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Little Rot
A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning Akwaeke Emezi, about five friends trying to outrun and outmatch a powerful, underground world
One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A breakup that starts a spiral. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Little Rot is a whirling journey through the city’s dark side, told through the eyes of five people, each determined to run from the twisted powers out to destroy them.
Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from his loss, visits a sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, intersect with the three old friends as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt underworld, they’re all looking for a way out of the trouble they’ve instigated, driven by loss and fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them. They careen madly in the face of the poison of power, sexual violence, murder, betrayals. Little Rot tests how far these five will go to save each other—or themselves—when confronted by evil, culminating in a shattering denouement.
With each novel, with each creation, Akwaeke Emezi shows their genius as a storyteller, as a visionary force who has created a thrilling tale of sex, power, and deviance in Little Rot. You won’t be able to look away.
One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A breakup that starts a spiral. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Little Rot is a whirling journey through the city’s dark side, told through the eyes of five people, each determined to run from the twisted powers out to destroy them.
Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from his loss, visits a sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, intersect with the three old friends as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt underworld, they’re all looking for a way out of the trouble they’ve instigated, driven by loss and fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them. They careen madly in the face of the poison of power, sexual violence, murder, betrayals. Little Rot tests how far these five will go to save each other—or themselves—when confronted by evil, culminating in a shattering denouement.
With each novel, with each creation, Akwaeke Emezi shows their genius as a storyteller, as a visionary force who has created a thrilling tale of sex, power, and deviance in Little Rot. You won’t be able to look away.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 268 reviews
March 14, 2024
“ Little Rot is an absolutely unhinged story set in the underbelly of a Nigerian city.”
say no more, i am sold.
say no more, i am sold.
Shelved as 'abandoned'
June 22, 2024Another abandoned book! I found a lot to like about Emezi’s You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, so I was excited to get my hands on this one. Turns out I don’t like reading about sex parties after all. Especially when they include under age girls exploited by men. I’m confident that Emezi had an excellent point to make, but I’m not the one that needs a lesson here so digesting this seemed unnecessary. Cool titles for their books though! Definitely catches my attention each time.
March 31, 2024
Underwhelming, amateur, one-dimensional and chaotic
This may be my least favourite book by Akwaeke. Trigger Warning: Lots of sexual abuse.
In Little Rot we are taken to a city in Nigerian where we meet four friends. The book opens with Kalu taking his long time girlfriend Aima to the airport because she refuses to live in sin and he is not ready for marriage. After much back and forth Aima decides its time to move away, however she can’t seem to get on the plane so she stays with her friend in Nigeria.
Kalu, unaware that Aima didn’t get on the plane decides to go to sex party hosted by his best friend Ahmed. These parties are highly exclusive, invitation only and caters to Nigeria’s rich, everything must be discreet and everyone looks the other way even at things that are illegal. Kalu makes a snap decision and attacks a guest at the party and that puts everyone in danger.
The book explores what happens when powerful people are put in position where they don’t feel powerful. How corruption, power, sex and money can get you everything.
I am not sure what I expected from this book but this was not it. I was reading it and I thought, “this book feels very lacklustre, it’s not the book I expected them to write, it feels ordinary and lacking any form of substance.” The book felt too long, it was insanely predictable, often times it felt like the author was trying to shock me which made me roll my eyes. It felt so pedantic and overdone. It felt amateur, that's what I will say.
I guess you can say I didn’t like this one.
This may be my least favourite book by Akwaeke. Trigger Warning: Lots of sexual abuse.
In Little Rot we are taken to a city in Nigerian where we meet four friends. The book opens with Kalu taking his long time girlfriend Aima to the airport because she refuses to live in sin and he is not ready for marriage. After much back and forth Aima decides its time to move away, however she can’t seem to get on the plane so she stays with her friend in Nigeria.
Kalu, unaware that Aima didn’t get on the plane decides to go to sex party hosted by his best friend Ahmed. These parties are highly exclusive, invitation only and caters to Nigeria’s rich, everything must be discreet and everyone looks the other way even at things that are illegal. Kalu makes a snap decision and attacks a guest at the party and that puts everyone in danger.
The book explores what happens when powerful people are put in position where they don’t feel powerful. How corruption, power, sex and money can get you everything.
I am not sure what I expected from this book but this was not it. I was reading it and I thought, “this book feels very lacklustre, it’s not the book I expected them to write, it feels ordinary and lacking any form of substance.” The book felt too long, it was insanely predictable, often times it felt like the author was trying to shock me which made me roll my eyes. It felt so pedantic and overdone. It felt amateur, that's what I will say.
