Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

39 reviews

bookiecharm's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual assault

catapocalypse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was so bold a creation, so extraordinary an experience. It is essentially a follow up to Freshwater, this time rightfully labeled as memoir. It's their story as a series of epistolary essays. I'd recommend reading Freshwater first, since it will provide additional explanation and context for things like their ȯgbanje identity, the brothersisters, some of their relationship with Yshwa, and more about their childhood and youth (Since I had already read it beforehand, I am not certain how much may need clarification without it). Dear Senthuran touches on those things, but its focus is more on their adulthood as well as philosophy behind their identities, spiritualities, relationships, work, life, etc.

Emezi's goals were to write truly of their personal experiences and to put those ideas out there for Black readers in particular. That said, I strongly urge other white readers not to shy away. We need to read and think about these things with honest reflection. So much of how we've harmed others and ourselves comes out of operating on narrow views and letting bad ideas calcify into accepted norms. Learning that this isn't how things are or should be helps work on dismantling these cages. There is still so much in here to relate to, and a lot that we can also find freeing, if we're willing to listen and think on it.

I would advise being prepared to go into this in the right headspace. It's at least as brutal and breathtaking as Freshwater, with a lot of heavy things covered in heavy detail. There are in-depth looks at depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, death, and a small section including fantasies of cannibalism.

I took my reading slow to let things percolate and avoid being overwhelmed. It was such a rewarding experience. Emezi remains a favorite, and I look forward to their upcoming projects. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Infidelity

Moderate: Cannibalism, Blood, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Chronic illness, Islamophobia, and Murder

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Drug use, Misogyny, Outing, Sexism, Transphobia, and Violence

nerdyprettythings's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

As always, Emezi’s writing is great. There’s repetition in the letters, but each of them does build on the author’s early writing days through the publication of Dear Senthuran. Emezi never shies away from difficult topics in their writing, and this book embraces them wholeheartedly, from suicide attempts to dreaming about murdering people. I’ve always been into it - their writing feels so honest. But here, the content was disturbing in a way it hasn’t been for me before, not least because the stories that show the author’s humanity - their struggle with mental illness, their heartbreaks, their hard work and determination to live off their writing - are all chalked up to god’s intervention. From the perspective of someone who’s intentionally moved away from religion, it’s really uncomfortable to hear someone so quickly dismiss humanity (“I hate humans”) while clinging so strongly to religion and godhood as a reason for living. Emezi explicitly rejects the idea that any of it is a metaphor. So while I read the humanity in their stories, my reading of it was denied by the text itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, and Transphobia

Minor: Cannibalism

emmeline's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

 - Per usual, when I try to sit down to write about an Emezi book, I cannot find the words. Their work is simply beyond my ability to discuss. Each book bends my mind and cracks open the world a little differently.
- DEAR SENTHURAN is a look inside their brain, their heart, their soul. It's an extended discussion of how to deal with a world that does not want you, on several levels. It's the pain and joy and revenge of making space for yourself anyway.
- Even beyond the larger ideas explored, the actual writing and words of this book are expansive, visceral, horrifying and elegant. They are truly a master of their craft.
- Also, I've listed content warnings below: please take them seriously. Emezi does not hold back on some graphic descriptions, particularly about suicide and self harm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, and Violence

whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

It's ridiculously hard to put into words how much I loved this memoir. Akwaeke Emezi is a force. An inspiration. A phoenix rising from the ashes. Throughout these letters to people in their life, they are open and vulnerable, being so unapologetically themselves.

The writing is incredible. I underlined basically the whole book. Emezi has a way with words that I've never come across before in any other author. I could read their writing again and again and never be bored of it. This is without a doubt the best book I've read all year. 

Before diving into their memoir, definitely grab yourself a copy of Freshwater, Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji (all masterpieces in their own right), because they come up a lot in this book. Especially the parallels from Freshwater to Emezi's life, I knew it was kind of autobiographical when I first read it, but they put a lot of themselves into that book.

I'll leave you with another quote from Dear Senthuran that really stuck with me, but also just read Akwaeke Emezi's work if you haven't already, you won't regret it. 

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘧*𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧; 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault

sjanke2's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship