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

Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

449 reviews

withlivjones's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

A gorgeous, steamy, messy, emotional read about love and grief. I loved Feyi’s character, how she’s so straightforward and to the point with everyone she talks to and how she uses her grief to power her art, and I really felt for her with everything that happens/has happened to her in the story. I do wish we got to see more of Joy and had her character be a little more fleshed out, but I understand that’s hard to do when she’s on Facetime for most of the book.

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jillaay_h's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

2.0

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chloe_hazel's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.25

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anni_banani's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

may I say YES AKWEAKE EMEZI! and thank you!
i have re read this book once so far and would re read countless times.

this was my intro to Emezi's books- which I don't recommend. I heard Emezi say in an interview that they write Transgressive stories. That is totally the case in this book!
rarely do I say this but not only a flawless execution but goes beyond my expectations. the story goes up and down, leaving you with time to see a rich interoir emotional landscape of the MC but also all of a sudden leaving you on your seat with your butt clenched wondering what will happened next!! I cry, I get turned on, I scream, I have a book to hold space for the grief and loss and love in my own life.

This is a top ten book of all time for me, no doubt. also Bahni Turpin reads the audiobook which is an instant "play" for me.

read this book for
messy bisexuals
best friendship
every character being believable complicated, real and getting development
Black and Islander stories
life love and hope after life altering loss and grief
amazing sexual tension
questioning your our ethics
healing
amazing food
love for the Caribbean

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paidays's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

Beautiful and lush, brave, and hopeful even in the face of immense grief

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flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

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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

3.75

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leatherlee's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Up to this point, I'd have said Akwaeke Emezi was one of my favorite writers but I had to force myself to finish this book. Whereas their other works were weird and fantastical and riveting, this one was just not interesting to me. A big part of it is that I am apparently always annoyed by romance genre, even if it's thoughtful, (nominally) queer, and written by someone whose other works I adore.

As a "queer" novel, I feel especially let down because the sex all is very heteronormative. Nothing especially interesting to me personally about a conventionally attractive cis-het couple pairing. The fact of their queerness is downplayed which was a missed opportunity. Bisexuals having unconventional sex could have been explored to great effect and would have probably merited at least one more star from me.

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etinney's review against another edition

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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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felixmarauder's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written and gripping. My only complaint is that I wish Feyi and

Alim's

story was more developed. That we saw more of what makes their relationship tick, outside their shared experience of grief. I really enjoyed the descriptions of her art, her artistic process, and would have loved to learn more about that, even though I know it's not necessary to the story. The queer representation was a beautiful example of inclusion without exploitation and avoiding the common tropes and clichés. Very well done. I was entranced throughout, and I would have happily read another hundred pages to flesh it out more. I will be hunting down more of Akwaeke Emezi's books because I love their writing style.

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zefancifulreader's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.75

This book has a lot of mixed reviews which I suspect is because this story breaks a lot of Romance rules.
It is a story of grief, which isn’t very sexy but I think it does a disservice to our human-ness to ignore a very powerful emotion that is so closely linked with Love.
It’s also one of the horniest books I’ve read in a while. Feyi is so delightfully thirsty and it was so fun to watch her mess unfold.
The book also had some of my favourite obscure troupes such as: “NO 3rd Act Breakup” and “Main Character goes to Therapy”!
The real standout for me was the incredible maturity of Alim and Feyi. Ya, it’s a large age-gap but these two characters have a boat load of trauma and have done the WORK of piecing themselves together even before the book starts. These are two adults who know how to COMMUNICATE and it’s honestly the sexiest thing.
Add the beautiful, lyrical writing style that Akwaeke Emezi is known for and you’ve got yourself a gorgeous, unapologetic, hot mess and I 100% recommend it.

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