Two "it's not you, it's me" stars. This book clearly spoke to a lot of people, judging from other reviews, but it wasn't for me at all. Just too abstract and weird. I prefer a more concrete writing style, and I just couldn't connect with this or get anything out of it.

incredibly beautiful. I'm not sure how to do this justice. dissociative identity disorder told through the gods that are those personalities voices. gender fluid, bi or possibly pansexual, Nigerian main character. A++++++++++

A unique and challenging read. It wasn't my favorite but that's not to say that I do not respect Emezi's talent. I also appreciated the opportunity to read a new author and one with a different global perspective. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Sometimes you know you're going to love a book by the end of the first chapter.

You know that Pixar movie where the girl has all the people in her head? Mad, sad and happy or something. And it's really funny but poignant? Well, Freshwater is sort of like that. Except it's for adults and some of the people in the girl's head are rather malicious. Also, they're actually gods, born and trapped into human flesh.

This book was absolutely breathtaking and so heartbreakingly beautifully written.

Twin gods born into 'the Ada', as they call the girl they live inside, start the telling of the story. They take us through her childhood in Nigeria and the first part of her college education in the United States.

A traumatic event sees another god born into Ada's mind - Asụghara. Asụghara is strong, she will protect the Ada and make sure she is never hurt again. But Asughura is also nasty and has certain appetites that need to be met.

Described as an autobiographical novel, Freshwater is the story of a traumatised young woman whose mind fractures in order to protect her. The arc follows Ada's descent into a necessary madness and her desperate attempts to claw her way out again.

I adored the imagery and the complete disregard for reality or conventions. The 'marble room' of Ada's mind is where gods are born and where Ada retreats to, allowing her alternate selves to control her body instead. Its smooth, cool walls shelter her and her internal gods but they are also a self-made prison which will cause her even more heartbreak along the way.

The tone of the first section floats and wafts like the shadows that are the twin gods who narrate it. The next section, where we're flung into the arms and voice of Asụghara, is much more solid, reflecting this new god's fury and disdain for all things human.

The merging of reality with unreality, combined with gorgeous writing, reminded me of reading Anna Spargo-Ryan's brilliant first novel, The Paper House, a story of a woman who descends into madness after the stillbirth of her first child.

I highly recommend Freshwater - I devoured it as quickly as I could and was left feeling quite stunned, but thoroughly satisfied, when it ended.

I'm blown away by the unique storytelling of this debut novel. It's rare that you read something that makes you say, "Wow, I've never read a book like this before." Ada was born "with one foot on the other side," her body shared by Ọgbanje, spirits from traditional Nigerian mythology. Her story is told through their eyes as well as her own. It's a haunting tale, spiritual and deeply human. Emezi is a masterful writer, and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Fortunately I was familiar with the terms ogbanje and iya-uwa after having taught Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart to Honors English classes. But this novel is so unique in that it's told from the spirits' perspectives as "the Ada" is referred to as the body/receptacle and "We" is the speaker. i admit it takes a while to get used to this narrative but once you are used to it, the novel takes on fascinating new characteristics that make you think very deeply and question all you may believe about human existence. As we follow Ada from birth to college, we witness her difficult childhood, her descent into troublemaking and mental illness--nothing of which is fully under her control. But the prose is lovely enough to savor and re-read while making you weep at its pathos and vulnerability of characters. Simply a beautiful book!

Official review now on my book blog: https://africanbookaddict.com/2018/02/03/freshwater-by-akwaeke-emezi/

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was unique, complex, thought provoking, and seriously unlike anything I’ve ever read. The folklore, the ideas, and the different points of view made this a very interesting and intriguing read. I loved how the book discussed many different serious topics and made them a part of the story. Reading this book was like a rollercoaster, there were ups, downs, and you never knew where it was going to go. I really had no problems with this book other than the fact that it could be extremely confusing at times, which led me to be bored. Certain POV’s held less weight to the story for me, so I didn’t enjoy reading them as much. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would highly recommend it, with some trigger warnings.

I received an arc of this from the publisher through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Freshwater is a book which was slightly different for me. I liked it.
Ada, our main character was born to Nigerian Father and Indian Mother as a second child. She with her brings brothersisters inside her. Brothersisters are based on Nigerian Mythology reffered as “Ogbanje”.

