Sometimes the emotional forthrightness of the novel struck me as a little unnatural: it’s a third-person narrative, and we’re often told Feyi’s exact feelings before it seems like she’s had time to process them. Feyi’s best friend, Joy, is a constant sounding board and reality check, and she’s open and matter-of-fact about her need to work through issues past and present with her therapist. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is a strongly contemporary novel, leaning into modern slang and dialog, frequently referencing currently working artists, and with a refreshing and foundational concern for mental and emotional health. The island getaway is a bit obviously a fantasy, but that doesn’t impede the novel’s unrepentant and joyful celebration of success, of personal beauty, and of sumptuous music, art, and food. Healthy, complicated hunger is a recurring theme, with Emezi displaying a delicious skill at both teasing out its fulfillment and dealing with the messy interpersonal complications.

The novel doesn’t shy away from heavier topics-loss and grief shape multiple characters, and homophobia has scarred Alim’s family-but Feyi’s love life is very much the core, and it allows her, and the reader, to revel in happiness when it comes. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is very much a romance. It’s a significant stylistic departure from Akwaeke Emezi’s previous novels, which were more formally and stylistically experimental, surreal and striking and hard to classify.

Processing her grief and figuring out what she wants next take on new urgency as Feyi meets artists and gallery owners, explores a tropical paradise, and, most centrally, finds herself attracted to Nasir’s father, celebrity chef Alim Blake. Feyi’s personal and professional lives are suddenly thrown into high gear when Nasir arranges a gallery showing for her in his Caribbean hometown. After some casual dating, she starts a mostly platonic-but possibly more serious-relationship with Nasir Blake, a well-connected consultant. Five years after the death of her husband, visual artist Feyi Adekola is starting to come out of her shell, wondering if it’s possible to love again.

Made a fool of death with your beauty