Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

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

112 reviews

lupitabaeyongo's review

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emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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ramreadsagain's review against another edition

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

4.5

One of my favourite romances ever! 

This is a messy slow-burn romance, an exploration of grief, an ode to cooking and Black art. It does contain the
age gap
trope which i’m never keen on but it was dealt with in pretty much a perfect way and i’m not really upset about it! 

The drawn out sequences of Feyi and Alim discussing their feelings in an open way was so amazingly done and felt truly realistic. A breath of fresh air compared to romances where they never have a proper deep conversation about things.
 

I’ll add more at some future point. 
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once_upon_a_storybook's review

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adventurous challenging emotional sad 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

2.0

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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-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

5.0

“Do you think we’re having a quarter-life crisis?” Joy had asked once, while rolling up a joint in their living room. “First of all, we’re a few years too old for that,” Feyi had replied. “Second, I think we’re just figuring out how to survive a world on fire… that it’s okay to be alive.”

TITLE—You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty
AUTHOR—Akwaeke Emezi
PUBLISHED—2022
PUBLISHER—Faber & Faber Ltd

GENRE—romance
SETTING—NYC & the Caribbean
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—NYC, sex, queerness, sensual luxury, grief, music as a vehicle for emotional expression in the context of storytelling, making art & working as an artist, Caribbean island, bisexual rep, love triangle?ish kind of, messy relationships, the blissfulness of being alive, the courage of living and of choosing one’s self

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—loved seeing the interplay between the MC’s experience of her grief alongside her work as an artist
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Feyi had lost too much to feed herself daydreams, and she was tired of feeding herself fear. The only thing left was whatever was true…”

This book was pure luxury—from the scenes in Brooklyn (the house party, the concert, even the friends’ run that ends in an icecream break) to the island (the daily swims, nighttime outdoor meditation, forest hikes, the gallery show, the cooking scenes #mangofoam) and in every detail (the descriptions of architecture & design, fashion, art, food, even the scents of oils & soap etc.) you felt the profound joy in living well in all senses of the phrase coming through, on every page. And the writing and scene-setting throughout the whole book was absolutely, stunningly beautiful. Trust Emezi to write a book about grief and turn it into one of the most profound and insightful celebrations of loving and living that I have ever read.

And this is also only my second romance novel that I’ve ever read and I really enjoyed the steamy scenes. What I especially enjoyed were the smaller little bits of spice thrown in here and there (and everywhere), they were so subtle but so real and said with such feeling in spite of the brevity of the moment that I definitely felt like I was reading one of what I imagine to be those really immersive, pleasurable romance novels. The whole book just… pulses. *sweats, fans self* 😅

Of course this has probably spoiled me for the entire genre but whatever. I knew who I was reading. 🤣

I would recommend this book to readers who want a luxurious, sexy, romantic, messy, life-affirming, love-affirming, emotional escape. This book is best read either on a sexy, tropical vacation or when you desperately need a sexy, tropical vacation.

Final thoughts: And now we wait no fewer than one year and four months for the next Emezi book. 😅 Will it be their fantasy debut??

“You were like light. I couldn’t help but to turn my face to you if I wanted to keep living.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TW // car accident, loss of partner, grief (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—
  • everything else by Akwaeke Emezi—all rereads for me at this point 😅
  • Honey & Spice, by Bolu Babalola—TBR
  • Alyssa Cole—TBR
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sarah984's review against another edition

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

2.0

I was really loving this book until about the 70% mark. Feyi was a great character with tons of personality, and even the side characters sparkled. The landscape descriptions were lush and the food descriptions were amazing (I read in the end notes that the author commissioned a menu from a pro chef to fit the characters and it shows). I loved the idea of Feyi getting messy and taking some risks to try and get her life moving again after her husband's sudden death in an accident.

However, the actual romance was bad. Alim just wasn't an interesting character to me. He was so bland despite his history, and he had this self conscious way of talking that made it sound like he was constantly vying for an A in therapy. He's in love with his son's girlfriend in like 3.5 seconds and he doesn't even have the excuse of being star struck.

Also in the second half the writing just gets really Wattpad-ish and bad, which I wasn't expecting from this author. Feyi "let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding" and I almost screamed.
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catknit7's review

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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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is, in a word, compelling. It has a momentum that I’ve rarely encountered, driven less by the plot than by the emotions, of the characters and of the narration. The characters, more than anything, drive the book. Not a single one of them fits into a tidy box or an archetype; even characters who are barely appear feel real, deep and compelling protagonists of stories just brushing up against the one you’re reading, redirecting the arc of this plot and having their own unseen plots redirected as well. Strongly recommend giving it a chance, even if you aren’t sure it will be a good fit for you, because it might hook you in anyways.
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tahsintries's review

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2.0

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laurataylor's review

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dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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taratearex's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

 This book kind of broke me, you know when you read the perfect book at the perfect moment? That was this book for me. This is not your usual romance, it has so much more going on and so much depth. The way that grief is handled and explored in this book is just so beautiful, the way the complications of love and life are handled with vulnerability and open communication is beautiful. I loved reading this book. I stayed up too late to finish it one night and I haven't done that in a long time with a book, I also just couldn't read anything else for a few days after, a true book hangover! 
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rjansen282's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.0

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