Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

Du bist so schön, sogar der Tod erblasst: Roman by Akwaeke Emezi

86 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

 

I’d heard great things about Akwaeke Emezi’s writing but mainly about their YA novels Pet and the companion novella Bitter. Since I downloaded Libby *angel choir noise* I was disappointed to not find the audiobook version of Pet on there but You Made a Fool came up instead. After briefly scanning the blurb, I decided to jump in. And oh, what a gloriously realised world Akwaeke has made. 

 

The rub is that our artist MC, Feyi, is dipping her toes back into the dating scene after the death of her husband five years prior with the help of Joy, her chaotic, lesbian friend. After a brief but ends-as-friends- situationship with a man called Milan, Feyi begins a let’s-be-friends-first relationship with Nasir, one of Milan’s friends. Nasir, who comes from a VERY well-connected family, presents Feyi an opportunity to be a part of an exhibition of Black Diaspora artists. Fast-forward to Nasir taking Feyi to his gorgeous tropical family home (I’m not a visual reader, but I could SEE this house from Akwaeke’s descriptions!!) and to also meet Nasir’s equal parts rich and reclusive celebrity chef. 

 

It sounds like the start to a very light-hearted tropical holiday romance, right? WRONG. 

 

Nasir’s father, Alim, is like Feyi – a lonely widower – and Feyi experiences an immediate attraction to Alim that she tries to stifle and explain away as it existing because Alim is “unattainable” and, while she is technically not in a romantic relationship with Nasir, would be frowned upon. 

 

I won’t spoil too much, but the story touches very deeply into the ways grief can change your soul and provide a bond between people – both romantic and platonic. The building relationship between Alim and Feyi (who are both bisexual!) is never presented as a titillating trope, but rather as two deeply injured humans navigating their trauma and grief and deciding to choose love as a way to move through life. There’s so much narrative freedom to Feyi – the story focuses so much Feyi allowing herself to be who she needs to be and without compromising her ideals or happiness. 

 

The story gets quite intense around the time Alim’s children find out about this burgeoning romance (I had to turn my audio off at one point on the way home from work because it was stressful to listen to at that time), and the story could easily fall apart with various miscommunications but instead Akwaeke carries us safely to the story’s end. I could wax poetic about this book, but also! Joy being an incredible friend throughout this story? Feyi and Alim both being adults who actively go to therapy? All amazing to see in a contemporary romance novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Car accident

Minor: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Grief, Biphobia, and Death

Minor: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury

hi_its_micah's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Biphobia

katherinew's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, and Blood

Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia

sleepylemon96's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Yet another masterpiece by Emezi, this beautiful, ~spicy~ 👀, incredibly impactful story is about love and its many forms. It is an exploration of grief, of friendship, and of art and its power to heal; it is an ode to all those who know or need to hear that it is okay to honor yourself, your needs and your wants. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship

alli_andrews's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Mental illness, Biphobia, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Homophobia

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, Biphobia, Violence, and Car accident

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, and Child death

caitlinemccann's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Car accident

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Sexism

Minor: Biphobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Death, Car accident, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Outing

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, and Biphobia

nefariousbee's review against another edition

emotional inspiring relaxing fast-paced

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

4.75

I came out of this book like *who hasn't had dilf thoughts?!*
okay for real, Emezi is a wonderful author, I absolutely adore their characters and the way they portray relationships. in their most raw, messy state. what I missed here is hard to out I to words; I just wanted *more*. more messy, raw feelings. everything happened too all at once for my tastes. but i still absolutely loved it and I think I'm gonna read the rest of their books as well, now that I only have two more to go.
also I gotta say, I was really surprised by the average rating. what is here not to love? I'm gonna read some reviews later but I have string suspicions it's the purity culture and pearl clutching that's so prevalent in the younger generation again and I don't fuck with that. fiction is such a great place to figure out fucked up situations and Emezi does just that here. and they do it well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, and Alcohol