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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

227 reviews

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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bibble_kingly's review against another edition

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The book started off incredibly messy and the mess was just a lot for me.
Things to note:

The main character is supposed to be unlikable
Almost all of the prominent side characters are incredibly messy in their own way. (Yes, people can be messy in real life and fiction. The behavior is also really toxic despite the fact, we are told our main femme characters are in therapy)

This book just wasnt for me and that's okay.

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boba_n_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

4.0

Spice Rating: 🌶️ .5 / 5

This is one of the most raw and complex novels I've read in a while. Emezi is a phenomenal writer with a knack for diving into the unknown.

It's been 5 years since the car accident that killed the love of Feyi's life. Now her best friend and roommate, Joy, is insisting that Feyi get back onto the dating scene. Once she gets a hang of things again, Feyi starts seeing someone who has potential to be a long-term partner. Even better--he invites her to come with him for a few weeks to the tropical island where he grew up.

I don't want to give away too much because I'm really glad I went into this book blind and hope you do as well. Emezi somehow tackles the huge subject of grief and pairs it with a romance that was messy but beautiful. I'm really glad I gave this one a chance.

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llams's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

this is the most beautiful book i've read yet! i'm not great with the words but this was so moving and beautiful and full of love alongside the pain and ache

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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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binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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lilawsahar's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Do not real this book as a palate cleanser. This book is heavy, messy, and beautiful.

I can’t believe Feyi fell in love with her “it’s complicated” friend’s dad. That’s wild. I can see how they were a perfect fit though. They both had experience with extreme grief and are comforted with not being alone in it. We knew that the relationship with Nasir was going no where. He was sleeping with other women. She wasn’t comfortable sleeping with him. She called off them being intimate when he took her to the islands. It seemed like their relationship was ending then he says he loves her!!! He was hella delulu. I’m not saying what she did was right. But love isn’t logical. You can’t help who you fall for. I’m glad that Alim and Feyi found each other. They handled the situation with as much grace as they could. Never once was I mad at their decisions and conversations (which some could argue made the book boring but I like when the characters are logical and sensitive to others). Also I love how the author uses food to enhance the sexual tension. Great read.

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sarahmcg's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted tense 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

4.5

How did I read this book and end up cheering for the messy af FMC and the dad???

I guess for as much as I love a trope-filled rom-com, I can also really appreciate a complicated lit-fic love story, romance but also an exploration of grief, friendship, and art/creativity.

Read this if you love MESS, taboo/forbidden/age gap romance, finding love after loss, complicated FMC.

The writing was very beautiful; poetic, with gorgeous descriptions of the tropical island mountain home, art, music, and food. This was my first read by Emezi and it won’t be my last.

The only critique I have is I totally understood the emotional connection that Feyi and Alim formed, but for some reason I still had a little bit of difficulty with the believability of their chemistry (not sure if it was maybe the age gap or something else?) - but overall I’d give 4.5⭐️

I want a book about Joy!!!

CW/TW: discussions of loss of spouse (in past but discussed throughout - 1) car accident 2) drowning), sexual content, descriptions of blood, domestic incident.

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rubi_blue6's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.75

I'm not a big romance novel kind of person; especially when it's explicitly the theme

I loved Feyi, and her grief journey; it seems like

art developed through pain

is a major theme of her work, as with 'Bitter' (a wonderful sequel to 'Pet') which resonates with me as an artist

I wish we'd been able to focus a bit more on her, and lean less into the romanticiation of her situation; I'd argue I'd like to have seen her take her own wisdom and work on how she can find love in so, so many places

That said, the sexual tension was golden - i can't fault that

As always, Emezi is a phenomenal author and I will endever to read anything they write, regardless of whether it's a genre I generally ride with

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tamaramo's review against another edition

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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

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