I have friends who will love the writing style in this book and I would buy it for them. The writing style however was not my cup of tea. I found it hard to keep reading and that made it hard to concentrate on the story itself.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a book! I absolutely loved reading Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, which touches on the frailty of love and life from the perspective of the unnamed character You and his love interest She. This is a novel about finding and losing love, and the tenderness and complexities of matters of the heart. The story follows You and She, their close-knit friendship and on/off relationship as they deal with the realities of modern life including racism, identity, unconscious and racial bias, masculinity, trauma and vulnerability. The story is written in the second person which takes a little getting used to, and once you get over that hurdle, it’s an easy read. It’s hard to believe this is Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut novel and I found the book so intriguing that I finished it within days. Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

A love story between two young Black British artists in contemporary London. An hymn to Black artists everywhere, this is a slow burning love story with beauty all around

A beautifully written and affecting exploration of contemporary love and Black British identity. I devoured this.

This a love story between two black British artists which is set in South London. It is told from the perspective of the boy in an almost poetic, stream of consciousness style as he examines his feelings for the dancer who is his best friend and lover whilst also dealing with what it means to be black in London, the culture he loves and the fact that his grandparents are still in Ghana and the impact this has on family life. You root for this couple, you get to know this young man intimately and the pages fly past as you go on this journey with him. An impressive debut novel.

“I received this Arc in exchange for an honest review”

When I initially heard of the premise of Open Water, I was instantly intrigued and had it on pre-order before I was fortunate enough to receive a copy to review. Nelson’s writing had beautiful and lyrical prose, which instantly stood out in now he described a thought or feeling. With the novella being written in the second person, Nelson casts the reader as the narrator - However, the narrator’s experiences are so fleeting, it doesn’t allow the reader to feel the repercussions of a scene or experience. It makes the sequence of events feel generalised rather than an intimate perspective into a character’s life. There were moments throughout that I really wanted to be expanded upon as Nelson raises some interesting questions on life, love, unresolved trauma and racism, discrimination and identity issues, but the plot moved at a pace that didn’t allow such reflection. There were references to other pieces of literature, music and film which I feel took away from Open Water - a few with similarities to the characters or plot could be very effective, but too many takes away the individuality of this work in itself.
With the love story between You and She - both characters remain unnamed, which made me feel disconnected as both characters felt as if they had a mystery about them. I found the relationship surface level at times, especially when one wanted that emotional vulnerability and the other refusal caused a continuous rift - this is where I felt we saw the reality of their relationship. Again I wanted more from these characters and when I felt like we were seeing an authentic character arc, it came away and focused on something else.
Nelson had a way with words, but I feel this story needed more structure to really tackle the poignancy of the themes.

This is an incredible read and well worth letting yourself get lost in it.
The second person narrative took me a while to get used to. It's at once an omnipresence that makes the lead character's struggles our own, and it's a guiding voice to encourage, support and help the protagonist. The 2nd person involves the reader quite deeply (if you choose to let it) and gives the chance to share an intimate perspective on the lead's life, thoughts and views. I found this quite eye opening (I'm not a black male) and an important BLM device also.
It's both a romance and a friendship tale, there are deep social issues and mental health angles. The author clearly loves music, and the tracks document the narrative. This provides scope for a movie soundtrack of course! Anyway, highly recommended.

This novel is simply stunning, it is a lyrical piece of art.
The overview of the story has been describes as a love song, (quoted by Yaa Gyasi author of Homegoing) and I’d echo that statement.

Two young people meet in a South East London pub. They are Black British students with scholarships at private schools. They are artists, he’s a photographer, she is a dancer and both are trying to make names for themselves in cities that reject them. They slowly fall for each other, but the fear of their love often tears them apart.

This story is intimate drawing upon the angst and longing of two people in love. The prose really strikes at the heart of vulnerability. Caleb Azumah Nelson has written this story in a creative way and depicts the issues that Black British people face. He talks about the perceptions of people, how the colour of skin creates assumptions and the writes about the fear that is felt by our main characters.

I really enjoyed this novel and I devoured it in one sitting. It may be a small novel but it has a big heart at its core.

