Reviews with content warning for Violence - Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir

Dear Senthuran is beautifully written, extraordinarily intimate, and covers a lot of ground: spiritedness + spiritual life, gender, mental health, childhood, career, fame, interpersonal relationships, navigating life amidst humanity. Extraordinary & like nothing I've ever read before (though those who've read Freshwater will certainly find some familiar content here); also a very difficult read - I'm sure I've forgotten some relevant content warnings.

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byagz's review

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I will read anything and everything by akwaeke emezi. Reading their work—it is so blatantly obvious—they know wtf they’re doing. this memoir made me cry, it was inspiring in moments, full of real shit. You can feel their energy through their words. Straight up powerful. Powerful. this book is covered in highlights. their writing is unlike any other for me.

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laurenleigh's review

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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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