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catapocalypse's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book was so bold a creation, so extraordinary an experience. It is essentially a follow up to Freshwater, this time rightfully labeled as memoir. It's their story as a series of epistolary essays. I'd recommend reading Freshwater first, since it will provide additional explanation and context for things like their ศฏgbanje identity, the brothersisters, some of their relationship with Yshwa, and more about their childhood and youth (Since I had already read it beforehand, I am not certain how much may need clarification without it). Dear Senthuran touches on those things, but its focus is more on their adulthood as well as philosophy behind their identities, spiritualities, relationships, work, life, etc.
Emezi's goals were to write truly of their personal experiences and to put those ideas out there for Black readers in particular. That said, I strongly urge other white readers not to shy away. We need to read and think about these things with honest reflection. So much of how we've harmed others and ourselves comes out of operating on narrow views and letting bad ideas calcify into accepted norms. Learning that this isn't how things are or should be helps work on dismantling these cages. There is still so much in here to relate to, and a lot that we can also find freeing, if we're willing to listen and think on it.
I would advise being prepared to go into this in the right headspace. It's at least as brutal and breathtaking as Freshwater, with a lot of heavy things covered in heavy detail. There are in-depth looks at depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, death, and a small section including fantasies of cannibalism.
I took my reading slow to let things percolate and avoid being overwhelmed. It was such a rewarding experience. Emezi remains a favorite, and I look forward to their upcoming projects.
Emezi's goals were to write truly of their personal experiences and to put those ideas out there for Black readers in particular. That said, I strongly urge other white readers not to shy away. We need to read and think about these things with honest reflection. So much of how we've harmed others and ourselves comes out of operating on narrow views and letting bad ideas calcify into accepted norms. Learning that this isn't how things are or should be helps work on dismantling these cages. There is still so much in here to relate to, and a lot that we can also find freeing, if we're willing to listen and think on it.
I would advise being prepared to go into this in the right headspace. It's at least as brutal and breathtaking as Freshwater, with a lot of heavy things covered in heavy detail. There are in-depth looks at depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, death, and a small section including fantasies of cannibalism.
I took my reading slow to let things percolate and avoid being overwhelmed. It was such a rewarding experience. Emezi remains a favorite, and I look forward to their upcoming projects.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma
Minor: Chronic illness, Islamophobia, and Murder
caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
- Per usual, when I try to sit down to write about an Emezi book, I cannot find the words. Their work is simply beyond my ability to discuss. Each book bends my mind and cracks open the world a little differently.
- DEAR SENTHURAN is a look inside their brain, their heart, their soul. It's an extended discussion of how to deal with a world that does not want you, on several levels. It's the pain and joy and revenge of making space for yourself anyway.
- Even beyond the larger ideas explored, the actual writing and words of this book are expansive, visceral, horrifying and elegant. They are truly a master of their craft.
- Also, I've listed content warnings below: please take them seriously. Emezi does not hold back on some graphic descriptions, particularly about suicide and self harm.
- DEAR SENTHURAN is a look inside their brain, their heart, their soul. It's an extended discussion of how to deal with a world that does not want you, on several levels. It's the pain and joy and revenge of making space for yourself anyway.
- Even beyond the larger ideas explored, the actual writing and words of this book are expansive, visceral, horrifying and elegant. They are truly a master of their craft.
- Also, I've listed content warnings below: please take them seriously. Emezi does not hold back on some graphic descriptions, particularly about suicide and self harm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ-๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
It's ridiculously hard to put into words how much I loved this memoir. Akwaeke Emezi is a force. An inspiration. A phoenix rising from the ashes. Throughout these letters to people in their life, they are open and vulnerable, being so unapologetically themselves.
The writing is incredible. I underlined basically the whole book. Emezi has a way with words that I've never come across before in any other author. I could read their writing again and again and never be bored of it. This is without a doubt the best book I've read all year.
Before diving into their memoir, definitely grab yourself a copy of Freshwater, Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji (all masterpieces in their own right), because they come up a lot in this book. Especially the parallels from Freshwater to Emezi's life, I knew it was kind of autobiographical when I first read it, but they put a lot of themselves into that book.
I'll leave you with another quote from Dear Senthuran that really stuck with me, but also just read Akwaeke Emezi's work if you haven't already, you won't regret it.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง*๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง; ๐'๐ฎ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
It's ridiculously hard to put into words how much I loved this memoir. Akwaeke Emezi is a force. An inspiration. A phoenix rising from the ashes. Throughout these letters to people in their life, they are open and vulnerable, being so unapologetically themselves.
The writing is incredible. I underlined basically the whole book. Emezi has a way with words that I've never come across before in any other author. I could read their writing again and again and never be bored of it. This is without a doubt the best book I've read all year.
Before diving into their memoir, definitely grab yourself a copy of Freshwater, Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji (all masterpieces in their own right), because they come up a lot in this book. Especially the parallels from Freshwater to Emezi's life, I knew it was kind of autobiographical when I first read it, but they put a lot of themselves into that book.
I'll leave you with another quote from Dear Senthuran that really stuck with me, but also just read Akwaeke Emezi's work if you haven't already, you won't regret it.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง*๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง; ๐'๐ฎ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
sjanke2's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt