Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

33 reviews

hogsandwich's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

Theyre definitely a genius. Theyre also, I suspect, very difficult to be around.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Self harm

eslsilver's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cannibalism and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia

laurenleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

This memoir by Awaeke Emezi is written in letters, as they explore their gender identity, their romantic and sexual partnerships, their  life as an author, and their multiplicity. The epistolary format invites the reader into an intimate space, at times voyeuristic when Emezi gets into some intense detail. Some of these details, mainly relating to suicide and gore, were hard for me to read. I am a strict completionist, but even I had to give up on the titular “Dear Senthuran” letter, which is also rightly titled “Gore.” But I understand, at least to some degree, why it’s important for Emezi to push boundaries. Their life, their embodiment in human form, and in turn, their writing, is all so raw. It’s bursting at the seams with life and intensity. I highly recommend their debut novel, Freshwater, and I especially suggest reading that before this memoir, so you have an understanding of Emezi’s multiplicity and Igbo ontology. It’s all so fascinating to me, and their work is like nothing else I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gore, Blood, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Fire/Fire injury

maryberthelsen's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

merin_aran's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

translove's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical content, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

gagne's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment, Dysphoria, Grief, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Medical content, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

nicolaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Infidelity

foreverinastory's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense

5.0

I have no words.

I've had the pleasure of reading both Freshwater and The Death of Vivek Oji so I knew I would be inhaling Emezi's memoir as soon as I could. Dear Senthuran has solidified Emezi as one of my favorite authors of all time. Any time they come out with something new, I will be reading it immediately.

This memoir is not an easy book to read. Emezi has chronic depression and has lived through several suicide attempts. Reading about their struggles and how being an author on tour only exacerbated their depression is something readers and fans almost never see. We see the shiny, polished author who puts their best face forward during the extent of the tour where as many cities as possible are crammed in.

So much of this book is about pain. But it's also about becoming who you are. The thing I related to the most was Emezi's struggles with gender and defining exactly what their gender was. Plus dealing with dysphoria and taking steps to treat it. They also discuss how this impacted their relationship with their mother.

This book took a knife to my soul and it felt like someone finally understood the thoughts in my head I haven't been able to verbalize. Read this book as soon as you can.

CWs: Death, emotional abuse, homophobia, medical content (gender affirming surgeries), misogyny, racism, religious bigotry, sexism, self harm, sexual content, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, toxic relationship, transphobia, body horror, mental illness (depression). 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

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