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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
46 reviews
emlawley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Death
agentmozell's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
I read this via audiobook and the narrator was amazing. For the one I listened to the narrator was Bahni Turpin—10/10 great job. The writing (sans the strong language it starts with) is really poetic and beautiful.
Now for the book. I might put this under the spoiler warning (this is being prewritten in my notes while I’m nearing the end).
Also one thing I will give this book is that it made me hungry as the ML is a chef. Everything sounded delicious and made me hungry.
The beginning starts off with a lot of strong language, some that I’m far too white to say or comment on and it was a bit uncomfortable if I’m being honest. Then Feyi and Milan (I hope I spelled that right) became friends with benefits and it was just a weird thing, like I get her trauma, but it was just weird to me. Maybe because I’m ace so I don’t understand it?
Then her with Nasir was a weird thing too, taking it slow but they were not dating. I guess I don’t understand the going out, cuddling and kissing without being an “item” so to speak. I really liked Nasir and thought he was a good fit for her. So when the book started bringing her close with his dad and, lets just be honest, turned lust into insta love I was rolling my eyes a bit. The age gap didn’t bother me to much, I mean she’s 29 and he’s 49 so whatever. They’re both consenting adults. But it was the fact she went from Milan to his friend Nasir and now Nasir’s DAD that weirded me out.
Like that shits messy messy and she should’ve followed through with the clean break.
Then chapter 17 happened and oh boy, the 180 flip with Nasir’s personality caught me so off guard. I guess it happens a lot with “nice guys” turning out to be not who women thought they were. But the fact he was kicking her out of his dads house had me low key cackling in a why. Like bro, that’s not your house. When he said “you deserve this” I felt myself getting angry. Him calling her trash made me even angrier. Then the fact he wasn’t even listening to her was the icing on the cake.
In a way I do feel that this was the author trying to get the reader to accept the fact that Feyi and Alim were the end game. But it’s hard to tell when there was no other hints that Nasir could be like that. HOWEVER, I would like to stress that I personally have not been in an abusive relationship and so maybe this is a normal stereotype of “they never gave any signs they could do such things.” I don’t doubt that perhaps Nasir was capable all along, but it just seemed kinda off character.
I also thing its really awkward that every page we’re told how beautiful, pretty, gorgeous, etc every fucking character is. Everyone is made out to be a walking god or goddess and its just really weird that everyone is viewed like that. It’s just a bit unrealistic that nobody seems to have any physical flaws.
Oh and then the fallout, the fallout was so rough. I was anticipating it being bad because, you know, she and the dad fell in lust, but Nasir’s reaction was way over the top. Then Lorraine’s was just cruel. She was kind cold to Feyi from the start so I wasn’t too surprised that she was even meaner during the fallout. But I was surprised that she was THAT mean. I guess we know they’re cut out of the inheritance.
And I’m low key cackling that Feyi is thinking that she’s not a gold digger but I kinda think she is.
The sanest character of all this was Joy ironically enough.
And her realizing she loved him at the end and wanting to run away? That’s just..wow. She realized her lust went to love and was like “WAIT I NEED TO GO HOME”. Like girl…you tore apart the family and now you wanna dip? Like that’s now how shit works. Then the ending…its so strange. I never understood the instalove trope because it just seems too unrealistic.
Ah well, I have Pet on hold, maybe that'll be more my speed.
Moderate: Death
Minor: Domestic abuse
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Car accident
Minor: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
scarroll178's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Honestly, I wish the author would’ve leaned more into the messiness of the relationship, rather than trying to minimize the mess by making Nasir react so violently to the affair. It felt too much like the author was trying to justify it. ‘Yeah, Feyi fucked his dad, but it turns out Nasir was a violent shithead all along, so maybe Feyi was kinda right to fuck her friend’s dad? 🤔’
I wish we got more development for Lorraine. I thought it was really interesting that she seemed so warm and friendly in her house but so cold and guarded in her father’s house. I definitely thought we were going to find out what Alim did to make her act that way, like tbh I thought we were gonna find out that Devon had been Lorraine’s boyfriend or something 😂
I really loved the book, esp
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence
shesreadingagain_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I had heard mixed reviews on this one but honestly I loved it so much. It was a book I was recommended and it was amazing.
Graphic: Grief, Car accident, and Death
Minor: Domestic abuse and Misogyny
alli_andrews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Mental illness, Biphobia, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Homophobia
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Car accident, Death, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Homophobia, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug use, Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Cancer
auudrey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Violence
meeklovestoread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I went not knowing the tropes of this book and I think this proved to be beneficial for me because if you were to tell me the tropes that were in this book initially I probably wouldn't have picked it up. As the book goes along you'll see that it turns into a forbidden romance with a significant age gap. I don't really care for tropes in books, however, these are usually things I don't gravitate toward which is why it came as a surprise how much I enjoyed reading the romance for this book. The characters seem very sweet, mature, and considerate of one another. I love how consent is an ongoing motif in this book considering we don't really see that much in romance books. And I did enjoy the friendship between Feyi and Joy (although I do wish they wouldn't encourage each other's bad decisions).
Now although I did enjoy the romance between the two characters, I feel like Nasir's feelings were completely justified.
Graphic: Cursing and Grief
Moderate: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Blood
zombiezami's review
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Death, Car accident, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Outing
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, and Biphobia