Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi

24 reviews

allisonbrooke's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Transphobia, Car accident, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Abortion, Biphobia, Body shaming, Homophobia, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Incest, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

elmo_isnotmyname's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a dense ride. Through abuse, rape, self-harm, loneliness, mental illness, migration; spirituality.
The protagonist's 'fractured selves' spoke more than the protagonist themself -- though: what even is a self?, they end up wondering.

Instead of telling a lifetime of traumatic events through the eyes of the person battling against their ensuing 'madness' (as it is called here) -- we follow 'the madness' battling against the human body it is bound to. Outrageous lust and anger splitting the Ada (the protagonist) and their memories into multiple versions. Ultimatly as to protect the Ada.

So this can be read as a story about Dissociative Identitiy Disorder; weaving in tales of Igbo gods, myths, and spirituality.
There are many graphic scence of violence. The latter endeared this book to me (-- I'm sorry, as a reader I'm just craving for mirrors of myself, but I don't want to spoil this work of art by mixing in my own ego.)
I'm looking forward to reading Emezi's other work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Car accident, Eating disorder, and Panic attacks/disorders

jamie_reads_stuff's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Outing

Moderate: Medical content, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, and Lesbophobia

laynemandros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

ktkeps's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Self harm, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Grief, and Medical content

prismatical's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Drug use, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, and Child abuse

lycheejelly's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Dysphoria, Vomit, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, and Homophobia

Minor: Outing, Transphobia, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Religious bigotry

macknificent's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Injury/injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Grief, Mental illness, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Rape, Transphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Incest

aile_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If I could give this book 6 stars I would. Absolutely beautiful. I didn’t understand everything in this book but that do not change the fact that the book is the best ever made. I wonder though if it is a autobiography or not? And my favorite character was Sankt Vincent. Going to have to reread it sometime. In english because I read it in swedish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Violence, Addiction, and Transphobia

seawarrior's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

Freshwater is a dizzying, original tale of a young woman who comes of age with gods trapped within her mind and her flesh. Emezi's writing is cutting and clear, conveying the messages of Ada's divine residents with precise expression and violent, glittering imagery. While the chronology of the book was disorienting at times, I never felt lost. The way events were revealed made sense in context, and furthered our understanding of the characters' thought processes. I am not familiar with Igbo onotology, or metaphysical theories in general, yet my lack of knowledge did not make the story hard to follow, thanks to Emezi's direct style and explicit metaphors. However, I would not recommend this book to people triggered by or vulnerable to depictions of sexual violence and self harm. A key plot development in the book is the arrival of a vengeful and hedonistic god summoned to protect Ada from the realization she has been raped. Even before this, Ada was self harming to provide her gods with the blood they craved, yet this event accelerates the self destructive behavior her gods encourage. Though deeply unsettling, I did enjoy reading this novel. I've never encountered another story like it, and look forward to reading the unique and divergent works Emezi felt inspired by. 

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Content Warnings

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