A review by danireyes98
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

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. 
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