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

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

351 reviews

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

3.25

I would like to start this review by pointing out that most of the angry one-star reviewers are over the top. This is not a simple story with black-and-white characters. Although there are blurred lines, there is no cheating. I think context is important to this story—there is a lot going on underneath the obvious. And it’s easy as heck to judge from behind a computer a world away. There are real feelings displayed by the story. And I think the characters were equally real.

I can’t tell if the lingo is just out of date or if the dialogue felt uneasy. There was a lot of slang that didn’t feel natural, BUT I’m very white and I know how white people will steal from black culture and burn it into the ground. So I cannot speak on it much, but it’s possible the lingo IS true to the characters, and I’ve just been burnt out on its use by other white people.

I think I wanted a bit more of a natural flow to the relationship between Feyi and Alim. They barely knew one another! I think the before: them joking or discussing things, etc. could’ve made it feel smoother.

As it was, their relationship did seem unfair to pursue over his children. I was kind of with them. Although they were entirely unfair to Feyi. Nasir, especially, really frustrated me. He acted like a fuckboy when she didn’t deserve that. Also I’m annoyed with how the kids had handled (and continued to handle) their father’s sexuality.

All that aside, I think this was a lovely book about the tide of grief and loss. How it never goes away; just recedes temporarily.

Content Warnings

ms_read's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Content Warnings

belladonnashrike's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

this was soo messy, but I loved it. I love drama. I didn’t get invested until Alim was introduced and I wish the pacing didn’t feel a little off (their relationship happened so fast). I also would’ve liked to read more about Jonah & his relationship with Feyi, as well as who she is outside of relationships (especially as an artist. Emezi writes about art incredibly well, especially in Pet, and I wish Feyi’s process and passion was more involved than it was). her backstory just seemed very underdeveloped, but I did like her character. the eventual love story was very cute, and although it was incredibly messy, I felt it to be realistic. it’s a beautiful thing when two people who have lost as much as they did come together and learn to love & be vulnerable again.

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catnapping's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75

I had a hard time relating to the characters in this novel, which colors my perceptions of it. That said, there were things that I enjoyed:

The narration for the audiobook was phenomenal.
The author did a wonderful job of creating an environment and drawing the reader into it. Everything was beautifully described in a way that really made me feel a part of it.
The descriptions of art in the book were so engaging that it felt like I was experiencing the exhibits. I'm not usually that into art but there was something very moving about how it was portrayed in this book.
I wanted to eat all of the food Alim prepared. It sounded amazing.
Alim had such well developed emotional intelligence and we could probably all learn something from how he communicated at certain parts of the book.

I don't know that I'd recommend this book, but it did make me very interested to read other books by the author.

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keeganrb's review against another edition

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4.0

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rachelfayreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

3.75

Content Warnings

nukie19's review

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emotional reflective 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

Content Warnings

jodierose14's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

faithbee's review

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dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

carla_reads_books's review

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I think some of the writing was really beautiful, i loved the style and was very easy to read, but I didn’t buy the romance - all felt very unbelievable. Just not for me!

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