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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol
michaelion's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Excrement, Car accident, and Outing
karingforbooks's review against another edition
2.5
Otherwise I can’t tell if it’s just that I’m uncomfortable with someone being so confident or if I genuinely think they’re delusional in a harmless way. But none of it hit with me and I didn’t enjoy the writing style either.
Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Dysphoria
Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
takarakei's review
4.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
Minor: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Medical content
mscalls's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt
ktkeps's review
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, and Suicide attempt
starrysteph's review against another edition
4.5
Agonizingly relatable. Unapologetic. Their prose is SO good and illuminates so much of my own life and brain.
Chills the whole way through. Grateful that I'm here at the same time they are publishing books.
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Beautiful. Deeply poetic, deeply vulnerable, and deeply illuminating.
Having already read most of Emezi's work, this memoir gave me a lot of clarity around the concepts explored in their books (specifically Freshwater).
CW: suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, transphobia, rape, sexual assault, mental illness, medical content, dysphoria, grief, infidelity, toxic relationship, chronic illness, self harm
Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Minor: Cannibalism and Car accident
criticalgayze's review against another edition
5.0
Even more affecting here for the artist and art-inclined among us, Emezi gives a sense of transparency that is often lacking in the business of the arts that can feel so intimidating, especially to historically marginalized creators. To that end, Emezi weaves in a level of knowledge and advice that is reminiscent of such workbook memoirs as You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero and Minority Leader by Stacey Abrams.
This work also bolsters what I have come to find about my own reading life. What seems to leave the greatest impact on me as a reader are works of memoir, auto-, and experimental fiction by Queer creators. Works that Queer the space of writing while being Queer themselves, and works that peel back the exterior and interior process of creation that help me access that space within myself. (Now to take Emezi's advice and start letting that inspire, instead of intimidate!)
Quotes:
I tell him that my search for somewhere to be is really a search for self, and the only self I feel at home with is one that doesn't exist, not anymore, one that's bee taken apart, whipped into dust. (2)
The magician tells me that other people can't do what I do, and maybe I believe him a little, but that's not the point. People can do such spectacular things if you forget to tell them it's impossible. I want them to try. (22)
Illusions are the best things to burn, I think, but some people consider such fires to be threats, and those who start them even worse. (24)
People would read Freshwater and speculate about what my career would have looked like after starting with a book so bold. I would be less of a threat, they wouldn't hesitate to call the book what it was - not the way they do when you're alive and young, Black and pretty and fucking talented, and you don't pretend like you don't know all of this. (30)
I am, at once, the person most bent on my death and the person most successful at keeping me alive; even the devil won't take me. (44)
So, you could just show a terrible thing and let the showing be the strength of it? I thought it was brilliant. (77)
'I stood at the border, stood at the edge, and claimed it as central,' you said, your voice weighted with intent. 'Claimed it as central and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.' (77)
You should see my centers, Ms. Morrison. They're glorious. They pull with the force of a planet and I'm patient; it's only a matter of time. (80)
The rules are clear, no matter the stakes: when anyone fucks with the work, burn them to the ground. (87)
Everything advances, mutates, we are in new worlds constantly (154)
It gets so ugly, this thing of punishing other for prioritizing their well-being over reassuring insecurities. (206)
It's never too late - that's a human lie of time, there is no late, there is mostly now because now is so flexible, I find. You can change a whole life, a whole world, inside of a now. (213)
'You write when you are most fragile, because you're changing from one form to another. These transformations and transmutations that take place - it has to be painful.' (227)
Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Minor: Excrement
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
Graphic: Chronic illness, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, and Cannibalism
Minor: Sexual assault