotional depth? There's so much in the brief chapters from Vivek - which are more impactful not because of their brevity but because of their beautifully concise yet illustrative writing - that it creates a stark contrast to the lack of significance paid to the rest of the characters' true emotions (besides obvious devastation that Vivek died tragically). What the author showed of the other characters' past was not enough for me to connect to any of them. Their actions were clearly highlighted to portray them in a specific light or craft a judgement the author wanted us to infer because of the events highlighted. Ex. He cheated because his wife ignores him (happened multiple times), hence he's a bad guy. (I don't like Ebenezer's chapter because it felt like a very poorly orchestrated attempt to redeem him rather than just plainly stating he lost his way because he's a man who was tempted by what he couldn't have and therefore sought it out elsewhere.) Ex. She's the beaten first wife who moved across the country for a man who tossed her aside to be with someone else. (Why is that the only thing that we know about Maja? Why is that her entire character? Why include her tragedy for the sole purpose of giving Juju a troubled home life?) Ex. Vivek's friends were obviously important to him and a comfort to him, a safe space. Why didn't we know more about them besides Juju's somewhat in-depth backstory or more than just the clues Osita gives us of his guilt and inner turmoil? Couldn't we have seen more interactions between all of them together instead of random chapters about every older male figure cheating on their wife? Even though Vivek is the main character, he didn't have to be the only character that felt real.
* The ending - This may just be personal preference because the timeline is very fluid throughout but it's clear that we're working towards Vivek's death and the circumstances around it but once we get to it...it was too neat. Not the circumstances surrounding his death but the actual ending of the book...it felt too much like “And this is the moral of the story, the end.”