You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty- My Opinion

When I first came across this book by Akwaeke Emezi, I thought it would be another tragic love story by an African Author.

I was wrong.

The book left me speechless and confused as I said in my Instagram post, I started to doubt my own moral standing and If I was wrong in my judgment. Yes, judgment, I would explain in this article.

When we first meet Feyi, we are told about her late husband, the accident that claimed his life, and how she grieved for so long. What the author doesn’t say is that she never stopped grieving and that every decision and adventure she made or took was greatly influenced by the accident that claimed Jonah’s life.

We are also present when she hooks up with Milan in a bathroom, 5 years after the accident and years after she reinvented herself and moved to a new city.

She explores new things as is expected, including her sexuality as we are made aware that she and her roommate, Joy had been intimate at a point. Now, this is the part I start to doubt my morals; she hooks up with Milan, goes out a few times with him, and then breaks up with him and turns around and gets comfy with one of his friends.

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t date guys in the same circle of friends one after the other. Especially, knowing how guys talk.

She then meets Nasir who takes great interest in her artwork; which she started doing as a coping mechanism after the accident. A couple of her artworks are inspired by scenes from the accident and the dark times that followed.

Nasir invites her to his family home for a vacation while she prepares to exhibit her art for the first time with Nasir’s support and encouragement.

She meets Alim, Nasir’s dad and she’s awestruck. One can argue later that her attraction to him wasn’t because they were two grieving hearts as they later claimed but because of his effeminate nature and his global status.

Reading the scene where they meet, I remember wondering how she could easily get super attracted to Nasir’s dad especially since the unspoken point of the vacation was to get to know Nasir better specifically after he had made his intentions towards her known and they had actually gone on a few dates.

The feeling she develops toward Alim is soon discovered to be mutual and they walk on eggshells around each other but soon start exploring their feelings.

This of course comes with consequences that may tear Alim’s family apart for the second time. The first time was shortly after the loss of his wife when the rumor mill caught wind of his growing attraction for a certain ‘friend’ and he was forced to choose between his growing love interest and his kids.

This time, when the choice is once again pushed in his face, he chooses himself. While I am happy Feyi found love again, I can’t help the uneasy feeling that she could have found it elsewhere and not in the arms of Nasir’s father.

Some would say I am biased toward Nasir but that’s just my opinion.

Have you read the book? What did you think of Feyi and Alim’s relationship?