I guess you can say I didn’t like this one.
June 16, 2024
Edit: June 2024. Wow I just reread this review and I apparently completely forgot that I was reading an Akwaeke Emezi novel. I treated this like a regular book which is absolutely a mistake. So my apologies. This was a bad review. I can't believe I said "hey write something more focused" as if I had never read any of their other novels.
So let's regroup. What we have here is Emezi diving into the underbelly of society. Imagine you could do something like Eyes Wide Shut except homosexual subtext becomes text (thank god) and the nefarious secrecy is actually real and bad in a way that has consequences and the world is a place where sex can show you who you are or unravel you or be the tool you need to survive or be your biggest secret.
Yes, it's violent and full to the brim of content warnings, but that is also the point. Because all of this is real and it's not just a fun little escape for rich people to indulge. Emezi forces us to see all of this through, to follow a handful of decisions through to their inevitable, terrible consequences. No one is safe, no one is pure, and almost everyone finds themselves in a position where they can inflict harm or pain on another person to save themselves or for no reason at all.
In the middle of all this chaos and suffering, we find moments of joy and connection and love. And maybe there isn't a utopian vision, because how can there be one in this world? But it is a place where we can fight for each other and ourselves and survive.
Original Review: It's best to experience this novel in the moment, not to look for the many pieces of it to come together into a cohesive whole. The book doesn't really let you know that this is how to read it, so I will tell you. The book starts you off from one point of view for so long that it seems that is what matters, when ultimately it is really secondary to the story its trying to tell. If anything, Aima exists only to try and root us in some kind of morality and normality so that we can then be pulled out of it for the rest of the book into the underbelly it really cares about.
Emezi brings a lot of their strengths to these characters. Once we set Aima to the side, then there is trauma and violence and longing and most of all, sex. Most of them have a casualness they bring with them, an ability to look past the worst of the world they are in. For Kalu this world is an escape from an otherwise respectable life, for Ahmed it is a world he is trying to control for his own power, and for Ola it is her best shot at a life of security despite the risks.
There is, for just a moment, a vision of another world here. In this other world, sex is empowering and joyful and communal. Ahmed's version may look like something exciting and joyful, a place for people to feel safe in their desires, but this is only the outermost circle and there is much more the farther you go down. There are a few moments of pure longing and desire, but they can never last.
What does Emezi want to bring us here? What are they trying to explore? It's never entirely clear. Moments with these characters feel emotionally rich and complex, and the story is almost always very queer. As they continue to play with genre, there is something of the erotic thriller in this story, but I would love to see something a little more focused from them.
So let's regroup. What we have here is Emezi diving into the underbelly of society. Imagine you could do something like Eyes Wide Shut except homosexual subtext becomes text (thank god) and the nefarious secrecy is actually real and bad in a way that has consequences and the world is a place where sex can show you who you are or unravel you or be the tool you need to survive or be your biggest secret.
Yes, it's violent and full to the brim of content warnings, but that is also the point. Because all of this is real and it's not just a fun little escape for rich people to indulge. Emezi forces us to see all of this through, to follow a handful of decisions through to their inevitable, terrible consequences. No one is safe, no one is pure, and almost everyone finds themselves in a position where they can inflict harm or pain on another person to save themselves or for no reason at all.
In the middle of all this chaos and suffering, we find moments of joy and connection and love. And maybe there isn't a utopian vision, because how can there be one in this world? But it is a place where we can fight for each other and ourselves and survive.
Original Review: It's best to experience this novel in the moment, not to look for the many pieces of it to come together into a cohesive whole. The book doesn't really let you know that this is how to read it, so I will tell you. The book starts you off from one point of view for so long that it seems that is what matters, when ultimately it is really secondary to the story its trying to tell. If anything, Aima exists only to try and root us in some kind of morality and normality so that we can then be pulled out of it for the rest of the book into the underbelly it really cares about.
Emezi brings a lot of their strengths to these characters. Once we set Aima to the side, then there is trauma and violence and longing and most of all, sex. Most of them have a casualness they bring with them, an ability to look past the worst of the world they are in. For Kalu this world is an escape from an otherwise respectable life, for Ahmed it is a world he is trying to control for his own power, and for Ola it is her best shot at a life of security despite the risks.
There is, for just a moment, a vision of another world here. In this other world, sex is empowering and joyful and communal. Ahmed's version may look like something exciting and joyful, a place for people to feel safe in their desires, but this is only the outermost circle and there is much more the farther you go down. There are a few moments of pure longing and desire, but they can never last.
