Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Freshwater

wow! what a smashing debut! i don't know how to put into words how this book made me feel. this hit different than the books I've read recently. this had the wierdness of a Murakami book with all those magical realism-ish elements. I didn't expect to get a clear explanation or an answer in the end & i'm ok with it.
this book deals with some dark shit but the writing makes it oh so easy to get through it. usually when a book gets tough i keep it down & take a break from it, but not this one. i just wanted to keep reading it & the way it's written certainly helps.

is this a perfect book? no. it has it's flaws, the characters come off a little unclear at 1st & it takes some time to understand & get into it, & yeah some things are not very well explained by the end, but despite it's flaws it's nothing short of 5star read for me, cuz it achieved way more in 230 pages that some books are not able to achieve even in 500 pages.

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emfass's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

It is hard to capture my feelings about this book - maybe I will come back and share more thoughts when I've processed a bit.

I am close to someone who experiences dissociative identity disorder, and while I don't want to compare their experience to a culture/ontology/spirituality I know nothing about and the parallels and contrasts therein, I will also say that this book was both incredibly profound and challenging to read, due to how closely it seems to reflect some of my friend's experiences.

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moonandmadness's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There is little this novel lacks. Heart breaking prose, inundated with culture, and metaphor, while still staying grounded in experiences that are all too real. Everyone should read this, if they can.

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valereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was an experience, one I do not quite know how to talk about. I’ve been putting off reviewing this book for a while because I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. Saying I enjoyed it wouldn’t be accurate but it’s a good book and I’m glad I read it.

One thing I particularly liked about this book were the distinct voices of the different POVs. You don’t need the headings to identify whose POV you’re in because Ada, Asughara and “We” all have such distinct voices which reflect their very different personalities. This is something I’ve seen some authors struggle with in the past so I was particularly impressed by this.

I thought this book took an interesting approach to spirituality and mental health. I knew a little about dissociative identity disorder (DID) before reading this (a close friend of mine was recently diagnosed) but I’ve never seen a non-medical perspective until now. I understand this book is ownvoices in this respect. I’d definitely like to see a review from someone else with a DID diagnosis so as to see what they think of this.

A warning before I conclude: this book is potentially extremely triggering. Reading a little background on it and my knowledge of DID meant that I was a little prepared but I highly recommend that if you’re even considering picking up this book then to read a list of content warnings.

Freshwater was intense. It was an experience. There is little more I can say about it other than if you’re interested then you should read it (but read the content warnings first).

Content Warnings: unreality, parental neglect, car accident involving a child, graphic description of gore, abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, csa, cocsa, rape, victim blaming, graphic descriptions of sex, self-harm, discussions of suicide, attempted suicide, homophobia, transphobia, exorsexism, top surgery referred to as “mutilation”

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