Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

19 reviews

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Reallly beautifully written

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Police brutality, and Racism

pkc's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

If I was asked to review this story around the mid way point, it probably wouldn’t have been massively favourable. In fact, I came reasonably close to DNFing but in the last 70 pages, something happened. The core of the story unveiled itself, made itself known in a really profound way that I hadn’t expected. At just over 140 pages I hadn’t expected as much depth as I got from this book. It’s a touching and haunting look at the safety (or lack thereof) of black people  amidst the persistent thrumming drumbeat of a system that is built to oppress and violate in equal turns. The second person narrative is so well considered and any reader can become engaged in the unease and feel everything that “you” are supposed to feel. I loved the protagonist and the rich storytelling was poetic, languid and sumptuous at points.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

emfield's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Police brutality

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, and Mental illness

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

A beautifully written reflection on love, trauma, and Blackness. Steeped in references to music and art and using language as a precise tool, this is definitely a must read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Police brutality, Death, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Blood

laurataylor's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Police brutality, Blood, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Murder

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug use, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Blood and Police brutality

hngisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Death, and Police brutality

caseythereader's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Violence

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of the most beautiful, important books I think I will ever read. As someone who is not Black and has been privileged to not go through the things that the author and so many other people of color go through, this book felt so important to me as it showed me so much of my own privilege/prejudice and made me understand things more then I ever have before.

The way Caleb writes is incredible, the way he is able to put words to trauma and raw emotion is unmatched. This is a story about two people who love each other but Caleb also talks a lot about police brutality, how that has affected the main character and how it affects the Black community on a daily basis. 

This is such an important book for everyone to read as it deals with internalizing trauma, racial profiling, police brutality, learning to love yourself even when the society you live in doesn’t love you/care about you. So, so important for everyone to read this so that the Black community can be seen, they can be heard and we can put an end to violence against their community and people of color in general. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

dancefever's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i really liked this: so poetic, so rich, so evocative, absolutely heartfelt and the author has such a gift for putting words to feelings and situations which perhaps don’t semantically fit but really evoke its lived reality. even though the whole point of the book seems to be that it is a love letter to Black art, at times the references to this art, music etc. felt a bit… clunky? like during a scene when a song is playing, do we need to hear “This is This song by This Artist”? i feel like the lyrics would suffice, at times the long autobiographical or analytical details felt a bit Wikipedia-esque. all the same, at times it really worked: I loved the references to zadie smith and james baldwin, two writers I love too. also there was a technique the writer kept using, of repeating a phrase he had just used in reference to one of these artists and applying it directly to the main character’s life and inner monologue using the same words repeated later in the page, which I liked the effect of in general but was done so many times that it began to feel trite. still a gorgeous book though. 4.25 stars 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Car accident, and Death

Moderate: Blood and Racism