What does Emezi want to bring us here? What are they trying to explore? It's never entirely clear. Moments with these characters feel emotionally rich and complex, and the story is almost always very queer. As they continue to play with genre, there is something of the erotic thriller in this story, but I would love to see something a little more focused from them.
May 26, 2024
I liked this book. It is a wild ride and not for the faint of heart. I think this book is going to be very polarizing, especially for folks who need likable characters. You're not getting that here. My biggest gripe is that the pacing stalls out (a bit long) in the middle third and I saw the ending coming miles and miles away.
July 4, 2024
Okay so. What the fuck. Not ready to rate this yet. Not ready to review this yet. It’s a difficult read & that’s the point.
Read
June 21, 2024What did I just read 😩 I don’t even know how I would rate this. I will say that some of the content in this book was..disturbing. Once the story got going, I predicted a lot of it - especially the ending (I’m not sure what that says about my mind…)
PLEASE check the triggers.
PLEASE check the triggers.
Want to read
January 22, 2024THERE IS A COVER I REPEAT THERE IS A COVER
Some may say, Rachel calm down, but I SAY *what-is-wrong-with-you-have-you-not-heard-about-the-new-Akwaeke-Emezi-book-here-to-ruin-us-as-we-beg-it-to-in-2024*
——
Excuse me whilst I just incoherently scream from now until June because we’re getting A NEW AKWAEKE EMEZI BOOK IS THIS A DREAM
Some may say, Rachel calm down, but I SAY *what-is-wrong-with-you-have-you-not-heard-about-the-new-Akwaeke-Emezi-book-here-to-ruin-us-as-we-beg-it-to-in-2024*
——
Excuse me whilst I just incoherently scream from now until June because we’re getting A NEW AKWAEKE EMEZI BOOK IS THIS A DREAM
January 5, 2024
I saw someone rated this a 1 star without any review before the book came out and Akwaeke is my favorite author so this review is to balance that out... can't wait to read this year, no doubt it will be incredible
June 18, 2024
There was a line that stuck with me from Emezi’s 2022 novel, You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty. ““He loved people being messy as fuck, he said it was one of the best things about being human, how we could make such disasters and recover from them enough to make them into stories later”. 2 years later, Little Rot, feels like a continuation— but messier. This time following a group of characters in Nigeria working to understand their true desires. These characters attempt to navigate a world filled with corruption, without falling in too deeply— each realizing that this is easier said than done. Each character has a different gage of what is morally right, and how moral they even are. From a predatory pastor who has a thing for “barely legal girls”, to a re-converted Christian woman who is attracted to her bestfriend, but judges other folks for their same-sex attraction. But they’re all connected by one night, one party— where folks are free to indulge in whatever they desire.
Emezi does not shy away from the awfulness that of humanity, but also does not pass judgement. They are human, and working to discovery what that really even means.
Emezi does not shy away from the awfulness that of humanity, but also does not pass judgement. They are human, and working to discovery what that really even means.
June 19, 2024
Ooooooof
June 18, 2024
Shoutout to riverhead books for my copy. Y’all be holding it DOWN!
Emezi’s writing, as usual, is spectacular. The content was as bleak and horrifying as I expected, but I could handle it, and I was locked in the whole way through.
Where it fell short for me was the inconsistency of Ahmed’s character, the speed-running important backstory, and the rushed way it all came together. I was a bit disappointed. I wanted him in particular, to darker.
Now I definitely loved the exploration of the shadows of society, the complications of sex work—both in the experiences and perceptions, and how salvation for you might not mean the same to someone else, no matter the morality or lack of.
I suspected the conclusion, which, fine I guess, and was okay with the fact that none of these characters were particularly likable, because, again, it’s a cold world, but I believe what the novel could have benefit most from was a little more time. 30-40 more pages even.
Overall, I still enjoyed it, and still recommend it for the wild ride it was for those who can handle the very dark content.
Emezi…your mind.
tw: rape, pedophilia, murder, abuse
Emezi’s writing, as usual, is spectacular. The content was as bleak and horrifying as I expected, but I could handle it, and I was locked in the whole way through.
Where it fell short for me was the inconsistency of Ahmed’s character, the speed-running important backstory, and the rushed way it all came together. I was a bit disappointed. I wanted him in particular, to darker.
Now I definitely loved the exploration of the shadows of society, the complications of sex work—both in the experiences and perceptions, and how salvation for you might not mean the same to someone else, no matter the morality or lack of.
I suspected the conclusion, which, fine I guess, and was okay with the fact that none of these characters were particularly likable, because, again, it’s a cold world, but I believe what the novel could have benefit most from was a little more time. 30-40 more pages even.