I was the wildness under the skin, the skin into a weapon, the weapon over the flesh. I was here. No one would ever touch her again.

The first part of the book is narrated by a “we”, that is brothersisters who creates chaos in a child’s mind. Then when Ada grows up and moves to the US. There some traumatic events leads these brothersisters inside her to more fragmentation of self and creates Asụghara and Saint Vincent. Asụghara in Ada, makes her go reckless, do self harm, run wild. Saint Vincent is the man part in Ada, who is passive while Asụghara is boiling in Ada. But when Asụghara is failing/doubtful Saint Vincent takes charge and makes Ada to try be a man.

The story of Ada’s family is also there in a background, slowly ticking in between. The family issues , the child abuse which were told in a unconventional way. The story is recontextualized at several places and throw light on a situation in a different angle. A very good book. I still feel disturbed by this one and this might stay a bit in a corner of my mind.


Everything gets clearer with each day, as long as I listen. With each morning, I am less afraid.

Happy Reading!!
ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making

ogbanje - an evil spirit that deliberately plague a family with misfortune
"children who come and go"
(from Wikipedia)

Freshwater is reminiscent of ancient Greek tragedy. I imagined the different gods and spirits as the chorus. This novel is unique and beautiful.. It shows how women use masks to hide trauma and how pain can change your trajectory. This is the language of misery and anger. This is art.

(netgally)

This is the strangest book I’ve ever read.
Firstly, the narrative is told by Ada’s fractured personalities as they emerge. Their voices are so distinctive and powerful. The first two, Smoke and Shadow, are two asexual spirits that take over Ada’s body after her mother’s abandonment and physical abuse. The third one, the beastself Asughara, takes over after Soren’s rape, and is responsible for Ada’s wild side, seeking the most dangerous and cruellest men and entering the least successful relationships. There’s another ego, Saint Vincent, who tries to keep Ada safe by transforming her in an androgynous being, binding and even surgically removing her feminine parts. Yet, these selves / spirits are not the only responsible for Ada’s sufferings, she is herself prone to self-harm and she can take full responsibility for her broken marriage. What I found weird was Ada and her fractured selves conferring in her marble room (really?).
Secondly, this strange story is mixed up with Nigerian mythology. Ada is convinced she’s Ala’s child, the fertility goddess of earth and ruler of the underworld, and Ala is waiting for her to return into her womb, whereas Shadow, Smoke and Asughara are her messengers. Shadow and Smoke think of themselves as pythons so they go through moulting with every trauma Ada suffers. Asughara is Ada’s wicked twin, only stronger. Though they seem to protect Ada, their final scope is to bring her back to Ala, hence Ada’s attempted suicide.
We only hear Ada’s own voice in two instances, once praying to Ishwa for salvation, prayer left unanswered, and in the final chapter, where she seeks her life’s meaning in Ala’s myth, and, I have no doubt, finds it in Freshwater – the beginning and the end.
I am sure there are more layers to this story, I am very grateful for having the opportunity to read it.

This book is beautiful and dark. Freshwater tells the spiritual journey of Ada, who was born with Gods inside her body. Ada’s story is told from the unique perspective of the more vindictive God who becomes dominant following a traumatic experience. This is evident by the way the book is structured. Ada’s chapters are short, less than one page long, of which there are very few. We witness many heartbreaking experiences while being distanced from them by the God’s harsh and at times apathetic perspective.

I have not read anything like this before and will be thinking on it for some time. You could say it got under my skin. I could easily re-read Freshwater again to bask in the beautiful prose for example: “She was a question wrapped in a breath: How do you survive when they place a God inside your body.”

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy and Akwaeke Emezi for writing such a beautiful book.

Caution: This book may be triggering for some people. It deals with self-harm, rape, child sexual abuse and suicide.

Premise: "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.""

I don’t understand the love for this book. Yes, it’s highly original and it was well written but it just wasn’t for me.

Some of the language was beautifully descriptive:
“...she drank a lot of tequila, pouring the golden burn of it down her throat till it held her from the inside out...”

“...the snow fell thickly like it was being shoveled out of the sky.”

And more. But.

