On Mary’s advice, Kavita sends Vivek to Mary’s church, where the congregation beats Vivek because they believe a demon is compelling his feminine behavior. Tension grows between Vivek and Osita when Vivek questions the existence of Osita’s absent girlfriend and Osita struggles with his sexual attraction to Vivek. Vivek comes home from military school with his hair grown out long, much to the distress of his family, who become divided over how to receive this change. Elizabeth sees Vivek standing listlessly in the doorway and screams. Throughout childhood, only Osita knows about Vivek’s strange blackouts, which culminate in a rift between the boys when Vivek blacks out while secretly watching Osita and his high school girlfriend, Elizabeth, have sex. He is raised alongside his cousin Osita, whose parents are Chika’s brother, Ekene, and Ekene’s increasingly religious wife, Mary.
Vivek inexplicably has the same scar on his foot that Ahunna did. Vivek is born on the day that his beloved grandmother Ahunna dies, marking his birthday as a source of both joy and grief for his parents Kavita and Chika. This study guide’s use of fluid pronouns for Vivek attempts to preserve the novel’s nuance and ambiguity. Note: There’s a tremendous amount of mystery in the text regarding certain characters’ specific sexual orientations or gender identities it isn’t clear, for instance, whether Vivek is gender fluid or a trans woman who only rarely has the opportunity to present as herself. The author, like the titular character, is Nigerian Igbo and Tamil and grew up in Nigeria in the 90s amidst political unrest.
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