Overall, I still enjoyed it, and still recommend it for the wild ride it was for those who can handle the very dark content.
Emezi…your mind.
tw: rape, pedophilia, murder, abuse
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2024
Jesus Christ, I could not put this down.
The action is nonstop. It’s a horrifyingly dark work of fiction. Murders, sex parties, lust, assault, secrets, blackmail, betrayal, corruption. Let’s just say it’s got trigger warnings galore. It won’t be everyone’s bag, and that’s okay. Some readers will hate it; it is what it is. It worked for me though, for two reasons: 1) I’m drawn to dark stories that really go for it, and 2) it was a constant jolt of adrenaline.
The story takes place over the course of one fated weekend. We find the young elites unravelling within the underbelly of Nigeria. To think that this all starts off with an innocent break up between two people. The consequences of that decision opens up a rabbit hole that forever changes the lives of these two people and their respective friends.
Several of the plot points/themes in the novel will make you want to take multiple hot showers. Believe me. The book has the ability to make you feel both guarded and voyeuristic at the same time. Some of the sordid themes consists of sexual coercion, sex with minors, and religious hypocrisy. You’ll be tainted. Tread carefully.
I blew through this thing. All five main characters are self-destructive beings; living their lives fast and loose, while associating themselves with extremely shady individuals. It’s a continuous wild ride. A full-on psychosexual thriller. A propulsive page-turner that will make you wonder just how much more batshit crazy territory we’ll be getting into.
My only criticism is that I wish Emezi fleshed things out a bit more; made the story even more visceral (I know they’re capable: ie: FRESHWATER). Then again, I did like the frenetic, breakneck speed of it all. The writing isn’t lyrical as say FRESHWATER, and the plotting isn’t lush and sweeping as THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, the prose is as blunt and cold as the subject matter. It works.
LITTLE ROT (appropriate title, btw) is a never-ending nightmare. All the characters try so hard to be in control, but joke’s on them. Emezi, you’re unstoppable.
The action is nonstop. It’s a horrifyingly dark work of fiction. Murders, sex parties, lust, assault, secrets, blackmail, betrayal, corruption. Let’s just say it’s got trigger warnings galore. It won’t be everyone’s bag, and that’s okay. Some readers will hate it; it is what it is. It worked for me though, for two reasons: 1) I’m drawn to dark stories that really go for it, and 2) it was a constant jolt of adrenaline.
The story takes place over the course of one fated weekend. We find the young elites unravelling within the underbelly of Nigeria. To think that this all starts off with an innocent break up between two people. The consequences of that decision opens up a rabbit hole that forever changes the lives of these two people and their respective friends.
Several of the plot points/themes in the novel will make you want to take multiple hot showers. Believe me. The book has the ability to make you feel both guarded and voyeuristic at the same time. Some of the sordid themes consists of sexual coercion, sex with minors, and religious hypocrisy. You’ll be tainted. Tread carefully.
I blew through this thing. All five main characters are self-destructive beings; living their lives fast and loose, while associating themselves with extremely shady individuals. It’s a continuous wild ride. A full-on psychosexual thriller. A propulsive page-turner that will make you wonder just how much more batshit crazy territory we’ll be getting into.
My only criticism is that I wish Emezi fleshed things out a bit more; made the story even more visceral (I know they’re capable: ie: FRESHWATER). Then again, I did like the frenetic, breakneck speed of it all. The writing isn’t lyrical as say FRESHWATER, and the plotting isn’t lush and sweeping as THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, the prose is as blunt and cold as the subject matter. It works.
LITTLE ROT (appropriate title, btw) is a never-ending nightmare. All the characters try so hard to be in control, but joke’s on them. Emezi, you’re unstoppable.
June 11, 2024
Whew! This book is a wild ride and a tough read. It deals with a lot of big themes such as sexual violence, corruption, sexuality etc. I really enjoyed how the author made literally everyone unlikable in one way or another. The reveals we get of people’s pasts are done in a very subtle way rather than these overt explanations which give the reader that much weight like ‘wait did they just say—‘. I felt the idea of ‘rot’ and how environments and circumstances can really shape us was very well done. All these characters go through eye opening situations in a very short amount of time & it causes them to discover something about themselves that they may have always known & I felt like that idea is really intriguing.
It was a really good read & I’ll def be recommending.
It was a really good read & I’ll def be recommending.
June 19, 2024
I have no words(derogatory). I’m lying I do have words
The author described this book as “sheer fucking chaos” and they were right.
