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A review by vynexareads
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
Big thank you to Atria books for providing me an early copy in exchange for an honest review!
It's kind of unbelievable that this is my first Akwaeke Emezi read, as their novels are so popular and loved by pretty much everyone I know.
However, something told me that this was the novel that I needed to start my journey of their works with.
My, oh my, how right I was!
Emezi's writing is captivating, and they have such a way when it comes to talking about grief. Even though I haven't experience the same grief that Feyi has, I felt like I was going through it with her.
There are so many lines and quotes that I annotated, had to stop reading and process what I just read and slowly regain the mental capacity to carry on.
While this story may seem 'messy' on the surface, it is so much more than the first layer shows. It's about grief and connecting with someone who completely understand what you feel and have gone through without needing to say anything. To fall for someone who sees you and past the shield you put up for others and still accepts you while you also do the same for them. It's about showing that you can move one even when you thought it was impossible.
It's beautifully painful and I am so beyond in love with this book.
While I don't like how there was a specific character that was kind of made to be a villain at a certain point, I still loved this book and everything it gave us.
Art is also a big factor in this story, and while I didn't understand Feyi's art form, I loved that art helped her with grieving and gave her life when she felt like she was dying inside.
As Emezi has explained in a twitter thread before, this novel is not what readers are used to from them, so please do not set your expectations on their prior works and expect the same thing. Though I may not exactly know what they meant by it as I have no experience, I just wanted to add that into my review.
If you're in the headspace to consume this story, please do. I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do.
⭐️ 5 STARS⭐️
*A NEW FAVORITE*
It's kind of unbelievable that this is my first Akwaeke Emezi read, as their novels are so popular and loved by pretty much everyone I know.
However, something told me that this was the novel that I needed to start my journey of their works with.
My, oh my, how right I was!
Emezi's writing is captivating, and they have such a way when it comes to talking about grief. Even though I haven't experience the same grief that Feyi has, I felt like I was going through it with her.
There are so many lines and quotes that I annotated, had to stop reading and process what I just read and slowly regain the mental capacity to carry on.
While this story may seem 'messy' on the surface, it is so much more than the first layer shows. It's about grief and connecting with someone who completely understand what you feel and have gone through without needing to say anything. To fall for someone who sees you and past the shield you put up for others and still accepts you while you also do the same for them. It's about showing that you can move one even when you thought it was impossible.
It's beautifully painful and I am so beyond in love with this book.
While I don't like how there was a specific character that was kind of made to be a villain at a certain point, I still loved this book and everything it gave us.
Art is also a big factor in this story, and while I didn't understand Feyi's art form, I loved that art helped her with grieving and gave her life when she felt like she was dying inside.
As Emezi has explained in a twitter thread before, this novel is not what readers are used to from them, so please do not set your expectations on their prior works and expect the same thing. Though I may not exactly know what they meant by it as I have no experience, I just wanted to add that into my review.
If you're in the headspace to consume this story, please do. I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do.
⭐️ 5 STARS⭐️
*A NEW FAVORITE*