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nefariousbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Mental illness
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Child abuse, and Confinement
seawarrior's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, and Transphobia
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Body horror, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Blood, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Car accident
Moderate: Grief, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Transphobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, Death, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Child abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia, Fatphobia, and Outing
Assault scenes are present but not extremely graphic; aftermath and results are covered more extensively than events themselves, though there are frank descriptions of rape and (C)SA.snowforest's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Dysphoria, Addiction, Biphobia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Car accident
whatannikareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Stunning. Reminds me of The Vanishing Half, as in how can a debut book be THIS fucking good. Like holy shit dude I don’t know if I know what I read but every sentence felt like I could frame it.
MAJOR trigger warnings for rape, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, abuse
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Car accident, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
earthbound_edits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Self harm and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Homophobia
lilymurph's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Transphobia, Vomit, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
miles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Transphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Death, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, and Drug abuse
miri_png's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Dysphoria, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia
anovelbeauty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There’s a /lot/ to this novel. So much in fact, I almost feel I can’t write a decent review for it. I learned a lot through this novel, specifically about the Nigerian concept of ognanje. I know many aspects of this novel are also inspired by Emezi’s own experiences with their gender. Freshwater is extremely well written. It is beautiful and harsh, it unflinchingly explores a lot of deep and hurtful topics and let’s you draw your own conclusions about any one character’s morality (or lack thereof) and choices.
Now, I do want to say, right up front, that this novel scared me. It didn’t really start until the emergence of Asughara or “The Beast Self.” Maybe I should just say that Asyghara scares me? But her perspective is so prevalent in the novel and is such a dark influence within Ada’s life experience in the book, it is often manipulative, harmful, and abusive, punctuated by a rare few moments where she actually does protect Ada, but that doesn’t outweigh the bad. But essentially a spirit having that much negative impact and control over Ada freaked me out in the same way that demon possession plots are just a thing I cannot do in movies and books. It just is too real and freaks me out (I realize this is a me problem, but I still wanted to mention it).
That aside, the plot of the book was very well developed as it walked you through Ada’s life and with the perspectives of the Brothersisters and Asughara throughout. I do wish that we got St. Vincent’s POV as I felt that would have perhaps provided a better balance to Asughara’s chapters. The few times we get Ada and the “We” perspectives are always fascinating.
This book explores a lot of Nigerian spirituality, both traditional and Christianised. The way that Yshwa (Jesus) is portrayed in the novel is interesting and definitely touching at points. He is woven throughout the novel as Ada works through her faith and her experiences clashing and rebuilding throughout her life.
This is also a novel of genderfluidity. As the brothersisters inhabit Ada and exert their influence on her, she becomes more ogbanje than human, more they than she over the course of the story.
From a mental health perspective there is /a lot/ to unpack. While the book is very specific to point out that the different ogbanje fronting for Ada are not different personalities (so this is /not/ DID or as it used to be known Multiple Personality Disorder), there is also a portion of the novel that talks about a “fracturing” of Ada’s memories after trauma and how the fractures are kept separate to help her cope. This second description is similar to one of the newer theories of DID, but it is explored only a little bit in the book, so there is not quite as much to go on and is definitely separate from the ogbanje. Also, most other things that would be mental illnesses or mental health concerns for Ada are almost always caused by the ogbanje (mostly Asughara), so it’s an interesting intertwining because Ada’s experiences are caused by such a complex inner world but have standard outward symptoms of various problems.
Overall, this is an extremely well-written and thought provoking book. I’m still thinking about it. I read/watched about six reveiws before writing mine, specially trying to find some own-voices reviews to fill in some of my knowledge gaps and get some other views on the story. I really enjoyed the review by Uche Ezeudu on YouTube as she gave a Nigerian perspective on the story.
While it is definitely bleak at times, particularly in the middle of the story, the ending makes it closer to empowering. If you want a book will make you think and take you in with beautiful, sharp writing, you should read this wonderful debut novel from Emezi.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Rape
Moderate: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident
Minor: Death