It is a page turner, I’ll give them that. In terms of actual plot, it was chaotic. I did not like it to be honest with you. Because all of that was for what??? Hmm?
I did not look up trigger warnings and i was not triggered ( I don’t know what this says about me and literature I consume). But please read trigger warnings for this one because wow.
I will still read anything the author writes
The author described this book as “sheer fucking chaos” and they were right.
It is a page turner, I’ll give them that. In terms of actual plot, it was chaotic. I did not like it to be honest with you. Because all of that was for what??? Hmm?
I did not look up trigger warnings and i was not triggered ( I don’t know what this says about me and literature I consume). But please read trigger warnings for this one because wow.
I will still read anything the author writes
June 25, 2024
Alright, let’s just start by saying Akwaeke Emezi writes beautifully. Their grocery shopping list probably reads like poetry.
This is my first time reading their fiction, I’ve only read their memoir thing, Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir. And as I was reading Little Rot, I kept thinking of something they talk about in their memoir. In Dear Senthuran, Emezi explains how she ended up writing Pet: they were offered a lot of money in exchange for writing a YA novel, so they did. I suspect this novel is a result of something similar because I found Little Rot to be beautifully written but not much more than a half-cooked idea with the only goal to shock/upset readers.
Little Rot probably has a plot. I’ve read the synopsis a couple of times and I guess I see that in the book, sure. But this is just a well-written work of fiction about sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. That’s it. It’s unnecessarily sexual and it just keeps the abuse/exploitation on repeat.
The moments with the characters are very raw, emotional, and queer - that’s where Emezi’s writing shines. But I’m not someone who cares about characters after making bad decisions in the midst of a bunch of sex scenes. Even the background bits and character-building stuff it's just a lot of telling without much showing in my opinion. The story is just simply too unfocused to make sense for me. Even at the end when something happens and the story becomes sort of focused because of the mess going on, it still feels like lust is the focal point of it all, which is not for me.
2 stars. Check trigger warnings before reading. I only recommend this for people who like writing over anything else and enjoy reading about sex (and don’t mind sexual abuse and exploitation). (I also recommend it to people who want to stop time. I had this book as my gym audiobook and it made my workouts feel so long.)
Edit - Something that I had in my mind while reading this book was the concept of compulsory sexuality. I know this is supposed to be literary fiction and it's almost impossible to read literary fiction without sex, but at the same time, this is a book about queer people. Female empowerment has been associated with the idea of sexual freedom and having more sex, and in this book, I feel queerness is just so oversexualized (in the worst possible way). Like I don't see the point in oversexualizing the community. Like we've had decades of focusing on LGBTQIA+ and trauma porn, and now we're just moving into sexualizing. Am I being nitpicky? Yes. Ignore me lol
This is my first time reading their fiction, I’ve only read their memoir thing, Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir. And as I was reading Little Rot, I kept thinking of something they talk about in their memoir. In Dear Senthuran, Emezi explains how she ended up writing Pet: they were offered a lot of money in exchange for writing a YA novel, so they did. I suspect this novel is a result of something similar because I found Little Rot to be beautifully written but not much more than a half-cooked idea with the only goal to shock/upset readers.
Little Rot probably has a plot. I’ve read the synopsis a couple of times and I guess I see that in the book, sure. But this is just a well-written work of fiction about sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. That’s it. It’s unnecessarily sexual and it just keeps the abuse/exploitation on repeat.
The moments with the characters are very raw, emotional, and queer - that’s where Emezi’s writing shines. But I’m not someone who cares about characters after making bad decisions in the midst of a bunch of sex scenes. Even the background bits and character-building stuff it's just a lot of telling without much showing in my opinion. The story is just simply too unfocused to make sense for me. Even at the end when something happens and the story becomes sort of focused because of the mess going on, it still feels like lust is the focal point of it all, which is not for me.
2 stars. Check trigger warnings before reading. I only recommend this for people who like writing over anything else and enjoy reading about sex (and don’t mind sexual abuse and exploitation). (I also recommend it to people who want to stop time. I had this book as my gym audiobook and it made my workouts feel so long.)
Edit - Something that I had in my mind while reading this book was the concept of compulsory sexuality. I know this is supposed to be literary fiction and it's almost impossible to read literary fiction without sex, but at the same time, this is a book about queer people. Female empowerment has been associated with the idea of sexual freedom and having more sex, and in this book, I feel queerness is just so oversexualized (in the worst possible way). Like I don't see the point in oversexualizing the community. Like we've had decades of focusing on LGBTQIA+ and trauma porn, and now we're just moving into sexualizing. Am I being nitpicky? Yes. Ignore me lol
June 30, 2024
”Where exactly was the guilt coming from, where exactly was the sin?”
