Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

65 reviews

booksandboardgames's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria

cocorose's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, and Blood

Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

bbalcom4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

thewoodlandbookshelf's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

waybeyondblue's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

heartsbyzak's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Car accident, and Dysphoria

undersea's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

eliakine's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this was a bit of a tricky read! not because it was difficult to read, the narrative voice was so clear, it made actually reading the book feel lovely and smooth. the topics discussed however were very heavy and numerous, so it's definitely not one for the faint of heart. even still, I don't regret picking it up at all, I just know that going forward I should be more careful to familiarise myself with content warnings before starting to read lol

I really enjoyed reading about Ada, and Emezi so skillfully wrote from so many different perspectives and voices this truly was a wonderful time. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Transphobia, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Physical abuse, Violence, and Outing

zitalilla's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

grey_jayne's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Freshwater is beautifully written and the audiobook is read by the author. This is the third Emezi book that I have switched over to audiobook because they create characters with strong Nigerian voices that I don't feel comfortable narrating in my head. Besides this book, Pet and Bitter were also great audiobooks, read by people other than the author. All three audiobooks increased my enjoyment and Emezi's wordcraft is magical.

The story is a little challenging in how the splintered voices speak and this is the best DID narrative I know. Also the sharing of trans moments was quite honest and lovely too. I would recommend checking the content warnings though because parts of this book are intense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria