I tried many times to comprehend this book. I was lost and confused. As I continued on, hoping to understand, nothing was coming together. I was reading the words, but not understanding anything. I know I am in the minority and am quite disappointed that this book just wasn't for me.

What a beautiful and powerful debut novel.. I picked it up thinking it would just be another story about mermaids based on the cover, but instead got a complex story about what someone who feels like they're straddling different worlds, trying to find the balance with different lives. It's definitely a book you have to sit with and try to understand with your mind and also your soul.

Awkaeke Emezi and I have a great deal in common, and also some very significant differences, so reading this book which was based on and in their personal truths was...surreal. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything that felt so familiar and so foreign to me at the same time. It’s an experience I will remember and treasure forever.

I finished this after the Women’s Prize shortlist is released and all I can say is: it’s a damn travesty that this book didn’t make the cut. It was initially interesting to see that it was longlisted — Akwaeke Emezi is nonbinary, which the judges were not aware of until after they had decided upon the list. Emezi gave their okay for the book’s inclusion regardless and fans were glad to see it gain further recognition. But for the judges to leave off this masterpiece in favor of the combination they did… I won’t get into it, but it sure doesn’t make any sense.

I actually received a Netgalley ARC of this in January 2018, which I far too quickly DNFed in a “I’m not sure I Get this, maybe later” scenario. Maybe for the best, since I don’t know that I would have fully appreciated this novel without the growth my literary tastes have experienced over the last year. While I’m still not sure I was able to fully appreciate it — there were doubtless many things I missed — this is one of the most impactful books I have ever read and I’m sure I’ll never forget it.

Freshwater is an exploration of many things, but at the forefront lie trauma, gender identity, and spirituality. It’s hard to explore the plot too deeply without spoilers, but I’ll say that this is one of the best portrayals of trauma that I’ve ever read. The entire book requires endless trigger warnings and it’s quite an intense experience, but I found it so rewarding. If you’re in the space where you can pick this up, I cannot recommend it enough.

I really enjoyed Freshwater because it was different from anything that I had read before. A sort of magical realism that examines ones self which is allowed to grow and thrive, and exemplifies a wonderful story through it all.

This is an autobiographical novel about many deep issues such as violence, trauma and sexuality. While not all readers may understand or feel like this story connects to their own lives, I think that just the fact we can be open to experiences that differ from our own justifies the acts of writing and reading. I will be interested to see what this author does in the future.

For me, this book was something really different from everything I read so far. It is a mix of reality, mythology and tradition, interwined with the gender issue, and all of that accompanied with the autobiographical background. I don't see a better way to put the essence of this book in just one sentence or in just one review.

Sometimes it was very difficult to read and understand what's written, to keep my mind on the theme or even find the theme in what's written in this book. But, in the end, it was worth it. This is a book you'll never forget. Maybe you'll like it, maybe not, but you will never forget it, that's for sure.

I remember finishing this book just in time for its release, so it was back in February 2018. It was hectic, as I was both studying hard and preparing for my year abroad. I really wanted to publish this review because this one was a fantastic read, which completely caught me by surprise.

The reason why I requested this book was the fact that the story deals with mental health (in particular multiple personalities) and I was really adamant to read about it. On the other hand I was quite scared about it because the book has an unfamiliar setting and I wasn’t sure I would have enjoyed it. But oh boy, it was amazing.

It wasn’t the easiest read either. Starting with the fact that I’m not 100% comfortable with reading in English, it involves lots of ethnical and mythologic details I wasn’t prepared for. But at the same time I find it was a great representation of the chaos the main character, Ada, was dealing with. This book is filled with raw emotions and I managed to emotionally connect with it; I ended up reading with tears filling my eyes, something that rarely happens.
At times, I couldn’t figure out what was happening and this is my only complain with this book. But at the same time it totally makes sense: in this story, things are unclear and open to interpretation, left to your imagination or simply don’t make sense at all, as the mind itself doesn’t make sense most of the time.

"The first madness was that we were born, that they stuffed a god into a bag of skin."

I've never read anything like this debut novel, and am in awe of its fierceness.

