GSWS Feminist Book Club - April 2024

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty

Akwaeke Emezi

Atria Books (2022)

This book very much deviated from the core of what we’ve mostly read in book club, in our words, it was very much “delulu romance.” It was beautifully written, Akwaeke continues to stun in their lyrical descriptions. We were perpetually in awe of the majestic way they described food and emotions throughout the book. We came to the conclusion that the main character being an artist was one of the smartest creative choices that the author made because it gave an extra dimension to explore Feyi’s grief and also as a vehicle for joy. That metaphor wouldn’t have been clear if it was just written, extra depth with just showcasing her grief. Although, very raunchy, we thought the sex was an important component of the character building. Situating Feyi on this Caribbean island gave us a glimpse into a different aspect of her personality that was charged by the oasis of abundance of the island where she got to be away from her sadness and away from the history in this new oasis. Whilst we love the authors writing, some people opined that there was an expectation based off our previous reading of Akwaeke’s The Death of Vivek Orji that this would be exploring much deeper and darker themes outside of romance. 

Average rating: 4