One thing Emezi’s main characters are gonna be is messyyyyy, & we have five of them in this novel:
Aima: struggling with feelings of religious guilt; she chooses to end her four-year the love of her life and move to London. except she can’t quite go through with it, and ends up seeking comfort from her best friend Ijendu, while she reckons with her conflicted mind of who she wants to be VS what her actions show she is
Kalu: now ex-boyfriend of Aima, who turns out to be not as sweet as we initially thought. He has a bit of a reckoning when he makes a rash decision at an underground sex party, and realises he’s been more complicit than he thought…
Ahmed: not allmen pimps is basically his tagline, owner of an exclusive sex party/club situ and has convinced himself he’s one of the good guys. Might be gay/bi and isn’t happy about it!!
Ola: trans sex-worker flown in by her top-paying client, who just happens to be *the* most dangerous guy in Ahmed’s circle. She ends up having to do her friend Souraya a really huge favour…
Souraya: flies in with Ola to keep her company & manages to get caught up in all of the above drama when, while on their trip, she texts a guy she met years ago. Also a sex-worker & has a very traumatic past.
This book covers a lot, including: religious guilt; sex-work; corruption; the power of the rich; sex-work - empowerment and dangers of; queerness and acceptance (or not); fetishisation of trans women; friendships; relationships; family; & oppression and role of women in a patriarchal Black society (which I am not qualified to speak on).
Enjoyed is definitely not the right word given all it covers, but I was engaged from start to finish and invested in knowing what on earth each of these characters was going to do next. Emezi’s writing is really strong here & properly captured the bleakness of what’s happening. Definitely pick this up if the triggers aren’t a deal breaker for you.
TWs: SA, rape, child rape, homophobia, transphobia, violence/death, colourism, fetishisation
Thank you to Faber for the gifted proof copy.
One thing Emezi’s main characters are gonna be is messyyyyy, & we have five of them in this novel:
Aima: struggling with feelings of religious guilt; she chooses to end her four-year the love of her life and move to London. except she can’t quite go through with it, and ends up seeking comfort from her best friend Ijendu, while she reckons with her conflicted mind of who she wants to be VS what her actions show she is
Kalu: now ex-boyfriend of Aima, who turns out to be not as sweet as we initially thought. He has a bit of a reckoning when he makes a rash decision at an underground sex party, and realises he’s been more complicit than he thought…
Ahmed: not all
Ola: trans sex-worker flown in by her top-paying client, who just happens to be *the* most dangerous guy in Ahmed’s circle. She ends up having to do her friend Souraya a really huge favour…
Souraya: flies in with Ola to keep her company & manages to get caught up in all of the above drama when, while on their trip, she texts a guy she met years ago. Also a sex-worker & has a very traumatic past.
This book covers a lot, including: religious guilt; sex-work; corruption; the power of the rich; sex-work - empowerment and dangers of; queerness and acceptance (or not); fetishisation of trans women; friendships; relationships; family; & oppression and role of women in a patriarchal Black society (which I am not qualified to speak on).
Enjoyed is definitely not the right word given all it covers, but I was engaged from start to finish and invested in knowing what on earth each of these characters was going to do next. Emezi’s writing is really strong here & properly captured the bleakness of what’s happening. Definitely pick this up if the triggers aren’t a deal breaker for you.
TWs: SA, rape, child rape, homophobia, transphobia, violence/death, colourism, fetishisation
Thank you to Faber for the gifted proof copy.
Shelved as 'dnf'
June 25, 2024Temporary DNF at 50%.
This book is HEAVY. I expect nothing less from Akwaeke Emezi, but I need to be in the right headspace for this one.
This book is HEAVY. I expect nothing less from Akwaeke Emezi, but I need to be in the right headspace for this one.
May 20, 2024
Learn from my mistakes, check your trigger warnings… read the synopsis.. then decide whether or not to read this. This was ROUGH and not for me. Excellent writing and storytelling, but the content.. ahhhh no thank you
Thoughts: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRKRHyVp/
I received this as an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest thoughts
Thoughts: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRKRHyVp/
I received this as an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest thoughts
July 6, 2024
4.5 stars
The first book I’ve finished in under 24 hours in years, emezi is a talent like no other please check content warnings, this won’t be for everyone. Full review to come soon!
The first book I’ve finished in under 24 hours in years, emezi is a talent like no other please check content warnings, this won’t be for everyone. Full review to come soon!