Ada is born with an Ogbanje (a godlike Igbo spirit) inside her, and the story begins with the Ogbanje's narration from within her body. At college, Ada is raped by a classmate, prompting Asughara, the most dominant spirit, to take over and shield her from future pain. Ada is aware of Asughara, and the two form a strange symbiotic bond.

But Asughara is fueled by anger and bitterness—not only from Ada's trauma, but from Asughara's desire to return to the spirit world. Her idea of "protecting" Ada puts Ada on a dangerous path.

Now you can see what I mean when I say I've never read anything like this. Rooted in Igbo mythology, it's a raw and surreal exploration of identity, mental illness and trauma, written in sharp, explosive prose.

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side."

A very difficult and confusing book and one I was not enjoying at all, so I gave up after 75 pages.

***I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity.***

This was a great book. The story was captivating and kept me interested throughout. Can’t wait for more from this author.

This was a great book - wild, dark, creative, and incredibly unique in a world that is saturated with stories. Ada was a hard character and this book is hard to define, and I won't try because I feel it will spoil it if I do.

i read with brutal speed. it's a brutal book and i couldn't put it down. i had never seen "mental illness" (the author wouldn't like my saying this) and gender treated like this.

i read a lot of books about psychic pain. i am not a fan of its pathologization and categorization, of boxing it up, of naming it like the name is all we need to know and then everything is clear.

emezi lived with different personalities for years and undoubtedly saw more psychiatrists and psychiatric wards than we could tolerate. the world of western psychiatry is not a gentle and forgiving one.

and then one day she discovered nigerian theology. she discovered she is a special person, a conduit between humanity and the gods. and this made sense of everything.

psychiatry is sense-making. theology is sense-making. stories are sense-making.

there is violence in this book but the violence is morphed by the author from banal, meaningless "self-harm" to theologically poignant "offering to the gods."

you cannot read this if you cannot let go of your understanding of mental pain or mental diversity. it will be abhorrent to you.

there is also a ton of sexual violence in this book, and childhood trauma.

emezi is western-educated and she knows what you are thinking. don't tell her what she is. don't tell her why she is the way she is. she has been there. she has chosen her own story.

and she's trans. she is fine with "she" (and "they") and with being trans. you don't need to wrap your mind around this, you need to believe her. she is the only one with the right to define herself.

i'm treating the book as autobiographical cuz quite some time has passed since its publication and we now know it is. if you follow emezi on twitter you'll know that she is blazing her own trail. i'll be along every step of the way. my admiration for her is boundless.

One of my favorite books. I absolutely loved it. I loved all of the characters (they were so 3-dimensional and deep!) and I loved the storyline.

Freshwater was beautiful and fascinating and one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. The storytelling structure and POV really blew my mind.

Freshwater was confusing and frankly mind-boggling at first. The various gods (demons?) inhabiting the child Ada take their time to introduce themselves, to become coherent. This book covers such a great deal of issues- liminality, the divine and human response to it, what it means to be other, what it means to be a part of a whole... not to mention the issues of gender fluidity, mental health, sexuality and violence... it's a lot to take in. I'm not sure at all times, especially at the beginning, that I understood what was happening or the narrative style. But as the book concluded it became a super speedy and much more comprehensible read which I can't say I enjoyed, but which I think was from a valuable and interesting voice. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my unbiased review.

This book was profound at the beginning but i got lost towards the end. Felt like too much was happening all at once. From ogbanje to sexual exploration to gender reassignments...I almost could not keep up. I later found out it was a sort of mini-autobiography and it all seemed to come together at the end. Like...you can't make this stuff up!

If a hybrid existed between Kafka's The Metamorphosis and multiple African folktales, Akwaeke Emezi's novel would be it. In Freshwater, Emezi explores the disjunctive identities within one's self and the struggles with deep mental illness with her character Ada, who grapples with multiples identities living inside her as a result of different deities fighting for control over her body.
Emezi's narrative is moving, heartbreaking and absolutely enticing as Ada grows up and becomes a woman, moving from Nigeria to America and unable to ever fully take control of her own will and her own desires.
Freshwater is an extraordinary debut, placing Emezi on the list of new authors to watch for.

Very hard book to read, hard to follow. I kept putting it down and going back to it. The storyline was interesting, but I just could not follow it. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Loved it! Such interesting subject matter plus an ethereal writing style. Very unique. Definitely haven't read a novel like this before.