You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

National Book Award finalist Emezi (The Death of Vivek Oji) examines grief and the complexity of relationships and love in her latest novel. Feyi has focused on her art and herself during the five years since her husband’s death in an automobile accident. With her best friend Joy’s encouragement, Feyi rejoins the dating world and meets Nasir. Taken with her beauty and her art, Nasir brings Feyi to his home in the Caribbean, where she meets his father, celebrity chef Alim Blake. Feyi and Alim bond over the grief of losing a partner to death and fight their growing attraction. Bahni Turpin’s narration aurally illustrates the sights, sounds, and tastes Feyi experiences. She embodies Feyi and the multitude of deep emotions the artist feels as she works through her grief and finds new love. Turpin’s skill in switching between accents and characters and in capturing the range of emotions is commendable: from Feyi’s grief, uncertainty, and desire to Nasir’s anger and anguish along with Joy’s over-the-top energy.