𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

It's ridiculously hard to put into words how much I loved this memoir. Akwaeke Emezi is a force. An inspiration. A phoenix rising from the ashes. Throughout these letters to people in their life, they are open and vulnerable, being so unapologetically themselves.

The writing is incredible. I underlined basically the whole book. Emezi has a way with words that I've never come across before in any other author. I could read their writing again and again and never be bored of it. This is without a doubt the best book I've read all year. 

Before diving into their memoir, definitely grab yourself a copy of Freshwater, Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji (all masterpieces in their own right), because they come up a lot in this book. Especially the parallels from Freshwater to Emezi's life, I knew it was kind of autobiographical when I first read it, but they put a lot of themselves into that book.

I'll leave you with another quote from Dear Senthuran that really stuck with me, but also just read Akwaeke Emezi's work if you haven't already, you won't regret it. 

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘧*𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧; 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸.