Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir

I’m sure this resonates for others, but it’s not for me. Not least because the extensive discussion of suicide and self harm was triggering for me, so go into this having read content and trigger warnings.
Otherwise I can’t tell if it’s just that I’m uncomfortable with someone being so confident or if I genuinely think they’re delusional in a harmless way. But none of it hit with me and I didn’t enjoy the writing style either.

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jenmcreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Written as a series of letters to friends (and really to themself) Akwaeke Emezi's memoir gives a deep and vulnerable look into their mind and unique point of view. I listened to the audiobook, but was very glad I own a copy so I could highlight quotes to come back to. While covering some difficult topics, Emezi's gorgeous writing really shines through and even though as a memoir it centers on their experience, I found many relatable parts focused on the struggle of living in our current harsh world.

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earthtokb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

so much admiration for this book & this writer! it’s definitely inspired me as I go about writing my own Black, queer, trans af memoir. thanks, alwaeke!

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sweetearlgrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

I can't give this an accurate star rating so I will just explain my thoughts. Ever since I read Vivek and Freshwater I have been enthralled with Akwaeke's writing, but I didn't know much about them as a person. Naturally, I was excited to read the memoir of someone as fascinating as them. It completely exceeded my expectations as it actually challenged some preconceptions that I didn't know I had. The memoir starts off with Emezi identifying themselves as an African ogbanje spirit, a God-like rather than human being. I immediately tried to rationalise what I had read; "you mean metaphorically right?". I had read Freshwater with the assumption that the ogbanje was a metaphor, but Akwaeke specifically calls out people for believing that (oops!). I think that as Westerners many of us (myself included) want things to be palatable, in sync with our own realities, simplified even. Akwaeke wants us to just accept indigenous realities the way that they are. Reading this has pushed me to explore my own prejudices more than anything else.

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mygallaget's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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mandathebiblio's review against another edition

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I don't give star ratings to non-fiction, so I won't be giving this one one.

I really appreciated reading this, though. I listened to the audiobook and I would give the audio a 5 out of 5 star. It was very well done as Akwaeke Emezi narrated it themselves.

As for the content in this book, there was so much that I feel like I could relate to and so much I know that I would never be able to and that is what made this such a worthwhile audiobook for me. I think that reading this as my first book from this author is going to help me when I read more from them. It was very interesting seeing their journey not only through publishing but through life in general. It definitely opened my eyes to some things that I may not have realized before and it was very helpful to see.

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