Death of the Author

Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor, 2025

Premise: Zelu is struggling. Struggling with her career, with her body's limitations, with her family and her art. She decides to write a new story, and everything changes.

First, I loved this. 

I loved Zelu and all her complications. She's a young woman disabled by a childhood injury, but that's only a part of who she is. She's the product of a complex, demanding Nigerian-American family, but that's only another factor. She's an author, but when we meet her, she's struggling with that.

The book flips between Zelu's life in the near future/alternate present and excerpts of the sci-fi novel that makes her famous. It's impressive that I liked both sides of the narrative. I wasn't skimming through the "real world" parts to get to the more overtly sci-fi sections or vice versa. 

I really, really liked the characters and the story and the themes. It explores the relationship between art and the public, art and the artist, and the nature of creation and self-creation. What else is there to say?

5 Stars - An Awesome Book