Ada is or was a python— this book often was confusing. Ada has brothersisters —and others —all with different names. Ada’s other personalities — primarily Asughara and Saint Vincent—struggle to take control of her. And Ada moves around a lot—Malaysia, Nigeria, London and America.

Ada is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual? Partially transitions by having her breasts removed but then becomes heterosexual again —all part of her personality struggles.

Because of all her issues she also has some mental instability —no wonder.

At multiple points she contemplates suicide. She is a cutter but then turns to tattoos as another way of marking herself.

This novel is very dark.

Read it for yourself and decide.

This is one of those books that is beautiful on so many levels that it is almost overpowering. The language is spare, yet lovely and so descriptive I felt the individual madness of each separate character. The story is stunning, heartbreaking, and ultimately one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

This book is a story of human mental illness told through a mythological view. Many Igbo stories and beliefs are similar to Pueblo beliefs, so much of the allegory resonated with me. Ada is a young woman who is struggling with the selves who have emerged from a splintered connection to her creator. Surrounded by people who understand very little of what she is going through, it becomes easier to listen to her madness than the well meaning but useless help from her friends and family. The story is mostly told by Ada’s other selves, and because of this the horror and sadness she feels are very detached to the reader. It’s almost like reading a case study. It’s not until the end of the story that the reader realizes how horrible her experiences have been, and how much she has suffered.

I will recommend this book over and over. I realize it’s not a book for everyone, and it’s not a light read, but it’s still one of those books I think people should have anyway, just to have it nearby. Thanks Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read it early!

I am a sucker for Nigerian folklore, so Freshwater got my attention from the very first line. It's the story of (the) Ada, a Nigerian woman who has, among other things, multiple personality disorder. Her different personalities (who happen to be gods) emerge at different points in her life, following different traumatic events.
First of all, this story deals with complex and difficult themes: self harm, fractured families, physical abuse, rape, suicide, gender identity, mental health, guilt... The list seems almost endless. I loved how complex and messy it was. The author does not shy away from the dark. Oh, and I liked that it was different. I have never read something like it before.
There were some issues I had with the story. I found the constant time warps rather confusing, as I tried to keep up with Ada's spiralling life. Considering how already complex the story is, I would have preferred a more linear plot, rather than going back and forth in the story. I thought some characters who seemed to play an important role in Ada's life were introduced as and afterthought (Uche) and others did not add much to the story (St Vincent).
I would recommend Freshwater with a trigger warning disclaimer for the reader. The book description on Netgalley says Freshwater is "based in the author's reality" which really intrigues me. I would love to hear her give a talk about the book.

This was absolutely stunning. From the very first page I knew I was in for something extraordinary and unlike anything I have ever read. This debut combines many things I adore in books: unconventional framing and unreliable narrators, a story that gets recontextualized constantly and kept me on my toes, a basis in mythology that informed but did not over-shadow the actual story, perfect sentence structure that packs an unbelievable punch, and so many more things that I am still struggling to adequately talk about.

This is Ada's story, or more accurately Ada's and her other personalities' story. The first part is told in a we-perspective from her alternate personalities, brothersisters based in Nigerian mythology, that frame her story in what that means to them rather than her. The Ada, as she is called by them, then moves to the US where a traumatic events leads to a further fragmentation of self, Asụghara and Saint Vincent who will take over more and more. These two selves are even more different to her than the brothersisters were and tend to wreck havoc in her life. This description does not really do the book any justice because more than a straightforward narrative, the story unfolds forward and backwards with things happening (or not?) and is highly introspective. As I was wondering about the timeline, Akwaeke Emezi pulled the rug under me more often than I could count, leaving my head spinning and my heart broken.

I do not think I can do this book justice, but believe me when I say that this is an extraordinary achievement and unlike anything I read before. This will for sure stay with me and keep me thinking for months to come.

The description of this book does not do it justice. The protagonist, Ada, is inhabited by gods who have been trapped in her with the door to their god-world still partially opened, so that they are aware of what they have lost and where they are. The story is told alternately by Ada and several of the gods living within her. While supernatural, it is also a moving portrait of a young woman’s experience of various forms of abuse, depression, and (maybe?) madness. It is a universal tale, told through an African lens, in exquisite language. I would highly recommend it!