Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

I did not enjoy this book as much as many of my friends even though I flew through it.

I'm finding reviewing it tricky. I think the book is probably genre-defying, but not in a way I found engaging, and very much at odds to how it is pitched. There is too much grief for it to be a fun, sexy romance, but too much sexy romance and not enough depth for it to be a tale about clinging to life.

The second half feels a lot like a classical tragedy, but it has a happy ending (definitely by romance standards).

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sadhbhprice's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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emlawley's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.25

This book had a lot of promise and started with a 'bang' with a very intense first chapter. I got the book through the Rare Birds Bookshop advent calendar so had expected good things, but I have to say I found the main character Feyi's choices hard to believe or relate to. There has been a lot of talk in other reviews about how it feels unbelievable and in slightly poor taste that her somewhat poor decisions in the book are down to the trauma she has experienced and that this is a little reductive and I would hasten to agree. Also, after a lot of build-up throughout the book, the pivotal sex scene was really disappointing from a feminist perspective! I think the book could have been much better with more character development and a more heart-warming story.

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agentmozell's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

This is my first book by the author, this is really not my kind of book and I think I should’ve just waited for Pet to become available on my Libby. I won’t say its bad, but its def not my sped and I’ll get more as to what bothered me below.

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.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

I’d heard great things about Akwaeke Emezi’s writing but mainly about their YA novels Pet and the companion novella Bitter. Since I downloaded Libby *angel choir noise* I was disappointed to not find the audiobook version of Pet on there but You Made a Fool came up instead. After briefly scanning the blurb, I decided to jump in. And oh, what a gloriously realised world Akwaeke has made.

The rub is that our artist MC, Feyi, is dipping her toes back into the dating scene after the death of her husband five years prior with the help of Joy, her chaotic, lesbian friend. After a brief but ends-as-friends- situationship with a man called Milan, Feyi begins a let’s-be-friends-first relationship with Nasir, one of Milan’s friends. Nasir, who comes from a VERY well-connected family, presents Feyi an opportunity to be a part of an exhibition of Black Diaspora artists. Fast-forward to Nasir taking Feyi to his gorgeous tropical family home (I’m not a visual reader, but I could SEE this house from Akwaeke’s descriptions!!) and to also meet Nasir’s equal parts rich and reclusive celebrity chef.

It sounds like the start to a very light-hearted tropical holiday romance, right? WRONG.

Nasir’s father, Alim, is like Feyi – a lonely widower – and Feyi experiences an immediate attraction to Alim that she tries to stifle and explain away as it existing because Alim is “unattainable” and, while she is technically not in a romantic relationship with Nasir, would be frowned upon.

I won’t spoil too much, but the story touches very deeply into the ways grief can change your soul and provide a bond between people – both romantic and platonic. The building relationship between Alim and Feyi (who are both bisexual!) is never presented as a titillating trope, but rather as two deeply injured humans navigating their trauma and grief and deciding to choose love as a way to move through life. There’s so much narrative freedom to Feyi – the story focuses so much Feyi allowing herself to be who she needs to be and without compromising her ideals or happiness.

The story gets quite intense around the time Alim’s children find out about this burgeoning romance (I had to turn my audio off at one point on the way home from work because it was stressful to listen to at that time), and the story could easily fall apart with various miscommunications but instead Akwaeke carries us safely to the story’s end. I could wax poetic about this book, but also! Joy being an incredible friend throughout this story? Feyi and Alim both being adults who actively go to therapy? All amazing to see in a contemporary romance novel.

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scarroll178's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

Is this what love bombing is? 😂

This father and son are red flags all around. The son really flew her out to live in his mansion, and the dad really gets her to fall in love with him in two weeks? Moving too fast for me lmao.

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

the main characters both being bi!!

, I just wish the author had gone further with it. Let them be more messy!

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