Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

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

7 reviews

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, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Car accident

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

wanderlust_romance's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.25

This was an intricate and messy romance. I'm going to focus on two aspects that made the story particularly challenging. First is the tourist aspect. The majority of this book takes place on an unnamed (or perhaps I missed it's singular mention) tropical island in the Caribbean. There is neither an established sense of place nor insights or observations from Feyi's perspective during her stay on the island. In that sense, the story felt unmoored and vague. (Though perhaps that's the point, as Feyi struggles to "feel alive" again.) Feyi has arrived in a landscape vastly different from her well known NYC surroundings, and she is immersed in a world of wealth, privilege, and access. This leads into the second aspect - the power dynamics. Feyi arrives in this island location as a guest of Nasir, albeit in his famous Michelin star chef father Alim's home. She is afforded access and introductions into the local gallery/museum scene through her connections to both Nasir and Alim. While she determines early on that her relationship with Nasir will not extend beyond friendship, a starting point they have both agreed to, Feyi never communicates this to establish boundaries or clarify expectations. Miscommunication has entered the chat - and it's a doozy. Nasir feels entitled to more from his relationship with Feyi, that she should be grateful for the access, lodgings, meals, and transport she's been provided, and perhaps that she is indebted to him as such. Which... doesn't really feel like friendship, though that's Nasir's claim - "let's go slow; I'll be patient; just friends for now." While Alim also holds a certain level of power over Feyi, through his fame, wealth, age, and connections, he is more mindful about that dynamic. There is less demand on his side. His acts of service toward Feyi are performed from a deeper sense of care and attraction, but also rooted in their shared connection over their loss of a spouse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Self harm

This book features cheating, miscommunication, and (for lack of a better term) a love triangle

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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: Car accident, Grief, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Biphobia, Outing, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Homophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, Car accident, Death, Sexual content, Biphobia, Grief, and Medical trauma

sarah984's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Self harm, and Incest

Incest was mentioned as a joke, but did not actually occur on page.

queenofthefae's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense

• 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

I did really enjoy this book, and probably would’ve absolutely loved it if not for the initial discomfort I felt with the premise of the main conflict —

that Feyi falls in love with and decides ultimately to pursue a relationship with the father of the man she’s already involved with.

I don’t really have a problem with age-gap romances, but that particular vein of relationship dynamic really squicked me out for some reason, to the point where I almost put the book down. I could see by about halfway where the plot was headed, but I think it must have been more the anticipation of

Feyi crossing into *something* with Alim

than anything else, because for the last third or so of the book once they’d crossed that line, so to speak, I was much more okay with it. I still didn’t love that dynamic situation, but not so badly I wanted to stop reading. Overall, I really did enjoy the book, and aside from that one aspect, really don’t have anything negative to say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness