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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really loved this book and it was written so well that I was able to immerse myself in the story and the characters. Basically, we follow Ada, a Nigerian woman, who lives her life with multiple personalities living within her. These personalities are in some sense not a dissociation but a possession by river spirits making Ada have on leg in both worlds.
The question isn't if she know she is possessed but rather how much of her (Ada) is left?
Has this book is in most part told by the personalities living within Ada, little can we tell of the real Ada without the isolation of the other entities, her life is overshadowed by the constant loaming idea of who the real Ada should be and what she can be. Ada seems like every other Nigerian girl who is bound by familial duty and responsibility, with a puritanical view of the world around her. And in most part most of these characteristics are washed by her other personalities constant interference with her life, it is present all through the book. We get to know her (Ada) so much that you being to tell apart when she is in control and when she is not. At least in the little glimpse of that we get.
Ada basically goes from what she should be to who she could be and whilst the end of it lead her into the dark dreary depths of her personalities, we can at least, to some extent, understand that she has embodied them.
The question isn't if she know she is possessed but rather how much of her (Ada) is left?
Has this book is in most part told by the personalities living within Ada, little can we tell of the real Ada without the isolation of the other entities, her life is overshadowed by the constant loaming idea of who the real Ada should be and what she can be. Ada seems like every other Nigerian girl who is bound by familial duty and responsibility, with a puritanical view of the world around her. And in most part most of these characteristics are washed by her other personalities constant interference with her life, it is present all through the book. We get to know her (Ada) so much that you being to tell apart when she is in control and when she is not. At least in the little glimpse of that we get.
Ada basically goes from what she should be to who she could be and whilst the end of it lead her into the dark dreary depths of her personalities, we can at least, to some extent, understand that she has embodied them.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I can appreciate what the book represents and did like some of it, this book just wasn’t meant for me.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Told from multiple, overlapping, and diverging perspectives, I truly have never read anything like this. Definitely a boom that makes you want to talk to others about it (and I will).
Heads up, not a light story. It was so interesting that the plot isn't linear nor is it the main focus of the book. You don't really have a major antagonist. I also felt that I had to abandon a lot of my comparisons to mental illness (as portrayed in Western media in particular) as a concept as I read.
Heads up, not a light story. It was so interesting that the plot isn't linear nor is it the main focus of the book. You don't really have a major antagonist. I also felt that I had to abandon a lot of my comparisons to mental illness (as portrayed in Western media in particular) as a concept as I read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Not feeling the prose at the moment (though very beautiful), and library hold ended
dark
emotional
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
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I started reading this nearly a year ago, and I honestly had to set it aside a few chapters in. The premise alone was enough to get me interested, but I was just about ready to mark it DNF due to the subject matter alone. It just wasn't my bag at the time, even if, objectively, I could appreciate the writing.
I read Emezi's later work, Death of Vivek Oji, weeks later, and enjoyed it, such that I devoured it in one sitting. I thought I'd pick up where I had left off with Freshwater (that, and I get weird about leaving books unfinished).
I wish I could say that I liked Freshwater the second time around, but sadly, this just didn't do it for me. I felt simultaneously unsettled and strangely unmoved, the latter probably because I could feel myself mulishly trudging through the last few chapters. (Which in retrospect doesn't make as much sense because Emezi is a fantastic writer? And the prose alone was great?) But I was getting lost beneath the nonlinear timeframe and the intertwining perspectives that it got harder to feel any sense of investment, and by the time I realized that, I was close to done with the book.
Anyway, I vastly prefer Death of Vivek Oji if you're looking to read anything by Akwaeke Emezi. Freshwater doesn't really do Emezi's prose justice and its scope is too unwieldy.
I read Emezi's later work, Death of Vivek Oji, weeks later, and enjoyed it, such that I devoured it in one sitting. I thought I'd pick up where I had left off with Freshwater (that, and I get weird about leaving books unfinished).
I wish I could say that I liked Freshwater the second time around, but sadly, this just didn't do it for me. I felt simultaneously unsettled and strangely unmoved, the latter probably because I could feel myself mulishly trudging through the last few chapters. (Which in retrospect doesn't make as much sense because Emezi is a fantastic writer? And the prose alone was great?) But I was getting lost beneath the nonlinear timeframe and the intertwining perspectives that it got harder to feel any sense of investment, and by the time I realized that, I was close to done with the book.
Anyway, I vastly prefer Death of Vivek Oji if you're looking to read anything by Akwaeke Emezi. Freshwater doesn't really do Emezi's prose justice and its scope is too unwieldy.