Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was very, very enjoyable for many reasons. Okorafor has pulled off either an amazing hat trick or has just bared her soul to us readers with a book that is simultaneously a deeply interesting read and a rather personal one.

Of course, I can only assume it's a personal one. I do not know and haven't researched anything. But TRUTH rarely needs facts to display its nature.

I was just as interested in the tale within the tale as I was the author's life. And death, in either case, was something rather more than the surface. Beautifully so.

As I was reading this, I was reminded very positively of similar books that made me feel this way, like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Almost meta, very personal, switching back and forth between mediums, but always soulful.

I especially loved the commentary on fandom and the artist, the stressors, the expectations and the betrayals. It's doubly funny how GRRM was quoted on the cover-and Okorafor nails the fundamental reply.

This book is simply a wonderful conversation. Art and artist, culture versus individual, family versus autonomy, mind versus body.

I wholly recommend.

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