Whew, what a debut. A brutal book from the beginning, one that I really had to build up a rhythm in order to continue. Completely extraordinary and fascinating, though.

The narration comes from within the protagonist, Ada's, mind: spirits that inhabit her from inception and grow within her fractured self. She is not typical. The reader has to view the world not as a human, but as one of these ancient spirits, and thus try to understand what is happening to Ada with these otherworldly descriptions. It's a gripping way to experience what happens to Ada as she grows up; it's near masterful when you think about how you might describe a scene like an accident, not through a young child's eyes but through the spirit that is seeing and feeling in that young child. And there are many traumas throughout the book, it's difficult at times. You must read, and then process, and comprehend as a human being. As a writer, I was captivated by this.

I also felt that there was so much here that would be great to discuss with a group of people, since sometimes reading something in isolation means you've perhaps missed something. And for a short book, it touches on a lot. Mainly trauma, abuse, and mental illness. But also religion, marriage, evil, men and women.

I've certainly never read anything like this. Looking forward to whatever Emezi conjures up next.