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namedconquer's review
5.0
It is all the questions & answers you'd find in the sacred space between self & spirit, between human & heavenly. It's a book that really demonstrates how one archives destiny & divinity - practical, not pompous but so poetic in many regards.
What struck me most was how I believed every word regardless of how far-fetched & fantastical it should come across. More than anything it gave me faith that will stretch beyond what is humanly considered possible or acceptable.
I have great respect for Akwaeke Emezi's journey & what they will continue to teach & bend for us so that hopefully we can all access the truth & power of what we really are.
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Mental illness
siobhanward's review
4.0
Moderate: Mental illness, Transphobia, and Medical content
takarakei's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Mental illness
Minor: Chronic illness, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
ambero's review
4.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
ktkeps's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Medical content, Sexual content, and Transphobia
laurareads87's review
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism, Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
starrysteph's review
4.5
Having already read most of Emezi's work, this memoir gave me a lot of clarity around the concepts explored in their books (specifically Freshwater).
CW: suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, transphobia, rape, sexual assault, mental illness, medical content, dysphoria, grief, infidelity, toxic relationship, chronic illness, self harm
Graphic: Chronic illness, Transphobia, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, and Dysphoria
Minor: Car accident and Cannibalism
criticalgayze's review
5.0
Even more affecting here for the artist and art-inclined among us, Emezi gives a sense of transparency that is often lacking in the business of the arts that can feel so intimidating, especially to historically marginalized creators. To that end, Emezi weaves in a level of knowledge and advice that is reminiscent of such workbook memoirs as You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero and Minority Leader by Stacey Abrams.
This work also bolsters what I have come to find about my own reading life. What seems to leave the greatest impact on me as a reader are works of memoir, auto-, and experimental fiction by Queer creators. Works that Queer the space of writing while being Queer themselves, and works that peel back the exterior and interior process of creation that help me access that space within myself. (Now to take Emezi's advice and start letting that inspire, instead of intimidate!)
Quotes:
I tell him that my search for somewhere to be is really a search for self, and the only self I feel at home with is one that doesn't exist, not anymore, one that's bee taken apart, whipped into dust. (2)
The magician tells me that other people can't do what I do, and maybe I believe him a little, but that's not the point. People can do such spectacular things if you forget to tell them it's impossible. I want them to try. (22)
Illusions are the best things to burn, I think, but some people consider such fires to be threats, and those who start them even worse. (24)
People would read Freshwater and speculate about what my career would have looked like after starting with a book so bold. I would be less of a threat, they wouldn't hesitate to call the book what it was - not the way they do when you're alive and young, Black and pretty and fucking talented, and you don't pretend like you don't know all of this. (30)
I am, at once, the person most bent on my death and the person most successful at keeping me alive; even the devil won't take me. (44)
So, you could just show a terrible thing and let the showing be the strength of it? I thought it was brilliant. (77)
'I stood at the border, stood at the edge, and claimed it as central,' you said, your voice weighted with intent. 'Claimed it as central and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.' (77)
You should see my centers, Ms. Morrison. They're glorious. They pull with the force of a planet and I'm patient; it's only a matter of time. (80)
The rules are clear, no matter the stakes: when anyone fucks with the work, burn them to the ground. (87)
Everything advances, mutates, we are in new worlds constantly (154)
It gets so ugly, this thing of punishing other for prioritizing their well-being over reassuring insecurities. (206)
It's never too late - that's a human lie of time, there is no late, there is mostly now because now is so flexible, I find. You can change a whole life, a whole world, inside of a now. (213)
'You write when you are most fragile, because you're changing from one form to another. These transformations and transmutations that take place - it has to be painful.' (227)
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Medical content, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Cursing
Minor: Excrement
liaandersson's review
Graphic: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, and Medical content
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Homophobia, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Infidelity