6/11/2023 0 Comments Fresh water akwaeke emeziAnd yet turn the page, and they are desperate, confused, hurting. The voices that fill the novel are at times cruel and malevolent. A key aspect of Igbo storytelling is its oral nature and its musicality. This bildungsroman is thrilling in its unapologetic narrative style, with multiple voices that Ada debates with.įreshwater is infused with a polyphony of poetic and rhythmic voices. Ada is an Ogbanje, which is the word used for children who come and go, infused with evil spirits believed to torment the family and disrupt their lineage. A body that was meant to “come back home”. The ones where the grandmother is chopped up and Little Red Riding Hood unknowingly eats her, where Sleeping Beauty is raped in her sleep.įreshwater explores the life of Ada (a name that means ‘first daughter’ in Igbo) and her struggles growing up in a body that was not meant to survive. It has more in common with those original, darker fairy tales. Full of spirits and different voices, Freshwater reads like a fairy tale. This is one of the many questions asked in Freshwater, an intensely terrifying yet magical debut novel by Akwaeke Emezi. “When you name something, it comes into existence – did you know that?”
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