Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Freshwater

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

261 reviews

tytrack99's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This one is a hard one to review. The writing and the voice is very powerful. there were many cutting lines and many passages that I had to highlight because they were just so powerful. However, it didn’t feel like much was revealed. Not much plot was happening. I love a no plot just vibes but there has to be a reason at the end of the day. I didnt feel like much was revealed here. I didnt leave with a powerful meaning or reason having read this. however, I still think it was a very interesting story with powerful writing. very excited to read more of their work!

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jill_holly's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

It feels impossible to review this book because it is so hard to describe. It had me in a chokehold the moment I started it and didn't let up. I was breathless by the end. Both devastatingly dark and heartwrenchingly beautiful, it dives headfirst into the lasting impacts of sexual trauma, the struggles of mental health, and the splitting of a fractured identity. It pulls from Igbo mythology, which I enjoyed learning more about. I was riveted, heartbroken and aching from the prose, weirdness, and intensity of Ada's story. I need to go read everything else Akwaeke Emezi has ever written.

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lizlee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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bisexualbookshelf's review against another edition

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I was doing this on audio, which often doesn't work well for me. It's been weeks since I was interested in listening to it, so I'm calling it a DNF for now. This also has a lot of detailed triggering content relating to sexual violence and self-harm, which may be why I've been disinclined to pick it back up. I'd like to revisit it via physical or eBook, but it may have to wait until I have a healthier relationship with my nervous system.

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vklyle99's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

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molsherlaw's review against another edition

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dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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gdulecki's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

I almost didn’t really start reading this because I had absolutely no clue what was happening, but when I embraced the unreliability and the chaos I began to enjoy it a lot more. There were many times that the individual words or sentences or paragraphs made no sense, but I did enjoy the overall book and story despite this. I really loved the way that they explored mental health and trauma through personifying these things, and it really struck me when Ada indicated that their conditions would explain the story better than they could. This certainly wasn’t my favorite Akwaeke Emezi book, but I did enjoy it!

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