Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

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

112 reviews

nerdysread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I did not excepted that. But I really like this book. Normally I don’t like age gap, but here, it’s okay I guess. What else, oh yes. What I really loved about this story is how the author talks about grief and being alive after surviving a loved one.

It’s a beautiful story, once again Akwaeke Emezi wrote a good book.

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wilybooklover's review against another edition

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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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philomathean's review

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

The writing here is so lush - the level of description usually reserved for a love interest is deftly applied to most things: food, architecture, scenery, moments and memories. I simply could not put this book down and repeatedly had those ‘just one more chapter’ moments.

Content Warnings

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-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

4.25

This is a complicated, messy love story and a brilliant reflection on love after loss.

Content Warnings

samixox's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A story about grief and how life is not always clean. The different ways that grief bubbles up inside people, a beautiful story with beautiful writing.

Content Warnings

courtneymcgarity's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

Sometime a piece of art, a painting, a play, a book, comes along that makes you feel alive. It reminds you what it is to be human. It draws your attention to the insanity that is living on this earth, breathing, existing, feeling everything. This book felt like that. It felt like poetry. The love story was one of the messiest, but somehow not the most complicated because it just fit. I loved these characters, laughed so much at Joy and Feyi’s relationship, and cried multiple times throughout this book. It’s definitely going to stick with me for a while.

Content Warnings