LGBT+ Book Club - January

Join us to discuss our book club pick Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (description below)!

We’ll start with introductions, then discuss the book (what we liked, didn’t like, etc). We’ll wrap it up by discussing thoughts for our next months book pick.
Here’s a rough schedule:
• 7:00-7:15 — Arrive, order something to eat / drink, informal introductions.
• 7:15-8:00 — Discussion
• 8:00-8:30 — Planning for next month / continued chatting.
In addition to discussing the book, my hope is that this group will connect people with similar interests to form a community of queer folks who love to read! If we get off-topic on a subject we all are interested in, that’s great! And you’re welcome to stay after to chat and mingle.

**Location: Panera Southington

About Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
The kaleidoscopic follow-up to the bestselling Detransition, Baby

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side." Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities.

Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: Asụghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves--now protective, now hedonistic--move into control, Ada's life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction.

Narrated by the various selves within Ada and based in the author's realities, Freshwater dazzles with ferocious energy and serpentine grace, heralding the arrival of a fierce new literary voice.