Credit: Riverhead, Scottie O
Emezi's debut novel Freshwater was one of my favorite novels of this most recent decade; it was so stunningly original with its take on mental illness and Igbo ontology. So I was looking forward to reading Emezi's sophomore effort, about an unusual boy named Vivek Oji, who is of mixed Igbo and South Asian heritage, and whose body shows up on the steps of his mother's house in Southeastern Nigeria.
Flitting between the perspectives of Vivek's parents, his cousin Osita, and Vivek himself, we learn more about his troubled history growing up in the town of Ngwa; his refusal to adhere to strict gender norms, and his ragtag group of queer friends, adolescent children of the Nigerwives, a group of foreign women who are married Nigerian men and have formed a little community.
Emezi is an engaging and evocative writer; their descriptions of small-town Nigerian life are vividly rendered. But I stumbled a bit with some of the plot points; there are two late revelations that in my mind felt too melodramatic and belied the tender core of the novel, which is essentially about this group of queer teens. But that I cared so much about what happened to the characters is a testament to the quality of Emezi's writing. Get your copy. —Tomi Obaro
This Week in Virtual Book Events: August 17–23 - Fiona Davis, author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, in conversation with Adriana Trigiani — hosted by RJ Julia, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
- Shruti Swamy, author of A House Is a Body, in conversation with Angela Garbes — hosted by Third Place Books, 7 p.m. PT, more info.
- Nnedi Okorafor, author of Ikenga, in conversation with Tochi Onyebuchi — hosted by Women & Children First, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
- Chanel Miller, author of Know My Name, in conversation with Rebecca Solnit — hosted by Politics & Prose, 8 p.m. ET, more info
- Diane Cook, author of The New Wilderness, in conversation with Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field — hosted by RJ Julia, 4 p.m. ET, more info.
- Kiku Hughes, author and illustrator of Displacement, in conversation with Nina M. Wallace — hosted by Third Place Books and Densho, 5 p.m. PT, more info.
- Lisa Hanawalt, author and illustrator of I Want You, in conversation with Emily Heller — hosted by Powell's Books, 5 p.m. PT, more info.
- S. A. Cosby, author of Blacktop Wasteland, in conversation with David Joy, author of When These Mountains Burn — hosted by Murder By the Book, 7 p.m. CT, more info.
- Akwaeke Emezi, author of The Death of Vivek Oji, in conversation with Nicole Dennis-Benn — hosted by Books & Books, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
- Authors Brit Bennett (The Vanishing Half), Sophie Mackintosh (Blue Ticket), Sue Monk Kidd (The Book of Longings), and Ron Rash (In the Valley), in a panel on immersive fiction — hosted by Penguin Random House's Book Your Summer Live event, 6 p.m. ET, more info.
- Authors Talia Hibbert (Take a Hint, Dani Brown); Vanessa Riley (A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby); Farrah Rochon (The Boyfriend Project); and Kennedy Ryan (Queen Move); in a conversation moderated by Christina Tucker — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 4 p.m. ET, more info.
Check out the rest of this week's events here. Do you know someone who would love the Books newsletter? Tell them to sign up here! Got any feedback for us about the newsletter? Respond to this email; we'd love to hear what you want more (or less) of! BuzzFeed, Inc.
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