Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

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

20 reviews

joconklin's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

This book pulled me in so hard and deep I had to go back and re-read some scenes three times just to relish the craft of them.

Feyi's breathtaking strength and vulnerability, her messy path to healing after loss, and her visceral processing of grief through her art and life all hit hard. Whether or not I would have made the choices she did, I understood on a fundamental human level why she did, and admired her ability to reclaim what control she had over her life, and not relinquish that control to anyone under pressure. It's a response anyone with trauma may recognize. She draws lines and gets her needs met, and demands respect for her boundaries as she finds her own path forward to healing. Not everyone is going to be happy with that uncompromising control and many will feel entitled to more, and Feyi is right to deny them say over her body and heart. When she finds the one worthy of compromise, she does the work to learn how to be vulnerable.

This book is divisive for many as a romance, but this is my hill. Feyi's romance is two-fold, and while I can't discuss the one without spoilers, the second romance, Feyi's love for herself, is just as richly explored and developed as the external one. And the sensual, visceral exploration of grief and attraction through art and food left me with a powerful book hangover that left me unable to read anything else for a week.

I read this through the DC public library, but purchased a copy for myself to re-read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

mariasgraph's review

emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

etinney's review

emotional reflective slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gore

bibble_kingly's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Sexual content

Moderate: Biphobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Feyi's lust for Nasir's father feels unhinged as you read it and the chaos doesn't stop

sleepylemon96's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Yet another masterpiece by Emezi, this beautiful, ~spicy~ 👀, incredibly impactful story is about love and its many forms. It is an exploration of grief, of friendship, and of art and its power to heal; it is an ode to all those who know or need to hear that it is okay to honor yourself, your needs and your wants. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Self harm

alexisgarcia's review

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Emezi is one of the best writers I have read from. they write such full characters. the characters have flaws but can also be so loveable. while i could point out many “flaws” in this book, it doesn’t matter. i loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Outing

Minor: Biphobia, Cancer, Child death, Homophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

venetiana's review against another edition

******

THE ORIGINAL BOOK IS BRILLIANT. ✨

This explanation is about the German audio book:
⬇️

******

The *German* version is badly translated. I cringed!

Admittedly, while the narrator has an amazing voice, the German audiobook was also not well read, and some things were just pronounced wrong, which kept pulling me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

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.

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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