Rating: 64% | ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love? Non-Spoiler Review: Even after the soul-deflating exhaustion of several weeks of final assignments and personal conflicts, Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty still managed to startle me. It is a novel that teems with contradictions, not in the least due to the gulf between its blurb and its actual content. What I appreciated most about the novel was its discussion of cultures; the characters come from diverse backgrounds that are all explored, whether it through brief asides or sprawling events occurring on location. There is a very real sense of people coming together to appreciate one another, and the characters' acknowledgement that not everyone will agree in life experience is refreshing. This is a novel deeply rooted in the past, and in young people coming to terms with what they have been taught. However, what troubles me the most about You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is that it does not know what it wants to be. The blurb reflects this, struggling to simultaneously market the novel as a literary fiction book with a romance subplot—rather than a romance book with a literary fiction subplot, which would be more authentic to the content of the novel. The novel's issues—its static characters, lack of emotional investment on the reader's part, and rushed relationships—I would attribute to this oscillation between genres. There is a marked distance between the reader and the characters, especially Feyi, who feels very lost for most of the novel and then abruptly self-found at the end of it. Such a distance makes for a very frustrating reading experience. I would not have minded if the novel were longer; even if it were twice as long, I think the added pages would be worth the dedication to further character and plot development. Ultimately, this is a novel for those struggling with the hard questions of life, and for those always willing to believe in a second chance at love. Thank you to Atria Books, Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss+ for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is out today, May 24, 2022.
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