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dinasamimi 's review for:

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
5.0

What a ballsy debut. I don't know if anything can prepare you for this novel. This is heavily spiritual, harnessing Igbo ontology with some Christianity mixed in. For non-Nigerians (like myself) a lot of these ideas and gods and spiritual dynamics are foreign. This is all layered on top of sexual trauma, longstanding conflicts with mental health, gender identity and selfhood. The book's autobiographical roots add to the mystique of Emezi and her story. This is something I want to see on the screen -- can't wait for the television adaptation.