“Freshwater” by Akwaeke Emezi: New York Times Book Review says protagonist has multiple personalities and novel depicts dissociative identity disorder.

The Times’ review—https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/books/review/freshwater-akwaeke-emezi.html—says the protagonist, Ada, has “multiple personalities” and the novel is a depiction of “dissociative identity disorder” (the formal name for multiple personality), but that the novel explains it in terms of spirit possession, and “causes us to question science and reason.”

The review does not address whether the novel is autobiographical, purely fiction, or represented as autobiographical but really a hoax. Nor does the review mention the author’s claim elsewhere—https://brittlepaper.com/2018/01/friends-family-im-woman-akwaeke-emezi-nonbinary-transgender/—to be transgender and have had surgery.

Of particular interest to my blog in the Times’ review: “The story is narrated by Ada’s multiple personalities, and occasionally by Ada herself.” If that reflects the way this novel was written, it supports my thesis that fiction writers employ alternate personalities in their writing process.