Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

200 reviews

nel0nen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Car accident

Minor: Death and Lesbophobia

sproinkly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident

carolinebl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

This book ebbed and flowed. The narration by Emezi herself was brilliant; this book was made to be spoken authentically. At times I was so gripped, and at others it was just too abstract. I’m not sure how to feel about the end, but I did

appreciate the presentation of Jesus more in the novel’s final portion.

A refreshing read, though heavy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hazelbynature's review against another edition

Enjoyed the premise and read 14–39% in one day, but then found I just couldn’t bring myself to pick it back up again over the following week.
It had a very negative tone, with no sign/hope of things improving for the human character. Very detached narrative voice, with lots of foreshadowing for things to get worse without any sign they’d improve.
Due to detachment of narrative voice, struggled to be emotionally invested in the human character.
Didn’t feel like there was really an overarching plot, just following the human character’s life as they lived it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

franksalot's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

discocaptain'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

3.5

(sent here by liam konneman's book on transmasculinity!)

just. the most brutally freeing exploration of mental illness and spirituality. emezi understands what its like to be toeing the lines of everything, from gender to sanity to cultural boundaries to religion. its a story about being an ọgbanje from its core to its toes. its horrible. like its actually horrible to read it is uncomfortable and voyeuristic and it all happens from the perspective of spirits that are inside ada's mind so just knowing that we aren't even seeing the whole picture makes my stomach drop. but that means we don't see all of the joy. the love, not just the heartbreaks. ada claws for every second on earth and heir nails are bleeding.

this book also has my faaavorite chapter on transness ever. the top surgery that ada decided as an ultimatum. ugh. beautiful. its just really beautiful in the way any well written horror piece is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore

sycomode's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-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: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

sexual assault and trauma

cleansky7's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

froggy1png's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

A real insightful read, so beautifully written 😭✨👏🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dancevera's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.5

A deeply creative book by one of my favourite writers. Freshwater deals with some heavy themes, and sometimes I had trouble reading the raw pain, especially paired with spiritual language. However the changing view points was absolutely brilliant, and I am already considering giving it a second read through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt