The writing in this story was absolutely stunning, genuinely some of the most beautiful and thoughtful prose I’ve read in a long time. The themes in the story were important, hard and messy. All hallmarks of a great story, however this one just missed the mark for me. The vignette-style chapters felt a little stilted which may have been intentional but it made it difficult to connect with the characters at times. I think it needed to be pulled together just a little more tightly, sometimes this felt like an intentional creative choice but other times it just felt like a lack of editing. Overall though, I feel like this was an interesting exploration of grief, family trauma, mental illness and sexuality.

This is the kind of novels where I think "am I too stupid to understand?" The writing was amazing and I always love themes of queerness and gender identity, grief, family, etc. But at the same time, I always finish the book confused as to what I just read. If you liked to be confused go for it I suppose.

We meet Nia in Like Water Like Sea who is a queer, bi/pansexual naturopath living in London. The book spans over thirty years of her life, we need her after the death of her sister and how she is dealing with her grief. Her mother is bipolar and that adds another layer of heaviness for her to work through.

Nia decides to leave a party with a girl she’s been seeing on and off to go into the water to feel what it is like to drown. While she does that a couple jogging pass sees her and inquires after her, this leads to a friendship/ situationship. She tries figuring out who she is, what she wants for her life and how to navigate grief that means all consuming.

I really enjoyed this book. It feels so fresh and biting. The characters are so flawed but I love the disastrous mistakes they make and their bid to make their life one that they are proud of. The journey was amazing to see unfold.

I don’t want to compare this book to anything, but if you love Sally Rooney’s novels you will enjoy this book!

3.5

Like Water Like Sea follows Nia through three moments in her life. The first, ten years after her older sister committed suicide, finds Nia floating in a river. She is discovered by Crystal and Rahul who are out running. Although Nia has no suicidal thoughts the pair stop to find out if she is okay and a friendship begins which Nia will question herself about throughout the next 20 years as it evolves.

The next moment is on the 20 year anniversary where Nia's relationships with all her significant others has changed again including the lifelong love/friendship she has with Melvin (her sister's best friend and dance partner).

The final moment is at her 50th birthday, 30 years after Johari's death when Nia imagines what her life will be like in the future and begins to finally understand herself.

During the book we also hear from Melvin and Susu (Nia's mother who has bipolar) as they navigate life through their loss of the woman they loved and through Nia.

I'm still not sure how much I liked this novel given, as it is, to a lot of introspection. Even Nia herself admits that sometimes there is too much thinking about the person you project to the world rather than just being that person. She meets a person called Be who seems to embody this "just accept who I am" persona.

There's a lot packed into this book including contemplation of naturopathy, gender identity and fluidity, relationships with family, friends and lovers, death, suicide and mental health issues. I think it will speak loudly to a lot of readers but I prefer doing rather than thinking and I found the extensive self examination a little too self indulgent at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and Cassava Republic for the advance review copy.

This is a stunningly beautiful and haunting book. I was amazed to see a book mention cyclothymic disorder (and very glad). The dual perspective brings the story to a heartfelt fruition.

I wanted to really love this book. Unfortunately, I felt it needed tighter editting- it never felt cohesive with the multiple perspectives and mixed timelines. I learned a lot but found it a struggle to stay engaged.

Like Water Like Sea is a reflection on life and loss, grief and those left behind. Nia's mother, Susu, and her older sister, Johari, both suffer from severe mental illness. We find Nia living in the aftermath of Johari's suicide with both Nia and Susu in the depths of their grief.

While the story is clearly heavy, the style of writing is lovely and meditative, and while the healing journey is difficult, there is beauty in how Johari lives on through those she leaves behind.

We need more stories like this that show the diverse messiness of life. I'm grateful to NetGalley and Cassava Republic for the ARC. I will be placing an order for when it comes out in May, so that I can enjoy it more slowly on re-read.

I went into this story blind, expecting it to surprise and anchor me. For someone going in blind, my expectations were unreasonably bursting at the seams. But were these expectations met?

Nia is the little sister to Johari, an accomplished dancer, a lover, and a caregiver. Nia loses her big sister to a mental disorder and then lives her life constantly trying to reach the depths of her grief. I meet Nia first, a naturopath in sync with the basic order of wellness whose entire work is grounded in self-healing. At first, she is on a journey to grasp the root of her sister's pain and eventual undoing. She probes without asking. She searches without really looking. But mostly, she reaches for the underlying meaning beyond the facade people present to her, swimming her way into the undercurrent tides of their lives.

I find Melvin and Johari next, the dancers. Theirs was an honest meeting, a friendship stayed by dancing, a way of dealing with stress and the fluctuations of life. Their dancing was a healing ground for the time it lasted. And when Johari dies, Melvin continues to hold the space for their friendship in each dance step he perfected without her in his orbit. Johari's light continues to shine through all the people she left behind. While some of us might argue that leaving that way is not sudden and it's a well-thought plan, I'd say that it is; for the victim and the loved ones. Suicide is sudden. It is the kind of death that sneaks up on people. You're fine one minute and the next minute, you just want it to end.

Susu, their mother, is perhaps the person I sympathize with the most. She loses herself in her illness and loses her daughter. Being a parent is a never-ending circle of worry, paranoia, and second-guessing. It's a whole lot of work and it's not surprising if you find yourself wondering whether you're doing a good job or you're simply winging it. She blames herself for her daughter's death and comes to understand that her living daughter needs her more than ever. There are no illusions of perfect parenting in this book because the author gives us the raw, unvarnished truths about these characters' lives and what shapes their decisions. I'm awed by Susu's collections of imperfection in perfect little pieces that she weaves together to give Nia a rich version of herself. Eventually. It's an arduous journey to healing and acceptance. But more importantly, grief knows no bounds.

I enjoyed the author's style. This is my first time reading Olumide Popoola and I think I want to read more. The story spans several decades and begins with the anniversary of Johari's death. The mixed narrative style helps me connect with each character on a different level. Nia's stream of consciousness is rich in self-reflection and introspection, but sometimes I didn't appreciate her going on for too long. I was almost annoyed that she built her entire existence on the loss of her sister, but then I remembered that I do not get to tell people how they grieve. It's not in my place even if they're fictional characters. But mostly, I love how she evolves over the years and I cannot help but admit that she is a formidable character.

So, if you love sad, reflective literature that explores the lives of women (queer, mentally brave, and Black) who are unpretentious in the way they approach life, then pick up Like Water Like Sea when it comes out in May. I cannot wait for more people to experience Nia's story.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

I so wanted to like this but the varying timelines just made for a confused and disjointed reading experience. DNF.

Like Water Like Sea is a novel about loss, self-discovery, love, and mental illness, as it follows a queer woman in three moments of her life. Nia lives in London and ten years after her sister's death by suicide, she is struggling for what she wants out of her relationships and how to relate to her mother, who has bipolar, now that she is also an adult and with their shared grief. When she makes two new friends, a couple who found her at a low point, a journey starts in which she will make mistakes, navigate her connections to other people, and emerge at fifty years old with fresh realisations.

This is a complex novel that weaves together a lot of emotion, exploring not just the grief that runs through the book but also types of love, queerness, race, and ways of living in a harsh world. The styles of narration change, with Nia's perspective predominantly, but also sections near the start that explore the lives of her sister and mother, and also a final part that is more ambiguous, offering up three potential endings (with one marked as most probable). This offers a cacophony of perspective and the idea that there's not just one way of living, especially living with grief and in different kinds of relationships. Queerness plays an important part in these endings, exploring how family structures are created, and generally the book explores how relationships are often not made on equal or matching emotions, and must be navigated as such.

Another very crucial part of the book is bipolar and cyclothymia, and the impact this has on Nia's mother and sister, but also how it is not everything about them. It is refreshing to see this kind of depiction and the complexity of mental illness and how different people experience things. Generally, the book explores the fluidity and messiness of many things, and always returns to kinds of love. Though the narrative is more of a self-discovery, meditative one than big events happening, changes in relationships do mark the passing of time and structure in the novel.

Like Water Like Sea is a powerful book, at times bittersweet, and filled with different snippets of experience and emotion. It is great for fans of literary fiction that engages with feelings and self-discovery, and with ways of forming families and relationships.

Fans of lyrical writing and books such as Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson will absolutely adore this book. Personally I find it very difficult to get into poetic/lyrical writing, so the book was not for me. But I see how readers who love poetry will absolutely adore it. I liked the themes and structure of the book, just not the writing style.

This book is a reflective piece about grief and the loss of a family member. Check the content warnings!

First, let me just say, name twins! That’s as far as the joy goes, as the story takes us on an introspective journey on life after a painful death. It’s lyrical, it’s hopeful, and it shows how choosing happiness can make all the difference.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cassava Republic for this ARC.

Great lit fic with some awesome ideas and plot. I’d give it a 4 ish I think! It’s promising. Thanks for the arf