Emezi’s previous novel Freshwater was such an emotional slog that I put off reading this one for a while. Turns out it’s the opposite: a focused, sharp stab of a story that knows exactly where it’s going and what it wants to say. It spirals towards the central fact of Vivek’s death by flipping back and forth between accounts, tales told by various friends, family, or acquaintances. The stories, told both in present or past tense, slowly contribute to the bigger narrative until the reader is finally granted a complete picture of Vivek, the people and the emotions around him, and how everything led inexorably to his fate. Vivek belonged to a community of children born to the Nigerwives, non-Nigerian women who married Nigerian men, and it is their attitudes that help set up some of the culture clash around the concepts of gender, sexuality, and identity, and the danger of trying to live one’s truth in a community where riots and violence seem always just a breath away.
Tag: author-akwaeke emezi
Bitter, by Akwaeke Emezi
Prequel to the amazing novel Pet, but unfortunately I think it’s not as strong or as focused. Narrator Bitter has survived trauma to find solace in art, but finds it hard to justify being an artist in a world full of injustice, corporate greed, and police brutality, especially when practically all of her friends have joined an implausibly well-organized resistance movement in which teens demonstrate against societal racism. Much of the book is spent on Bitter’s self-doubt; it makes the otherworldly spirits and fast-paced action that dominate the last quarter of the book seem jarring. Lots of really piercing commentary on social injustice and human nature, but unfortunately the book doesn’t come together smoothly for me.
Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi
This book sits in an interesting spot, culturally. Basically when the main character Ada (or “the Ada” as the spirits inside call her) was born, the gate to the spirit world malfunctioned and the spirits inside her were never truly joined to her in a healthy way. As she experienced moments of trauma and isolation (sketched with beautiful language by Emezi), the spirits inside her took turns piloting her physical body; they took on aspects of strength and caring that helped her get through hard times, but also acted out in unhealthy ways. Because she moved from Nigeria to Virginia, from a world where she would have been considered god-touched to one where she was considered mentally ill, she sank further into dysfunction; after suicide attempts and panic attacks, she was only able to turn towards recovery by embracing her native culture. I found out later that this was autobiographical, which is… even more disturbing considering some of the stuff that went on in the book. If that’s true though, I’m glad Emezi has found a balance with their inner selves.
Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi
In a utopian future where “angels” have rooted out the “monsters” that beset humanity, protagonist Jam draws a creature of vengeance out of a piece of her mother’s artwork, and finds herself an unwilling participant in its hunt for evil. It’s an interesting situation because all her life Jam has been told that there are no more monsters to fear, so that when she does wish to hunt one, she finds that the biggest obstacle is the adults’ lack of belief that danger exists at all. Simply told but sits uncomfortably in the mind; well done.