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Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
47 reviews
tamaramo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
mood_reading_maya's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
3.25
This was an intricate and messy romance. I'm going to focus on two aspects that made the story particularly challenging. First is the tourist aspect. The majority of this book takes place on an unnamed (or perhaps I missed it's singular mention) tropical island in the Caribbean. There is neither an established sense of place nor insights or observations from Feyi's perspective during her stay on the island. In that sense, the story felt unmoored and vague. (Though perhaps that's the point, as Feyi struggles to "feel alive" again.) Feyi has arrived in a landscape vastly different from her well known NYC surroundings, and she is immersed in a world of wealth, privilege, and access. This leads into the second aspect - the power dynamics. Feyi arrives in this island location as a guest of Nasir, albeit in his famous Michelin star chef father Alim's home. She is afforded access and introductions into the local gallery/museum scene through her connections to both Nasir and Alim. While she determines early on that her relationship with Nasir will not extend beyond friendship, a starting point they have both agreed to, Feyi never communicates this to establish boundaries or clarify expectations. Miscommunication has entered the chat - and it's a doozy. Nasir feels entitled to more from his relationship with Feyi, that she should be grateful for the access, lodgings, meals, and transport she's been provided, and perhaps that she is indebted to him as such. Which... doesn't really feel like friendship, though that's Nasir's claim - "let's go slow; I'll be patient; just friends for now." While Alim also holds a certain level of power over Feyi, through his fame, wealth, age, and connections, he is more mindful about that dynamic. There is less demand on his side. His acts of service toward Feyi are performed from a deeper sense of care and attraction, but also rooted in their shared connection over their loss of a spouse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Self harm
This book features cheating, miscommunication, and (for lack of a better term) a love trianglecaitlinemccann's review
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia
barbarella85's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Car accident
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
ssmylie's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
sarahreadsromance's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
If I could give this more than 5 stars I would. Emezi illustrates the complexity of love and grief. They so clearly communicates that life can be messy as hell but beautiful all the same. There is a depth in the emotions they write that I can’t even fathom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcohol
venetiana's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Best book I've read in a long time. Sometimes I wanted to highlight All the Words, the writing is beautiful.
Very emotional (in a good way) and tender.
Very emotional (in a good way) and tender.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
iamamyyyyy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death
kristinajoy07's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
1.25
this could've been nice you know. the writing was beautifully lyrical and i liked the themes of death and grief, and the talk about art and food was wonderfully comfortable.
but the rest... not so much.
this felt like a reality show in book form. like milf manor, but make it dilf manor and also erase all the fun because that shit wants you to take it seriously.
i hated all the characters. and i understand the situation in this book is messy and there's no real right or wrong, but the characters handled all of it so poorly, and how they acted just made me livid.
like feyi for example. so let me preface this by saying, feyi and her best friend do absolutely NOT pass the bechdel test. all they talk about is men (or love interests in general), and about fucking and their relationship problems. i swear, they do not talk about anything else, and it made it sort of hard to believe they're best friends.
but anyways, feyi - super unlikable, and there's no real depth to her character. her whole personality orbits around her dead husband and the art she creates ABOUT said dead husband and fucking her lover's dad. there was absolutely nothing else to her character, nothing to grasp, nothing to relate to or sympathise with.
what especially pissed me off was that she acted like she was so much better than nasir after he found out about them and lashed out at her. sure, he's an asshole for that, but the way she thought she had the high-ground was so annoying to me? because she's not at all better than him - she fucks her date's DAD man.
i sympathised with none of the characters, because they were all just the same shade of shitty.
still i feel like the author did nasir dirty. his reaction was extremely out of character, which i mean i guess makes sense, because you never know how a person truly is, but it was so INSANELY out of character, it felt like the author wrote him to be a shitty person so the reader feels bad for feyi and alim, even though nasir was nothing but a sweetheart at the beginning.
oh, and feyi and alim - don't even get me started. they bonded over grief for their lost loves, which is a nice icebreaker, right, but their entire relationship is built on that one thing they have in common. they had no chemistry whatsoever, and not any more mutual interests except maybe food and art but those conversations were pretty shallow and/or only there to build sexual tension (literally i will never get the image of them licking foam of each other's hands out of my head).
their relationship and love felt ingenuine and if this was real life, i doubt it would last.
but okay, let's end this on like a brighter note. i enjoyed the general trope of falling in love after a tragedy like that.
i also really loved feyi's art pieces and how they were described. as an artist myself, those fascinated me a lot.
and also, i fully support the idea of "older" people pursuing relationships, because we were conditioned to believe that new and fresh love is only for the young, and that you should stop trying at a certain age.
alim chose his children over love the first time and i thought it was nice to watch him coming out of his shell, because in the greater scheme of things, he's still young, and has long years of life still in front of him, and he deserves love, even if his children don't like it.
but you know... maybe not with your son's girlfriend next time.
but the rest... not so much.
this felt like a reality show in book form. like milf manor, but make it dilf manor and also erase all the fun because that shit wants you to take it seriously.
i hated all the characters. and i understand the situation in this book is messy and there's no real right or wrong, but the characters handled all of it so poorly, and how they acted just made me livid.
like feyi for example. so let me preface this by saying, feyi and her best friend do absolutely NOT pass the bechdel test. all they talk about is men (or love interests in general), and about fucking and their relationship problems. i swear, they do not talk about anything else, and it made it sort of hard to believe they're best friends.
but anyways, feyi - super unlikable, and there's no real depth to her character. her whole personality orbits around her dead husband and the art she creates ABOUT said dead husband and fucking her lover's dad. there was absolutely nothing else to her character, nothing to grasp, nothing to relate to or sympathise with.
what especially pissed me off was that she acted like she was so much better than nasir after he found out about them and lashed out at her. sure, he's an asshole for that, but the way she thought she had the high-ground was so annoying to me? because she's not at all better than him - she fucks her date's DAD man.
i sympathised with none of the characters, because they were all just the same shade of shitty.
still i feel like the author did nasir dirty. his reaction was extremely out of character, which i mean i guess makes sense, because you never know how a person truly is, but it was so INSANELY out of character, it felt like the author wrote him to be a shitty person so the reader feels bad for feyi and alim, even though nasir was nothing but a sweetheart at the beginning.
oh, and feyi and alim - don't even get me started. they bonded over grief for their lost loves, which is a nice icebreaker, right, but their entire relationship is built on that one thing they have in common. they had no chemistry whatsoever, and not any more mutual interests except maybe food and art but those conversations were pretty shallow and/or only there to build sexual tension (literally i will never get the image of them licking foam of each other's hands out of my head).
their relationship and love felt ingenuine and if this was real life, i doubt it would last.
but okay, let's end this on like a brighter note. i enjoyed the general trope of falling in love after a tragedy like that.
i also really loved feyi's art pieces and how they were described. as an artist myself, those fascinated me a lot.
and also, i fully support the idea of "older" people pursuing relationships, because we were conditioned to believe that new and fresh love is only for the young, and that you should stop trying at a certain age.
alim chose his children over love the first time and i thought it was nice to watch him coming out of his shell, because in the greater scheme of things, he's still young, and has long years of life still in front of him, and he deserves love, even if his children don't like it.
but you know... maybe not with your son's girlfriend next time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail