sara_berlin's reviews
274 reviews

Honestly I probably would’ve enjoyed it more had I read it instead of listening to the audiobook. Cringey/cheesy dialogue is normal, even necessary, in this genre, but it’s a lot harder to deal with when there’s real people saying it. Anyway, it was good for what it aimed to do. If you read The Hunger Games for the romance, this is for you. For me, it was okay. 

should be required reading 

I read this for English class, and I think it's a perfect book for analysis and reflection. There are many instances of symbolism, metaphors, and metaphorical language/scenes that don't really make sense in reality but have some sort of underlying meaning. It's also a sort of time capsule of the sorts of experiences and people African American men in the time period encountered, some of which still hold up today. 

Truly just a comfort book, my favorite thing about it is that you can really tell Rick had fun writing it. Oh, and Fierrochase have my heart forever of course. 

It was... interesting. I can't say I enjoyed reading it, but there's a lot to think about. Mersault is, intentionally, deeply unlikable. 

Akwaeke Emezi never ceases to make their work the most shamelessly human it can possibly be. They also always lead you on, just like writing should. From the sincerest place in my heart, my compliments to the goddamn chef. Even though I knew what I was getting into and I expected it to be amazing, they still managed to, well, amaze me. I simply cannot get enough of Emezi's writing. 

Side note: I've kind of come to learn that all of their writing is at least semi-autobiographical/based off their life experiences (which is normal for any kind of artist), which leads me to some interesting questions about how they feel about their art being in one of the most permanent forms, i.e. writing, since valuing the way some art changes with time/decays is something Feyi discusses. 
Equally, there's no way the kind of grief described in the story doesn't come from some kind of personal experience, and I hope the discussions of Feyi coming to terms with it, and, dare I say, beginning to heal, is a reflection of Akwaeke's own life, or at least an aspiration of theirs.

One scene in particular that struck me was when Feyi is dealing with the tumult of her and Alim's exposed secrets, and rather than pushing it all onto him or spiraling internally, she becomes aware of her anxiety, schedules an appointment with her therapist and applies healthy coping skills.

This also touches on another thing I love about this book in the context of the romance genre, which is the emphasis Feyi places on support systems outside of a relationship. Joy, Feyi's best friend, plays a significant role in her life and the story, and Feyi even speaks about their love directly at one point. I feel like this genre has a habit of idolizing romance which, duh, it's romance fiction, but the existence and success of this book just goes to prove that you can write extremely compelling romance without falling into amatonormativity (a point I value a lot as an aspec person). 

On yet another individual note, something I adored from day one of reading Emezi's writing is their attention to detail in descriptions, and how, rather than feeling like it bogs down the story, it builds it out and really puts you in the moment. Also, it's just beautiful to read. 
Something that occurred to me was that the last time I wrote a review on paper first (which is the case with this one) it was also for an Emezi Original™,  namely The Death of Vivek Oji, so I guess something about them just makes me want to put a pen to paper.

Finally, props to marie-ange on Spotify for providing me with an extremely appropriate and immersive soundtrack for reading this, I really appreciated it: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/47kkxfNuwDu4xxWyhgOgnH?si=bb5a25b8f4414105

Wonderful finale, I'm very happy with it.