Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

14 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

alexisgarcia's review

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Emezi is one of the best writers I have read from. they write such full characters. the characters have flaws but can also be so loveable. while i could point out many “flaws” in this book, it doesn’t matter. i loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Cancer, Death of parent, Cursing, Infertility, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

grets_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Biphobia, Infidelity, Child death, Cancer, and Panic attacks/disorders

gdavis254's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Car accident

Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Child death, Cancer, and Sexual content

wilybooklover's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

2.5

It’s hard to know how to rate this one because there were some things I loved and some things I didn’t. 

Feyi and Alim felt like real, complex people. It’s hard to sell me on an age-gap romance (especially where one is old enough to be the other’s parent) but I think the author just about made it work. Loved the depiction of friendship between Feyi and Joy, and the vibrant island setting too. The writing was very pretty but I didn’t quite vibe with it; it felt like it was so overwrought that it got in the way of the narrative at times.   

My main issues: not only did the romance feel a little rushed, but it also felt as though there was something missing. I’m not sure whether it was because the MCs don’t meet until the book is quite far in (27%), or because Alim’s character and emotional arc felt secondary to Feyi’s, or maybe a combination of both. They had like three conversations and suddenly they were madly in love? I just needed to see more interaction to buy it. It also felt like overcoming grief was the primary plot and the romance was the secondary plot. I wish there had been a little more focus on the romance and that Alim had more page-time. Maybe if the first third was condensed and the last third expanded, it would have worked for me better. 

If you like complex, nuanced characters, messy emotions, questionable decisions, and romance-adjacent women’s fiction that leans literary then I think you’ll like this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual content, Car accident, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, and Violence

Minor: Child death and Cancer

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this as part of 12 recs from 12 friends but sadly it just wasn’t for me 🙈

All the characters are awful and unlikeable: 

-Nasir thinks he’s “owed” a relationship with Feyi and is friends with her expecting she’ll change her mind about him at some point as if men and women can’t be friends.

-Joy is a lesbian and seems to fall into the predatory lesbian stereotype, constantly dating straight women (or straight passing?) and gets pissed off when they don’t want to leave their husbands/bfs?!

-Feyi liking a potential romantic partner’s dad; he’s old enough to be your dad girl 😳 She’s selfish and reckless as she does everything she wants without thinking about other peoples feelings and then seems to play the victim. I really didn’t like her.

-Alim also isn’t blameless-he knew how Nasir felt about Feyi and SLEPT WITH HER ANYWAYS!? Shit dad of the year award 

I did appreciate the exploration of grief and loss. I can also appreciate the writing style! I’ll also give credit because it did at least show me I don’t like huge age gap romances, now I know 😅

I also shouldn’t have listened to this one on audio because of all the sexual content; I don’t like romance on audio because it sounds much more cringy when narrated and just makes me uncomfortable 🙈 I wanted to be done with it so badly, I sped up the narration to 2x speed (I’m usually a max 1.5x listener). This is the second book I’ve read from Emezi and enjoyed it much more, so I’ll still give their other works a try!

Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️ (1.5-2/3)

Tropes: second chance, dilf/parent of friend, age gage (May-December romance)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Car accident, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity and Cursing

Minor: Cancer and Child death

erikamtini's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not a genre I would usually go for, but a fun read that explores grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer and Death

Minor: Child death

tiffanne11's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

HOW CAN A SINGLE BOOK MAKE YOU FEEL SO MANY THINGS?! It was so good and so full of emotion that I can't believe it was only one book. It felt like the entirety of the human experience wrapped up in one story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Cancer and Child death

readingwithkaitlyn's review

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Infidelity, Body shaming, Violence, Death, and Homophobia

Minor: Cancer and Child death

Drowning,