Dear Senthuran

May 1, 2021
A unique, visceral memoir from the author of The Death of Vivek Oji (2020). How does a spirit child drawn from Nigerian tribal cosmology negotiate modern life? That's the metaphysical conundrum at the heart of this highly personal and unusual memoir. Emezi grew up in Aba, Nigeria, and identifies as ogbanje, an "Igbo spirit that's born to a human mother, a kind of trickster that dies unexpectedly only to return in the next child and do it all over again." In order to ameliorate their feelings of "flesh dysphoria" or "metaphysical dysphoria," the author underwent multiple surgeries, including breast reduction and a "hysterectomy with a bilateral salpingectomy." As Emezi writes, they chose "to mutate my body into something that would fit my spiritself." Structured as a series of far-ranging letters written to friends, lovers, exes, family members, and others, the narrative raises questions about the author's "embodied nonhuman" existence and Igbo conceptions of reality. While Emezi's personal and professional travels have taken them around the world--Trinidad, Berlin, Johannesburg, Vietnam, Tanzania, and homes in Brooklyn and New Orleans--this book is not a travelogue. Although conventional elements of memoir reoccur--a painful breakup, estrangement from family members, career ups and downs--the author presents them as manifestations of a deity's "deeply traumatic" embodiment as a human being. Emezi attributes much of their meteoric rise--multiple literary award wins and nominations, National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" honoree, etc.--to the casting of the right spell. The author is crystal-clear in their focus on "writing for people like me, not for a white gaze," and seen through the prism of Igbo ontology, this adventurous life story is undoubtedly compelling. For some readers, getting past Emezi's "outrageously arrogant" demand "for attention, for glory, for worship" as a self-described "bratty deity" may require a leap of faith and a modicum of empathy, a merely human trait. Tribal spiritual beliefs meet contemporary literary acclaim in a powerful memoir.

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May 15, 2021
Emezi (The Death of Vivek Oji, 2020) bears the weight of a special responsibility. As an ogbanje, a malevolent Igbo spirit born into a human body, the writer feels the need to break the cycle of reincarnation. In this high-voltage epistolary memoir written as a series of letters to friends, family, acquaintances, and role models, Emezi describes how removal of their uterus along with a double mastectomy lets them come to shaky terms with their complex identities. The fiery prose describes a difficult childhood in Nigeria, a fractured relationship with their parents, and the challenges of fitting into traditional societal roles. At times the red-hot intensity of their world can be a bit difficult to take in: "Dear Senthuran, The first time I met you, we sat in the cafe on Malcolm X that doesn't exist anymore and talked about eating people, carving them up in tender moments, swallowing their meat and gristle," Emezi writes. Nevertheless, this is a remarkable memoir by a writer who doesn't shy away from sharing their ambitions or their vulnerabilities.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2021

With this first work of nonfiction, best-selling novelist Emezi writes an expressive memoir in letters, with an overlapping focus on spirit, divinity, and humanity. For Emezi, these epistolary essays--addressed to friends, family, and lovers, some close, some estranged--are an exercise in memory and a warning not to forget the past. Aspiring writers will appreciate the candid letters that document the writing process behind Emezi's Freshwater and The Death of Vivek Oji, which make clear that the author's success was far from guaranteed. Poignant letters also recount Emezi's dysphoria and efforts to reshape their body to reflect their spirit. The author is at their best when delineating the difficulties of hypervisibility; of being at once seen and unseen as a queer disabled Black writer. The body, in all its forms, is a recurring subject here, and Emezi movingly contemplates a body's mental and physical limitations. What sets the book apart is that its letters span time and place, from the author's native Nigeria, to Malaysia, Brooklyn, New Orleans, and beyond, reflecting their life and search for freedom--including the moments when Emezi doesn't know what their freedom might look like. VERDICT A must for fans of Freshwater; readers new to Emezi's writing will find themselves drawn in by their way with words.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 7, 2021
Emezi (The Death of Vivek Oji) reflects on their spiritual and creative evolution in this gorgeous epistolary memoir. Among the cast of recipients they address are friends, family, an ex-lover, Toni Morrison, and Senthuran Varatharajah, their German translator, who inspired the work’s form. Originally from Aba, Nigeria, Emezi identifies as ogbanje, an Igbo spirit that’s also a god. They are “embodied but not human,” an existential tension that governed their life as they traveled the globe in their 20s in search of home and themselves. Emezi eventually settled down in New Orleans in 2019, but their search for self continues in each letter as they shed old “masks,” outgrow relationships, and undergo a hysterectomy to align their human body with their “spiritself.” Emezi details the loneliness that comes with being “estranged from the indigenous Black realities” and is unwavering in their demand that readers meet them on their terms, even if they might be considered “too strange, too arrogant.” Yet in consistently captivating prose, Emezi demonstrates that it is precisely this unyielding belief in themself that catapulted their career, clinching literary awards and six-figure book deals. Those interested in broadening their metaphysical understanding of the world would do well to pick up this spellbinding work. Agent: Krisi Murray, The Wylie Agency.