Death of the Author

Book review for Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. I rated it 4 stars ⚠️ This review contains spoilers! Death of the Author is about a Nigerian American author named Zelu who gains immediate worldwide popularity when she publishes the sci-fi book Rusted Robots. The book jumps between the main plot as Zelu becomes famous, with flash forwards to interviews with Zelu’s friends and family, plus excerpts of her book. The other theme running throughout this book is that of family relationships, as Zelu had become paralysed at a young age. She hates how they don’t seem to be proud of her newfound successes as an author, nor do they fully respect her want for independence. From the family’s POV, she’s seen as a rather flighty and at times selfish daughter. The two sides of the POVs almost felt a little bit jarring, like surely her family would be a little bit happier for her successes. But maybe the author Nnedi Okorafor (who is similarly Nigerian American) is drawing on her own lived…