I so badly wanted to like this book, but I think this is a book made for a specific reader. It has qualities that I think as important for books, but it was not easily digestible for me. Let me further explain the qualities of this book and where I aligned with them.

1. Character driven book: I am not the biggest fan of character driven books especially if there is not a plot. I just find them harder to follow for me. Since this book is character driven, that was a struggle I had.
2. Time jumps: I am not a fan of unclear time jumps. I am a reader that needs a defined timeline, chronological order, or clear separation between past and present. I feel like this book did not have clear time jumps for me.
3. Spirituality: there are spiritual elements to this book, which I thought were interesting to hear about, so I don't stray away from spiritual books but I know some folks have a tough time with those.
4. The general writing: This gave me the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue vibes, where it's supposed to be beautiful and people love it, but it went straight over my head.  That is definitely on me as a reader, I feel like I need everything somewhat explained or clear and I was getting lost in the writing style.
5. Multiple and omnipresent narrators: I'm somewhat picky with narrators, I usually like them straightforward and I understand what the narrators are. I did not understand exactly what all the narrators were, which made it hard to follow who was speaking. Akwaeke also reads the audiobook themselves which I loved but it was a bit hard to tell who was talking.
6. The underlying themes: this is the main redeeming quality for me. Once I understood the struggles Ada was facing, which was about 60% through the book, I finally got the different narrators and what they represented, but it felt too late by then.

I would encourage everyone to give this book a shot if they aren't bogged down by some of the qualities of this book that I was!