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A review by thereadingrunnner
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
3.0
I truthfully can't even believe I picked this book up because I was so NOT a fan of the Death of Vivek Oji. Yet I decided I wanted to give Emezi another chance and her debut got good reviews, so here I am... This novel was so incredibly odd, yet I found it to be quite engaging and captivating. This is really not a novel that I can in any way relate to, but it had a very fantasy-like quality to it, although I know it is not a fantasy at all for those who experience what the main character, Ada, experiences. Taken from an excerpt on this novel, this explains the general concept and synopsis of the story which is done through Ada: "An ogbanje is an Igbo spirit that’s born into a human body, a kind of malevolent trickster, whose goal is to torment the human mother by dying unexpectedly only to return in the next child and do it all over again. They come and go. They are never really here — if you are a thing that was born to die, you are a dead thing even while you live."
This is the story of Ada, who discovers at a fairly early age that she has these spirits/gods living inside of her. As each god surfaces, it is "born" into her and takes over a part of her. It is essentially the equivalent of having multiple personalities - each serving a specific purpose in her life and in a way, attempting to protect her from certain things, all the while knowing their main goal is to ultimately kill her. The POV shifts throughout between each of these gods who have taken over her flesh. The novel is extremely hyper-sexual, so be forewarned on that. Definitely at times I thought it became very repetitive as it was just going through partner after partner after partner. The struggles of Ada are highlighted when at times, she attempts to seek out help through self research and therapy, but she is quickly convinced by her inner gods that she is fine and does not need human help, only their help. I felt a real sense of anguish for Ada and kept rooting for her to somehow defeat these inner spirits. I did feel the ending wrapped up much, much too quickly for me to feel any sort of sense of satisfaction. However, I definitely did enjoy this far better than Vivek Oji!
This is the story of Ada, who discovers at a fairly early age that she has these spirits/gods living inside of her. As each god surfaces, it is "born" into her and takes over a part of her. It is essentially the equivalent of having multiple personalities - each serving a specific purpose in her life and in a way, attempting to protect her from certain things, all the while knowing their main goal is to ultimately kill her. The POV shifts throughout between each of these gods who have taken over her flesh. The novel is extremely hyper-sexual, so be forewarned on that. Definitely at times I thought it became very repetitive as it was just going through partner after partner after partner. The struggles of Ada are highlighted when at times, she attempts to seek out help through self research and therapy, but she is quickly convinced by her inner gods that she is fine and does not need human help, only their help. I felt a real sense of anguish for Ada and kept rooting for her to somehow defeat these inner spirits. I did feel the ending wrapped up much, much too quickly for me to feel any sort of sense of satisfaction. However, I definitely did enjoy this far better than Vivek Oji!