July 4, 2024
Tw for sexual violence & abuse
actually cannot even process how terrible this was - completely one dimensional characters, so much sexual abuse and violence it was nauseating—I literally had to flip through and scan final pages because I wanted it to be done so badly. As a fan very disappointed in not only the writing but portrayals of sex and relationships here.
actually cannot even process how terrible this was - completely one dimensional characters, so much sexual abuse and violence it was nauseating—I literally had to flip through and scan final pages because I wanted it to be done so badly. As a fan very disappointed in not only the writing but portrayals of sex and relationships here.
July 7, 2024
3.5 stars
June 29, 2024
Not for the faint of heart. You might even need therapy. But Emezi never fails to write books that you cannot run from, you cannot help but devour them, you cannot help being haunted by. (Read this in three long sits)
March 24, 2024
I thought "The Death of Vivek Oji" was very well done and heralded the debut of a new and exciting writer. I didn't care as much for "You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty," which I thought was a waste of Emezi's considerable talent. I did commend them for trying a new genre, but that book just made them seem...ordinary. It was a generic romance novel with an unlikely couple at its core.
"Little Rot" is another departure, and I think we're traveling in the wrong direction. Perhaps Emezi has written and released too many books in too few years. Sometimes this book feels like a novice writer's first attempt at crafting a story. Describe what the people are wearing, what their skin looks like, etc. It's very elementary. None of the characters feel like real people, and their consciousnesses sound remarkably similar.
It's rare I read a book in the third person omniscient point of view where I don't care about a single character. Towards the end, one of our protagonists makes a supposedly gut-wrenching decision in order to save his own life, but it seems to me like it was a no-brainer. It feels like a man who holds grudges and cannot stand to be publicly disrespected gives up pretty easily because Emezi needed to end the book in ten pages.
Note: for those coming for me in the comments, i did not know Emezi is non-binary and corrected the pronouns. I do not know anything about their autobiographical details—my review was solely based on what I read.
"Little Rot" is another departure, and I think we're traveling in the wrong direction. Perhaps Emezi has written and released too many books in too few years. Sometimes this book feels like a novice writer's first attempt at crafting a story. Describe what the people are wearing, what their skin looks like, etc. It's very elementary. None of the characters feel like real people, and their consciousnesses sound remarkably similar.
It's rare I read a book in the third person omniscient point of view where I don't care about a single character. Towards the end, one of our protagonists makes a supposedly gut-wrenching decision in order to save his own life, but it seems to me like it was a no-brainer. It feels like a man who holds grudges and cannot stand to be publicly disrespected gives up pretty easily because Emezi needed to end the book in ten pages.
Note: for those coming for me in the comments, i did not know Emezi is non-binary and corrected the pronouns. I do not know anything about their autobiographical details—my review was solely based on what I read.
July 8, 2024
4.5⭐️
Woo boy what a wild 24ish literary hours.
Urgent, propulsive, dripping with need, and full of discomfort, this was phenomenal, even (especially?) the uncomfortable parts.
Desire and want, consent, morality, and the way we justify things in order to live with it, and the way all of that can get dangerously out of hand when people (men) with seemingly limitless power and money become involved. The way we were forced to witness and sit with it, to really see it instead of looking away, was hard but needed.
I devoured every word of this.
Woo boy what a wild 24ish literary hours.
Urgent, propulsive, dripping with need, and full of discomfort, this was phenomenal, even (especially?) the uncomfortable parts.
Desire and want, consent, morality, and the way we justify things in order to live with it, and the way all of that can get dangerously out of hand when people (men) with seemingly limitless power and money become involved. The way we were forced to witness and sit with it, to really see it instead of looking away, was hard but needed.
I devoured every word of this.
March 23, 2024
I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by this author, although this one was… a LOT. Four stars because I could not put it down, but it was more of a “can’t look away from the car accident” experience than a “can’t wait to get to the next chapter” one.
July 4, 2024
DNF @ 45%. I love a spicy read, but there was a depravity to this book that I couldn't vibe with. I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters enough to understand why they weaponized sex.
February 4, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead for the early digital copy in exchange for an honest review! I’m beyond excited to read this.
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I've been thinking about how to review this since I finished it, and I still can't figure it out so I'm just going for it.
Little Rot is about a group of friends who navigate the night life of a Nigerian city. The author addresses pretty serious topics which isn't unlike them. There are quite a few triggers that involve sex and violence. Proceed with caution.
I enjoy Emezi's writing style so much. I think they're such a wonderful and raw storyteller. This novel is no different. It's long-winded with not much dialogue, but you really understand how the characters feel and how terrible the underbelly of this city is. You never question it for a second, even though the characters constantly do. The characters in an Emezi novel are never going to make choices the reader agrees with at all times. They are morally gray. If you don't vibe with that, then I'm unsure you'd get along with the story.