Stunning debut about a young couple falling in and out of love, set in South and South East London. This isn't just a love story, it's a raw and unflinching look at masculinity, mental health, discrimination and racism. The use of language, repetitions and rhythm is so evocative and precise, it's hard to believe this is a debut. I cannot wait to read what Caleb Azumah Nelson writes next.

A beautiful piece of work, profoundly lyrical with a relevance and relatability to it that makes it so powerful. This is the type of book that will make you feel grateful for the ability to read and embrace other’s stories.

The second person puts you in the protagonist’s shoes and you really connect with his experiences as if they were your own.

For me, this felt like a better, more poetic Normal People - not only a love story but insight into what it’s like to be broken and fixed over and over again with the presence and absence of the one you love. Also carrying themes of toxic masculinity and miscommunication between two people feeling everything but verbally sharing none of it. Open Water addresses blackness, the internal mental side of it: feeling isolated and not accepted, and the external physical aspects: police brutality, racism and profiling.

Admittedly, I didn’t get some of the references and the second person narrative was hard to adjust to at first. The novella felt like a long form poem and flowed beautifully. I had to wait to be in the mindset for this, and I’m glad I did. For a debut, this is outstanding. I can’t wait to read more from Caleb.

“You say words with your chest. You feel bass slap thud, like a heartbeat. You say words with your chest and know there is power in your voice. You say words with your chest and trust yourself. You speak and realise that, in slowing down to speak, you can breathe. It’s a strange turn of phrase, you think, being allowed to breathe, having to seek permission for something so natural, the basis of life; in turn having to seek permission to live.”

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early access copy.

This is a poetic and moving debut, both a love story and the experience of a black man in the UK.
"The seed you planted so long ago grown, the roots clutching in the darkness, pulling each other closer. Your lips meet under the canopy of a tree already showing autumnal symptoms."
Nelson has such a lyrical writing style. 2nd person might not be for everyone, but I loved it. It felt intimate and personal but also universal at the same time. I think everyone will be able to relate to this in some way, whether it's the deep connection the two characters have, the main character's mindset or the injustices he faces daily. The relationship was beautiful, but so was the connection to the main character, through rich cultural references. It's amazing how much is in 145 pages!
"You're listening to music but the melodies are dull, the drums lack punch, the lyrics come towards you and join the wash of your own thoughts, like a tide coming and going, coming and going, the tow tugging you this way and that, and all you can do is stay still. You don't have it in you to move any more. You don't have it in you to swim."
You really get a sense of the main character's exhaustion throughout the book, having to face injustices every day. There are many heart-breaking moments of the book, whether that's microaggressions or police brutality. The book really explores how people only see 'a black body' and nothing else, and how he never feels truly seen.
This was a powerful read that I encourage you to pick up. It's not an all-time favourite, but it's definitely something that I will be thinking about for a long time.

Since I started reading, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the style that the book was written in. It was a story about love, and race, and feeling...underwater, and learning to swim in that water. The falling in love and being in love part was written beautifully, but the book, as a whole, didn’t work that well for me.

An intoxicating and poetic exploration of love, contemporary relationships, and Black British identity. I didn't want it to end--it was just so beautiful and affecting.

'Often that apology comes in the form of suppression, and that suppression is indiscriminate.'

Heartfelt, poignant look at what it means to be a Black man in 21st century London, and what it means to be seen. Packs a lot into a short extent. Open Water leaves a bittersweet taste long after its end. Caleb Azumah Nelson is surely an author to watch.

