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A review by casebounder
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
5.0
Y’aaallllllll. What an incredible debut novel and reading experience. After reading FRESHWATER, and also PET earlier this year, I’m (A) totally an Emezi fan and (B) totally ready for their next book, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, in August from @riverheadbooks.
Knowing that this was billed as an autobiographical novel written by a gender-queer author, I figured I’d be in for some great genderfuckery storytelling. But I was unprepared for the layers here exploring dissociative identity disorder, gender expression, myth and ritual, trauma survival, sex, and empowerment. Simply loved, 5/5 stars for me. Although I do want to say that the beginning had a bit of a learning curve and took me a moment to sink into - so if you’re slow to start then just stick it out! This book really took off for me after the first section (which I don’t want to detail because this book is best without the premise being fully explained).
And no, it’s no coincidence I’m posting this on Harry Potter’s bday, aka also JKR’s bday. Just a reminder that trans women are women, and excluding any women from your brand of feminism is degrading to feminism as a whole. JKR isn’t losing her freedom of speech or thought, she’s just being a bigot with a huge platform.
Knowing that this was billed as an autobiographical novel written by a gender-queer author, I figured I’d be in for some great genderfuckery storytelling. But I was unprepared for the layers here exploring dissociative identity disorder, gender expression, myth and ritual, trauma survival, sex, and empowerment. Simply loved, 5/5 stars for me. Although I do want to say that the beginning had a bit of a learning curve and took me a moment to sink into - so if you’re slow to start then just stick it out! This book really took off for me after the first section (which I don’t want to detail because this book is best without the premise being fully explained).
And no, it’s no coincidence I’m posting this on Harry Potter’s bday, aka also JKR’s bday. Just a reminder that trans women are women, and excluding any women from your brand of feminism is degrading to feminism as a whole. JKR isn’t losing her freedom of speech or thought, she’s just being a bigot with a huge platform.