The rising demography and demand for potable water have led to scrutinized identification of water pollution sources.

I had a really tough time getting into this book initially. There's no doubt that the voice of the narrative is interesting, but that doesn't mean it is not confusing. Trust me, it is. Told by the voices in Ada's head—are they personalities indicative of a mental illness or spiritual beings that battle for her attention—Freshwater does not stop to answer questions. This commitment to voice is good for the end result, because it really adds credibility to the narrative, but it does make for a somewhat difficult beginning.

In her debut novel, Akwaeke Emezi crafts a journey that is devastating and empowering. There is much in this story that can break a heart or turn a reader in disgust. Those avoiding difficult subjects in their reads should skip this one. Ultimately, however, Freshwater is a very spiritual tale, a battle for one soul. Despite the many dark moments, it becomes a display of strength and fulfillment. Through lyrical prose and the unrelenting voices, Freshwater explores what it is to be between two worlds—living and dead, Africa and America, Allah and Yeshua, peace and rage.

Akwaeke Emezi is a new, wonderfully fresh, voice to add to the many memoirs of living with C-PTSD (psychobabble below review) and surviving a traumatic childhood. Most go in rote portrayal through X happened, Y is the dysfunctional way we (identity states) dealt with it, Z is the (usually much healthier) way we learned to cope and the place we landed by the writing of the memoir/book.

 

Instead Emezi gives protagonist Ada and her self-states their own music and more importantly, own heritage, in telling a magical, spiritual, semi-autobiographical story of how the many came to be and worked their way through life to become the person they are now. They are distinctly Nigerian, and all of that Western psychobabble below is inadequate for anyone who hasn't sprung forth directly from a textbook - even for a person who grew up in the West. Imagine how absurd it is to anyone whose background is infused with spiritual aspects, beliefs and legends the West does not allow for.

 

An ogbanje is an Igbo spirit born into a human body, and this is how Emezi sees her young protagonist's system of being. There is a body and the body plays host to a number of gods and people, each running the whole system from time to time, weaving in and out to deal with the situation. When you think about it, we all have parts of ourselves that take over for certain situations. You at work are not the same you that crawls into bed with a partner at night or the same you who studied hard in university or the same you who did something you may not be so proud of. Everyone's identity works on a sort of continuum.

 

What Emezi has done so specially is tell her protagonist's story including all of the possibilities. Yes traumatic things happened, but perhaps she was born primed to be more than just one. Perhaps the ogbanje were there, just waiting for a chance to assert themselves. Others are born along the way. We do follow the general arc of birth to present, but the path is gorgeously written, spiritual and magical.

 

I could either quote the whole book or tell you what happens at every step, but I won't. I will tell you that like many lives, hers is not easy. They are different; Ada's life has more scary places than others. Parts of her react dysfunctionally, she goes "mad." Hard things happen, but they take on significance for the unique way the many who live within the body called Ada cope with each new horror, wonder or challenge.

 

The prose is lyrical and beautiful even when the events described are not. While it's fantastical, it's also very truthful. Perhaps this much truth can only be safely told by spirits, gods and a little bit of magic. The end is uplifting. If we are going to read "DID Memoirs" or stories of difference - be they about race, states of being, health, illness, whatever, let this be one you read.

 

 

 -- And as promised, psychobabble:

 

Complex Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is the newest Western nomenclature for what we used to call Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) - which itself is the name used since 1994 for something formerly called "Multiple Personality Disorder" - a very misleading and much maligned term/diagnosis. C-PTSD et al are not a personality disorder, but rather the lack of a unified self-state or identity. The identities act as centers of information processing.

 

The term "personality" means "characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, moods and behaviors of the whole individual," while for a person with C-PTSD, the switches between identities and behavior patterns is the personality. So it's just a different way to process the world and oneself. It's not Sybil or the Three Faces of Eve or even very strange. It's called C-PTSD because it usually stems from a trauma so long-lasting or severe that the child creates a complex way to cope.

 

Glad we cleared that up.

 

This is a story about a man figuring out who he truly is. All his life he has been headed in one direction, all business. Work is ruling him.With a steady hand, John pulled his Blackberry from its holster and scrolled through a queue of unread e-mail. He studied the words on the screen and waited for work—his drug of choice—to take hold. Each message was another hit that drove everything from his mind but the next urgent problem only he could solve.
Employeed in D.C., he's surrounded in politics every minute. He has no time to maintain his relationship with his boyfriend. He has no time to himself or to enjoy life in general. When he gets bad news and then a tragedy befalls him, he sees how submerged he has become.Work used to be a verb that explained what John did—not an adjective that described who he was.
When John/Peter can no longer handle anymore, he runs away to somewhere as different as he can possibly find. Things move slower. The people are more real. Here they just take things as they come.Chucking at the irony of the situation, Peter decided to relinquish his position as pack leader and just leave it to Chance. Eventually, they'd find their way home.
When I first started this book, I had trouble following smoothly with the storyline. It switches between past and present and points of view without warning. In some parts, a bit of time had past without me realizing it was later in the plot. After I got more used to the style, things cleared up for me. That is really my only complaint.

Favorite Son is a clever title because he is a twin who's brother died right after birth. Later in the story, he feels as if he is two different people. Which is the favorite son? Which personality will win out? Although most of us are not a twin, this is a very relatable story in modern times. Many of us don't take the time for the things that are really important. I believe the message is to find your true self, do the things that really matter and surround yourself with people you love.

There is a romantic aspect to this book, but I would not label it as romance and definitely not erotica. It isn't graphic. It's more a introspective look at the character. It does have sweet parts. Many of them are friendship related. There were a couple of shocking moments, but for the most part the story speed is calm. I was definitely interested to see the outcome and enjoyed the trip. I just want to add that it's nice to occasionally see a book with gay characters that isn't focused on them being gay. There is more to a gay man than just his orientation. He has the same problems as everyone else. This is totally and every person read.











FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com/2015/01/favorite-son-by-will-freshwater-blog.html

Rating: 2.5 stars, rounded to 3

Overall, Favorite Son is a story about one man's downfall. It begins with John's position on top of the world: the success he's able to dwell on as he moves up in the political world. But slowly, the story reveals events that will cause John to crash and burn in the ruin of tragedies that don't seem to relent.

This takes about 30% of the book to occur.

And then Provincetown happens, and John is now Peter, and Peter is slowly reconstructing himself from the remains of his old life.

Favorite Son is not a typical M/M romance story. It's more of a coming of age story that does involve a romantic relationship. While the plot and writing were enjoyable, my biggest complaint was my inability to sink into John/Peter's mindset. The narrative consistently pushed me out of character, and I just couldn't BE John/Peter. As such, much of the emotional punch missed its mark, and the things he felt or said were unpredictable to me. In a way, everything he did felt out of character since I could NOT get a grasp on him. Furthermore, the slow beginning and pacing throughout the book kept me more on the bored side than intrigue.

In the end, Favorite Son was an "okay" read for me. I began skimming towards the end, and read only the dialogue to get the gist of what was going on.