Two young Black people meet in a London pub and thus begins the love story. A wonderful sensual book, she's a dancer and he's a photographer and the book is written from his perspective. There appears to be a trend in fiction for books written in the second person and for characters not to have names, for prose that runs in and out of speech. In this book that choice is put to good use, helps to slow down the storytelling which gives a more realistic portrayal of how connections are formed and strengthened. Open water is also a love story about Black culture, art, books, cinema and a wonderfully written homage to the barbershop. Set against systemic racism which serves as a character sometimes in the background and other times very much at the forefront. The film 'If Beale Street could talk' is referenced in the book and in my opinion, the author manages to recreate the feel of that film in literary form. Amazing debut.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

A tale about a set of people destined to be destroyed, and of the dance that we perform that is called falling love. All done to a back drop of art and culture and music.
An interesting read with heartfelt characters

Open Water is an intensely powerful novel about being seen; not observed or objectified, but seen in all the ways that make a person what they are. Because of this Open Water is more than a love story – which it is: two black artists meet, become best friends and fall in love. It is also an exploration of vulnerability and honesty, a search for freedom in a white world that sees the black body, and particularly the black male body as a perpetrator of violence, as ignorant and illiterate, as criminal.

More than anything else I’ve read, Caleb Azumah Nelson explores what it means to feel the inevitable fear brought on by this objectification; the fear that life is survived, not lived, because any day could be the day that your life is cut short by some kind of oppressive act, mostly enacted by the police.

This fear is then compounded by a desire to repress and suppress, a fear mingled with anger, also suppressed. The beautiful central character, a photographer – which intensifies the exploration of image and objectification – even in the act of expressing his fear, anger and depression which pushes the rhythms of his heart off-kilter (more metaphor embodied, trauma literary living in his flesh), has to do so at an awkward distance from himself in the liminal space of the second person.

Moments of police brutality are frequent but when he loses a friend, his pain is intensified. When he is then asked by his girlfriend to talk about what is wrong he can only say ‘nothing’ because the continued witness of structural racism belittles his experience, makes it commonplace when of course it needs to be shouted out, expressed, and yet how can it be when to talk will put him in a place of vulnerability, will have him swimming in open water without a safety net?

Love, like freedom, requires a trust, a faith in the safe space of the relationship. His fear pushes love to the limit.

Beautiful, painful, expressed in rhythmic beats that move through the space of their love in ways that don’t always feel linear, Open Water is a lyrical novel with repeated motifs that pleads to be heard, longs to be seen. I feel it is probably best read quickly, as an outpouring, and then returned to. I highlighted so many sentences and sections, return is as inevitable for the reader as it is for the protagonist.

I don’t always get everything the novel is saying, or all of its references. How could I? But I’m blown away by this book even when I’m lost in it. I really hope Open Water makes the waves it should. Out in February 2021, pre-order it now.

This is one of the most beautifully written books I've read. The second-person narrative is a little jarring at first, and whilst I didn't quite see its purpose on reflection, I got used to it fairly quickly and soon forgot about it. I read this book in one sitting, because it flowed so perfectly like one long breath-taking poem, I couldn't put it down. It's subtle and poetic and the narrative doesn't suffer as a result of the beautiful language. I cried at various points and was completely rooting for both main characters. It explores masculinity, mental health, love, friendship, intimacy, London city life and black British identity – packing so much into a short novel without it feeling forced or half-hearted is quite a feat. I can't wait to see more from Caleb.

I thought this book wasn't going to work for me because it was told in 2nd pov however I was wrong it flowed really well and it worked great for this type of story. This was beautifully written.

This is an incredibly promising debut novel. I think if you love Sally Rooney’s Normal People and compelling literary fiction, you will really enjoy this story. This story follows two young black artists, living in London and Dublin and documents the span of their relationship.

This book is understated and poetic and subtle. The language within this novel is stunning. While this book focuses on an intimate relationship between a man and a woman, this story is also a love letter to the black community. I loved the black cultural references of James Baldwin, Zadie Smith and Dizzee Rascal and how the author embeds these references into the character’s very sense of self.

This book is especially poignant and powerful in this cultural moment with the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK and the US and the way this novel tackles the issue of police brutality was so raw and heartfelt. This story while slow in pace was constructed with care and deliberation and written with a great deal of talent. It is hard to clearly articulate this novel as it doesn’t have a tangible plot but you can get lost in this world constructed by the words and the emotions evoked from the language.

If you are a reader who loves taking a deep dive into character’s intimate relationships or you were really invested in Connell and Marianne’s relationship in Normal People you must read this book!!

Thanks to the author Caleb Azumah Nelson, Penguin UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.