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YOU MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY BY AKWAEKE EMEZI ATRIA BOOKS, US ISBN: 978-1982188702 288PP. AVAILABLE ON AMAZON FOR RS 499
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 this 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.
This story is from the November 10, 2022 edition of The Statesman.
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This story is from the November 10, 2022 edition of The Statesman.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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