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ketsia_1412's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Police brutality
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
baielleebooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Really magnificent at the sentence level; lyrical, moving and referential. A sonorous love story coloured with vital renderings of trauma, masculinity, and tenderness, and a poignant exploration of what it means at the soul level to inhabit a Black body in a world made hostile and prejudiced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Police brutality
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol
grxcequinn's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? Yes
3.0
Not a huge fan of the writing style, it was definitely very poetic, just too repetitive. Very like a Frank Ocean song (he even got a little reference!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Death, Drug use, and Alcohol
midnightcomets's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Stole my heart, honestly. Please read this, if you are into literary fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Police brutality
Moderate: Sexual content and Car accident
Minor: Gun violence
biobeetle'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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness
matmatmatty's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
This is so beautifully written, I genuinely am in awe.
It is slightly difficult to explain what this story is about - this is the story of two people, black and living in London.
This both is and isn't a love story, but i feel this has a lot to say about the black experience and does it so well. I found some of the writing difficult at points, but so much of it was so beautiful it flowed off the page, almost like poetry. I bet listening to the audiobook would be a great experience.
Would recommend this one for sure!
It is slightly difficult to explain what this story is about - this is the story of two people, black and living in London.
This both is and isn't a love story, but i feel this has a lot to say about the black experience and does it so well. I found some of the writing difficult at points, but so much of it was so beautiful it flowed off the page, almost like poetry. I bet listening to the audiobook would be a great experience.
Would recommend this one for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, and Alcohol
bibliomich's review against another edition
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
I'll start by saying that Caleb Azumah Nelson's writing is absolutely beautiful, and I would happily read more of his work. Because of the beautiful prose, I enjoyed much of Open Water, though overall there was something about the pacing that didn't quite work for me. The book felt like it either needed to be a shorter novella that really honed in on the themes or a longer book with more plot points. It fell somewhere in the middle, and I found myself both wanting more and also feeling like there were scenes that didn't quite fit. I know lots of readers loved this one, and I can absolutely see why. Overall I would recommend this book if you're looking for a poetic piece of literary fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Grief
Moderate: Death and Violence
adrianascala's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
danireyes98's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
This might be my most highlighted book ever. The prose felt like reading poetry in the best way possible (coming from a tepid fan of poetry, I swear this is high praise). I absolutely loved everything about Caleb Azumah Nelson’s writing for this book, and I was impressed by his use of second person narration, wildly unconventional, yet imaginative and successful. Nelson managed to make the main character feel deeply relatable, real and like you understand all his emotions without feeling detached by the narration style.
I’m a big fan of romance novels, and while this is more than a romance book, it has some of the most beautifully written and lyrical descriptions for falling in love that I’ve ever read. There were so many amazing lines that made me yearn for love and connection throughout, that I can just hope someone falls for me in the same way the main character falls for the girl.
Moreover, the two main characters are both deeply flawed individuals, which makes them feel even more real. Neither is perfect, and neither is quite ready for what it takes to be in a deeply committed relationship due to their traumas, yet for the promise of potential true love they try.
Nelson explores the main character’s traumas in a masterful way, that made me feel the emotional toil of issues such as systematic racism and police brutality. While I have experienced some instances of racism in my life, I have never faced major setbacks or been wounded due to my ethnicity or color of my skin, therefore, I’ve deeply sympathized with people that have suffered through these societal problems but never truly empathized with them. I believe that the mark of a great author is one that makes their readers feel profound emotions, which Nelson succeeds at.
The only reason I’m not giving this book the full five stars it probably deserves, is that I feel the ending wasn’t as strong as the first two thirds of the book. In a way the main character’s internal retrospection feels quite inconclusive, in a sense that I can’t quite remember how it ended.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Police brutality
nicoless's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
In this nightmare, there is only water lapping at your feet, nipping at your heels. Show me your scars, the monster asks. Show me where the snake wrapped itself around your arm and sunk its teeth into soft flesh. You roll up your sleeves and show him the holes littering your limbs. Come out of the shadows, he says. There’s no solace in the shade. Show me where it hurt, he says. Don’t wait for the water to rise. The water won’t save you. You look down and see a warbled reflection in the ripple of the black depths. God has many faces. Many voices. A song in the darkness. Have faith. Suck at the snake’s bite, spit out the venom at your feet. To swallow is to suppress. To be you is to apologize and often that apology comes in the form of suppression, and that suppression is indiscriminate. Spit it out. Don’t wait for the water to rise. Don’t apologize. Forgive yourself.
Life is, sometimes, a nightmare in which I am drowning. And the demons that belong to hell are mine then. I wonder: why do I take that ownership?.
In Open Water Someone's truth is repeated in crescendo until it upsets me, because, if to be me is to apologize and often that apology comes in the form of suppression, and that suppression is indiscriminate; when someone tells me their truth (again and again) as if it's mine -and it is-, it's inconvenient.
-I'm trying not to drown out here, while drowning inside.
I've known most of these feelings, but some of these heart wrenching experiences were foreign to me until recent; "You have known him by many names, but today he was Daniel."
This poetic prose is an exploration of the Inner Being; Trauma as a result of Police Brutality; as well as Love and Relationships of a Black experience.
I'm grateful to dive into this flow of Pain, Fear, Love, Rawness and Rhythm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder