Transforming Grief

Emezi focuses on emotional and spiritual transformation throughout the novel, particularly the transformation of grief into other states of being, such as pleasure, love, or self-expression. This is seen in Feyi’s relationship with Alim and how the growing love between them is informed by their feelings about the loss of their spouses. They discuss what Jonah and Marisol would think about their situation, giving the memories of their dead partners a place in their current lives together. When Alim prepares a lionfish ceviche for a celebration dinner for Feyi, he uses the venomous lionfish as a metaphor for the transformative nature of grief, saying that her work has reminded him that “grief can also be the softness when the spikes are removed, something that gives your palate joy, something that can fill your belly” (147). This suggests that, like the lionfish, grief can offer people...