Lena > Lena's Quotes

“Alone is a feeling you can get used to, and it's hard to believe in a better alternative.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“Love and guilt sometimes taste the same, you know.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“He didn't belong to you...You keep talking as if he belonged to you, just because you were his mother, but he didn't.

He didn't belong to anybody but himself.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“His grief was chasing him from room to room, begging him to spend some time alone with it.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“You are crying,” she said. It was only then that Osita noticed the tears slipping into his ears. It was evening and the light was leaving. “It’s raining,” he told her, slurring his words.
She laughed. “It’s not raining.”
“It’s raining inside me,” he said and a wave if darkness took over.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“Maybe we were all pretending to be fine because the world gave us no other option.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“What do you do when you’re not allowed to be angry at God?”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“Hold my life for me.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“I felt like I was always running just a few steps ahead of them, holding secrets they couldn't catch up to.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“You know what’s been happening in your head. You’re the only person who knows. So ask yourself if it feels right, and somewhere, deep inside of you, there’s a compass that will tell you whether you’re right or wrong.” I”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“I would say it was too late, but time has stopped meaning what it used to. I don’t mind anymore. I see how things work now, from this side. I was born and I died. I will come back. Somewhere, you see, in the river of time, I am already alive.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“You can chase the truth, but who could avoid the moment of hesitation when you wonder if you really want what you’ve been asking for? Kavita knew that what the”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji

“I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again because I didn’t know how to explain it—the thing that the kiss had exhumed in me, the way it was loud, the way it wouldn’t be quiet. I had to do something, to give it room to unfurl, and Vivek was the only place I felt safe.”
― Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji