LGBTQ+ Queer Fiction Book Club - The Death of Vivek Oji: Akwaeke Emezi

QUEER FICTION BOOK CLUB!

Our next read will be ‘The Death of Vivek Oji: Akwaeke Emezi ‘

Synopsis:

Book Description

The astonishing new novel from the author of Freshwater - Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Wellcome Book Prize

Vivek Oji: utterly captivating, complex, mercurial and profoundly connected to those who come to understand him. This novel unpicks Vivek's tale. It begins with his end, his body shrouded on his mother's doorstep, and moves backwards through time to tell us the story of Vivek's life and the mystery surrounding his death. Many will see The Death of Vivek Oji as a departure from Freshwater in that this is a deeply accessible novel suffused with family life and a tragedy sits squarely at its heart, but it speaks to Akwaeke's earlier work in its call to gender fluidity and the pain of adolescence lived beyond binary constructions of sexuality. As compulsively readable as it is tender and potent, this is a fresh, engaging novel about the innocence of youth and how it clashes with culture and expectation. THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI tells the story of a Nigerian childhood quite different from the one we might expect - Akwaeke's writing speaks to the truth of realities other than those that have already been seen.

About the Author

Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is the author of the memoir Dear Senthuran; New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature; and Freshwater, which was named a New York Times Notable Book, longlisted for both the Wellcome Book Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation, they are based in liminal spaces.

Purchase the book here:

Amazon Link

At the end of the meeting we will set the next book, based on ideas and feedback from the group, giving everyone two months to read the book. All the books will be LGBTQ+ themed, by LGBTQ+ writers, or with themes likely to be of interest to LGBTQ+ people and communities.

Please read the book ahead of the meeting and come with a view to share your opinions and views.

If you would like to attend but are unable to afford the book, please email Chris on cwray@kingstonlgbtforum.org.uk who will be able to help out.

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