You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty
By Akwaeke Emezi
Atria Books, US
ISBN: 978-1982188702
288pp.

Romance novels are often dismissed as fluffy, inconsequential and uninspiring by discerning readers of quality literary fiction. The scepticism surrounding the genre, though rooted in intellectual snobbery, can be attributed to the fact that most romantic fiction tends to follow a predictable trajectory.

Replete with stereotypical manifestations of star-crossed lovers, forbidden liaisons and happy endings, such novels stand the danger of appearing formulaic and unrealistic. It is rare to find love stories that strip away the artifice and reveal some of the dark, distressing truths of a passionate romance. The romantic novels churned out in the West suffer from additional flaws as they are overly white-centric and overlook racial and ethnic diversity.

Akwaeke Emezi’s You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is certainly no antidote to the problems that plague the genre as a whole because, through their maiden attempt at writing romantic fiction, the Nigerian novelist appears to have recycled the tropes associated with the genre. Even so, it would be unfair to lump the book into the same category as a leisurely ‘beach-read’ that is tailor-made to be forgotten.

The key ingredient that elevates Emezi’s novel from the glut of all-too-familiar love stories is its emphasis on the knotty issue of coping with grief. For context, Erich Segal’s Oliver’s Story followed a similar motif, albeit within the confines of a more testosterone-fuelled narrative.

An unusual romance novel by a Nigerian author offers a poignant study of love and coming to terms with grief

Emezi’s canvas benefits from sensitivity and a stronger attention to detail. Much in the same way as the author’s earlier novel The Death of Vivek Oji, the loss of a spouse emerges as the critical thrust of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. The only difference is that, in The Death of Vivek Oji, the protagonist’s demise comes through as an opportunity for him to escape the injustices of the world. As a result, Vivek’s death is viewed as yet another manifestation of the invisibility that had been imposed upon him in life.

For 29-year-old Feyi Adekola, the hapless protagonist of Emezi’s new book, death takes on the shape of a spectre from which she is struggling to extricate herself. Unlike Vivek, Feyi hasn’t been granted a much-needed release from the world, but has lost her husband and high school sweetheart Jonah. Five years after his death, the persistence of memory continues to hold her in its grip and prevents her from forgetting an idyllic life that was snatched away when Jonah died in a car crash. Feyi now inhabits a self-created shell in New York, where art acts as a source of consolation and celibacy becomes her armour against any further sorrow.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty begins at the crucial moment when Feyi breaks her vow of celibacy and develops a strictly physical relationship with a man named Milan. Emezi’s decision to choose this as the starting point of the story reveals that they understand that the grieving process often compels people to transgress boundaries and reinvent themselves. Though Feyi’s encounter with Milan is steered by pure lust rather than genuine emotion, it reflects a sincere attempt to alter the course of her life and embark on a journey towards healing.

However, Feyi only takes tentative steps towards recovering from the onslaught of the past and, therefore, treats the relationship as an emotional pit stop that will lead her towards another chance at happiness. In a quest to relearn the art of living, she makes another pit stop that catapults her towards unexpected career possibilities and a forbidden romance.

As they walked home, Feyi let herself imagine the trip with Nasir, a version of it that was easy and perfect. The two of them swimming in the ocean, salt in their hair, sand on their skin as they lay out in the sun. Mangoes falling apart in their hands, the wet color of a sunset, the road up the mountain blanketed in green. — Excerpt from the book

Any effort to delineate the plot in spoiler-filled detail must be fiercely resisted as it will only deprive readers of the opportunity to savour the essence of the story. Suffice it to say that Feyi’s voyage toward rediscovering herself is complex and chaotic, and attracts considerable disapproval from those around her.

It is usually difficult for readers to accept a female protagonist who makes unpopular choices. Emezi’s dialogue-driven approach to storytelling provides the narrative with some degree of objectivity; it’s a useful technique that prevents the narrative voice from chastising

Feyi for her choices. The author ensures that Feyi, and the man with whom she eventually finds herself in a forbidden union, are seldom portrayed as villains.

Unfortunately, the problem arises when some characters arbitrarily transform from ‘good’ to ‘evil’ in the blink of an eye. This is a common trope that romance writers tend to employ to conveniently propel the narrative forward, or mine its dramatic possibilities. The presence of these cardboard cut-outs in place of full-blooded characters in an emotionally intense novel such as You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is problematic.

Emezi’s decision to use Feyi as the pivot for the novel compromises on the development of other characters. Readers who were intrigued by the author’s decision to write The Death of Vivek Oji from the perspective of multiple characters may struggle to accept a rather unidimensional approach to storytelling. Even in the third-person narrative perspective, Emezi only seems to evoke Feyi’s concerns and motivations rather than those of the other characters.

In light of the fact that Emezi is writing a romance novel, this isn’t an entirely atypical choice to make. Some characters, though, are far more appealing than the core protagonist and deserve their own spotlight, such as Feyi’s friend Joy, who is treated as a worthy sidekick despite being a critical component in Feyi’s sexual and emotional awakening.

The prose benefits from a refreshing simplicity that many writers can only aspire towards and seldom achieve. Emezi ought to be commended for their elegant and evocative style that is devoid of complicated, long-winded passages that are difficult to get through. A crisp, engaging style enables Feyi’s tumultuous emotional journey to become all the more relatable and humane.

At a time when romance novels in the United States are heavily dominated by white characters who can’t see beyond their own narrow interests, Emezi has examined a black woman’s romantic escapades. This cannot be overlooked, as the Nigerian author has contributed to the body of romantic fiction that focuses on women from racially diverse communities. The new novel also falls within the category of queer literature, which serves to add a new dimension to Feyi’s complex personality.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty offers a poignant study of love and its many facets. The author vehemently defies a static interpretation of love and reminds readers that fresh chances at finding happiness aren’t a remote possibility.

The reviewer is the author of Typically Tanya and co-editor of The Stained-Glass Window: Stories of the Pandemic from Pakistan. He tweets @TahaKehar

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 6th, 2022