Audacity Book Club: August Read
By Celeste Daniels
Hello, audacious readers!
I hope you enjoyed your Summer Break because I am back! I got some rest, went on one (or a few) trips, and most importantly, read more books! And I am bringing one of those brilliant reads back to you. This month, we’re exploring theme of story creation and control in the novel Death of an Author by Nneki Okorafor.
Zelu has done her best to match her family’s vision of success. Despite being disabled and going for an “impractical” career in writing, she’s a professor at an Ivy League college and lives on her own. Yet, in the middle of preparation for her sister’s wedding, she loses her job and receives another rejection for her latest novel.
Broke, drunk, angry, and feeling lost, Zelu starts writing a book unlike any other book she has written before. She writes a science fiction drama between robots and AI after humans go extinct and everything changes. Overnight, Zelu becomes an instant success with interviews, millions of dollars in sales, and a movie deal. She’s even found love that doesn’t ask her to compromise who she is. She’s finally achieved all the markers of success.
However, all the highs come with just as many lows. Even with her sudden success, her family struggles to understand her. After a wave of glowing book reviews comes many negative ones and ill-navigated interviews. Zelu’s personal choice also starts to clash with her career. Slowly, Zelu feels like she’s losing control over her story and her life. Through love, loss, fame, and infamy, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur and Zelu is forced to ask herself where the power really lies in the story: the audience or the author?
Powerful and futuristic, Death of an Author explores the weight of identity against the stories we tell. This book is available online, at your local bookstore, on Bookshop.org as well as your local library. You can also check out the book club merch there as well.
I will see you in early September for the full review and, as always, make sure to read audaciously!
Audacity Magazine & Events is an affiliate partner of Bookshop.org. If you click the link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. All books are selections of the Audacity Book Club curator.
