For many of us, the summer of 2022 feels like emerging from a period of deep grief and isolation on a mission to remember how to feel alive again. Windows like this into Feyi’s naked inner turmoil are constant the intertwining of her guilt, lust, sadness, and love splashed onto the page in a gut-twisting reflection of our own, as the reader. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play She didn’t want to talk about how it felt to try to learn how to be safe with someone who wasn’t the dead love of her life.” “She couldn’t remember the last time someone had been content to just kiss her desperately and then lie in bed breathing each other’s air. Feyi has crafted a completely new life for herself, but romantic closeness of any kind remains missing. She’s not looking for anything serious, just to dip her toes back into the pool of intimacy she’s avoided in her sadness. Now Feyi plans to embark on what could be billed her first “hot girl summer” since her tragic loss. In the aftermath of losing her husband five years before, Feyi has moved back to Brooklyn to live with her best friend (a fellow Black queer woman named Joy who brings a surplus of levity to the novel), has dyed her braids every color of the rainbow, and owns an art studio that allows her the freedom to create pieces forged from her trauma. “Messy” and “complex” are actually apt descriptions of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, which follows Feyi-a bisexual Black woman from New York-as she joins Nasir, a platonic-ish new male friend (they've kissed and flirted) on a lavish vacation to his father’s mansion on a tropical oasis. In the vein of Helen Hoang’s The Heart Principle from last year, this novel reminds us that messy grief and complex love can be two sides of the same coin. Emezi takes us on the literal and emotional journey of Feyi Adekola, a woman still reeling from the tragic death of her husband, Jonah. And yet, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty transcends the shallow tide pools of a typical entry in the genre and dives into deeper, perhaps more treacherous, waters. Akwaeke Emezi’s latest novel appears to be a natural fit for such a category: a fun, flirty romance set on an unnamed tropical island.
“Beach read” as a book descriptor feels ubiquitous these days, especially as warm summer months descend upon us, practically begging for trips to far-flung tropics (though many of us remain glued to our work laptops).
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