This is, unfortunately, my lowest rated Emezi novel. I just didn't have that spark with it that I normally do with their stories. There wasn't anything that really wowed me like the blackouts in Vivek Oji or the perspectives in Freshwater. I know there doesn't need to be for me to like an Emezi novel (example: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty), but it definitely helps.
I still recommend this, 100%. Again, proceed with caution when it comes to triggers. It's a very open and sexual novel, and it's not really something you can escape from in it. I think it tells a very important story about that part of the world. It just wasn't my absolute favorite and that's cool. I will still be excited for the next novel by them. :)
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I've been thinking about how to review this since I finished it, and I still can't figure it out so I'm just going for it.
Little Rot is about a group of friends who navigate the night life of a Nigerian city. The author addresses pretty serious topics which isn't unlike them. There are quite a few triggers that involve sex and violence. Proceed with caution.
I enjoy Emezi's writing style so much. I think they're such a wonderful and raw storyteller. This novel is no different. It's long-winded with not much dialogue, but you really understand how the characters feel and how terrible the underbelly of this city is. You never question it for a second, even though the characters constantly do. The characters in an Emezi novel are never going to make choices the reader agrees with at all times. They are morally gray. If you don't vibe with that, then I'm unsure you'd get along with the story.
This is, unfortunately, my lowest rated Emezi novel. I just didn't have that spark with it that I normally do with their stories. There wasn't anything that really wowed me like the blackouts in Vivek Oji or the perspectives in Freshwater. I know there doesn't need to be for me to like an Emezi novel (example: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty), but it definitely helps.
I still recommend this, 100%. Again, proceed with caution when it comes to triggers. It's a very open and sexual novel, and it's not really something you can escape from in it. I think it tells a very important story about that part of the world. It just wasn't my absolute favorite and that's cool. I will still be excited for the next novel by them. :)
July 4, 2024
Set in Lagos over the course of one depraved weekend, five individuals live’s converge into murky, sordid waters. Aima is meant to have left for London after breaking up with Kalu, but is drawn back by her best friend, Ijendu. Reeling from the break-up, Kalu accepts an invitation to one of his best friend Ahmed’s exclusive, world-renowned sex parties. At the same time, two sex workers from Kuala Lumpur arrive in Nigeria, swallowed into a tale of brutal scandal, dark desires, and shame.
No matter where they fall, Akwaeke Emezi always delivers something gritty and sharp in whatever genre they dabble in. But if you didn’t like their foray into romance with You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, then you’ll likely be happy to hear Little Rot sees Emezi return to far darker and more troubling themes as Lagos looms large as its own sinister character.
Emezi strikes gold with building an intriguing atmosphere where the dirtiest, sickest parts of humanity dwell in the underbelly of Lagos, exploring messy intersections of religion, sexuality, and shame, as well as corruption in the pecking order and the violence that permeates.
It’s not my favourite from Emezi, but Little Rots was certainly enrapturing, even in its deeply uncomfortable and horrifying peaks.
No matter where they fall, Akwaeke Emezi always delivers something gritty and sharp in whatever genre they dabble in. But if you didn’t like their foray into romance with You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, then you’ll likely be happy to hear Little Rot sees Emezi return to far darker and more troubling themes as Lagos looms large as its own sinister character.
Emezi strikes gold with building an intriguing atmosphere where the dirtiest, sickest parts of humanity dwell in the underbelly of Lagos, exploring messy intersections of religion, sexuality, and shame, as well as corruption in the pecking order and the violence that permeates.
It’s not my favourite from Emezi, but Little Rots was certainly enrapturing, even in its deeply uncomfortable and horrifying peaks.
June 6, 2024
TW: Rape, physical violence/abuse
This book took a group of interconnected people and laid bare all of their traumas, secrets, and fears over the course of a weekend. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you're okay with getting into a gritty, dark headspace and want to read a well-written book with a variety of characters, then try this out.
I especially enjoyed the last third of the book when it really becomes a thriller. I needed to know what would happen next! It's also so gay - perfect for Pride month (or any time really).
This book took a group of interconnected people and laid bare all of their traumas, secrets, and fears over the course of a weekend. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you're okay with getting into a gritty, dark headspace and want to read a well-written book with a variety of characters, then try this out.
I especially enjoyed the last third of the book when it really becomes a thriller. I needed to know what would happen next! It's also so gay - perfect for Pride month (or any time really).
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