Akwaeke Emezi – Cannonball Read 17

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

September 4, 2022 by booktrovert Leave a Comment

CBR Bingo – hot. This book is rather steamy, and you will be inundated with descriptions of the incredible hotness of nearly every character. This book is about grief, and owning your own body and will and exercising those in a way that truly embraces life. But it is ALSO a book about incredibly beautiful, talented people with lots of money lusting after one another in locations so beautiful they belong on the cover of Architectural Digest magazine. It’s a romance novel with some taboo […]

I wanted to like this much more than I did

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

June 5, 2022 by wicherwill Leave a Comment

CW: fatal car crash in the past, past homophobia, physical altercation that could have veered towards physical abuse except that it was stopped before any character is hurt What a beautiful cover, I have to say. The UK version is very boring looking in comparison. I have been thinking about the review for this book for ages, and here goes: If this was a book about Feyi and Joy, it would have been an easy 4 star book. Their interaction alone is 5 star, excellent, […]

Notes to Self

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

February 20, 2022 by booktrovert 2 Comments

I devoured Freshwater in 2020 – it was one of the most original stories I have ever read. As a work of auto-fiction, it drew heavily from Emezi’s life experiences and their own ontology. While it hit the beats of many books written about humans, especially human females as they encounter the world, Freshwater was entirely different because Emezi is neither human nor female. They are an embodied minor deity, born to human surrogates. They understand writing to be their work, and their devotion to […]

The Importance of Shielding the Vulnerable

Pet by Akwaeke

August 15, 2020 by The Chancellor Leave a Comment

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi My rating: 5 of 5 stars Jam lives with her parents Bitter and Aloe in the city of Lucille. Lucille is special because there was a revolution. In this revolution the monsters that used race, gender, orientation, etc. as means of oppression have been replaced with a system of justice. The “angels” of the revolution have created a utopia where Jam and her best friend, Redemption live without fear. Or so they thought. While at first it seems the story is […]

“The world in my head has been far more real than the one outside”

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

December 1, 2018 by denesteak Leave a Comment

It’s a real shame I’ve been so terrible about reviewing because there’s been some serious gems that I’ve read this year… and I would have ended 2018 without a single review for CBR10. Life has been very full, and I could have certainly leaned on that as an excuse. But a very kind message from Mswas convinced me to at least put some effort into reviewing the latest book I finished this week. I’ve been excited to read Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel Freshwater months before I finally […]

The spirits that live inside us

June 4, 2018 by lowercasesee Leave a Comment

I love me some good magical realism, as nebulous a genre as that is and this definitely falls into the “good” category. Unfortunately not as memorable as I’d like it to be, though I did read this at an interesting time (big family gathering + sad memorial service = not a lot of brain space for books). Freshwater centers on a young Nigerian woman named Ada though in this story, even in her own body, she is not the sole protagonist. Emezi has given voice […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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