Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

38 reviews

atreegrowsinbooks's review

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

Completely and utterly blown away by this. My first Emezi and most certainly not the last. 

This was a memoir full of so much emotion. A roller coaster of heartbreak for their own heartbreak, struggles with the world, and how terrible people have treated them. Why do so many people with a sun energy have to deal with people who bring them down. 

I loved being able to listen to Emezi read this. I felt like I was in an author talk, perhaps in a small dark room intensely focused on their reading. I know I’m going to need a physical copy to reread, as there are many many things to take away from this. But for my first read, I think the biggest thing I took away way to believe in yourself 100%. Think and speak what you want into this world. Know that it’ll happen and it’s happening. Be the sun and say your words of truth so that they seep into your being and into reality. 
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princesspeachykeen's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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ba1l3y's review against another edition

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3.75

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eelizabith's review

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4.0

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eprimo's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

This book is beautifully written, thought provoking, emotionally challenging- but in a good way. 
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mollief's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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lifewithjoce's review

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

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dc32's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

note to self to remember chapters: worldbending, desire, holy, anointing
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karingforbooks's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

2.5

I’m sure this resonates for others, but it’s not for me. Not least because the extensive discussion of suicide and self harm was triggering for me, so go into this having read content and trigger warnings. 
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. 
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sweetearlgrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
I can't give this an accurate star rating so I will just explain my thoughts. Ever since I read Vivek and Freshwater I have been enthralled with Akwaeke's writing, but I didn't know much about them as a person. Naturally, I was excited to read the memoir of someone as fascinating as them. It completely exceeded my expectations as it actually challenged some preconceptions that I didn't know I had. The memoir starts off with Emezi identifying themselves as an African ogbanje spirit, a God-like rather than human being. I immediately tried to rationalise what I had read; "you mean metaphorically right?". I had read Freshwater with the assumption that the ogbanje was a metaphor, but Akwaeke specifically calls out people for believing that (oops!). I think that as Westerners many of us (myself included) want things to be palatable, in sync with our own realities, simplified even. Akwaeke wants us to just accept indigenous realities the way that they are. Reading this has pushed me to explore my own prejudices more than anything else. 
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