I enjoyed Open Water but thought this latest book by Caleb Azumah Nelson was even better. The writing is beautiful - spare, raw, unflinching in his honesty at how he feels about the world. So vivid with a wonderful sense of place; I have never been to Ghana or Peckham but could imagine these places as he conjured them up perfectly.

I adored Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut novel, Open Water, and I wasn't disappointed with his second novel.

We follow Stephen, a young man going from teenage years (and school) to adulthood, trying to find himself. He goes through struggles to express himself, to fit in, to find a way to assert what he would like to do and become. I find that Nelson has such a way of making his characters vulnerable and he does so beautifully.

Open Water hit me in the feels, and I thought Small Worlds was a quieter novel. But that doesn't mean it didn't pack a punch. In fact, I thought this novel was better constructed than Open Water. Even though, I thought it took some time to build up the connection with the character in the first section, I flew through the next 2 sections.

Similarly to his first novel, Nelson explores themes of immigration, acceptance, intergenerational relationships, coming of age and racial injustice in this novel. In many ways, I thought he did so better in this novel than in Open Water.

A huge recommend from me and I'm looking forward to his third novel when it comes!

Delicious language right from the start The poetry in it is at odds with the inner city setting of the novel which makes it even more enjoyable
This book sat for too long on my to be read pile I finally got round to it and I’m delighted that I did
The shadow of death, right from the beginning, was truly shocking in the context of the youth of the narrator
I love the way that the author is secure enough to repeat certain phrases throughout the novel each time recognise them It’s a private, joyous moment “Because it’s summer and we’re all young until September “I remember that feeling so well
The author has, a cast of characters are well developed and totally believable individuals .
Published on the 11th of May 2023 by Penguin general, UK I read a prepublication copy. On NetGalley, UK.
This review will appear on NetGalley, UK, Goodreads, Amazon, UK, and my book blog Bionicsarahsbooks.wordpress.com

I already loved Open Water so it’s really exciting to see Caleb Azumah Nelson develop as a novelist with Small Worlds. It’s taken me a while to get around to reading it but I’m so glad I have now and I will be recommending it to everyone. A must read.

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson is an intensely emotional coming of age story, of a Ghanaian Londoner called Stephen.

As a young black man, Stephen feels safety in his small worlds: music, family and friends. And then there is outside those worlds where Stephen feels less safe: places in London where there is brutality or unrest, and University, which is where he really doesn’t want to be, as it’s so far from his friends and family - and his world.

Stephen needs these constants in his life, and when it’s taken away, he’s lost.

Stephen goes to Ghana to see the people and places of his parents youth, and it’s here that he finds some connection with those he loves. When he goes home, he’s able to come to terms with those people he has lost and rebuild relationships.

This was a really moving novel that made me really think about the challenges of culture, family, race and policing in London (in particular).
Recommended.

I sadly just can't get into the writing style by this author :( so it was a DNF. Disappointing as so many people rave about the books / this author.

A great read that I haven't been able to stop think about. By far the best thing about this book is the characters, they were fantastic

After all the acclaim for Open Water (which I haven’t yet read), I opened this book with a heightened sense of expectation. I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed.

My overall feeling was that Nelson was simply trying too hard to do too many things. The meaningful, poetic writing I hoped for felt forced and somewhat repetitive. The multiple themes — coming of age, exploration of self, the immigrant legacy, the father-son relationship — were not developed or explored to their full potential. And while I appreciated the musical symbolism and imagery, it did feel somewhat overdone..

I felt sympathetic towards Stephen as a character, but only to a degree. I think he could have done more to engage with the world around him, rather than immersing himself in the confines of his fabricated “small world”, which is largely delineated by race, As a result, I found his angst frustrating, rather than engaging.

On the whole, then, a discordant read, with which I failed to find an emotional connection.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #PenguinGroup for granting me access to this arc in return for an honest review.

Caleb Azumah Nelson is adept at breathing life into very real characters through their identity, heritage, family and community ties. I can't think of many other authors who do this so skillfully.
Small Worlds focuses on Stephen, living in London of Ghanian heritage as he comes of age.

🌍 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 - 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐛 𝐀𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐧 🌍

Set in London and Ghana across three summers, Small Worlds is an intimate and powerful exploration of a son-father relationship, music, and searching for meaning from the acclaimed author of Open Water. The one thing that can solve Stephen's problems is dancing. (Waterstones description)

Small Worlds was absolutely stunning and I expected nothing less from this author who has become one on my “instant buy” list. There’s a poetic prose to the story highlighted through his use of repetition and it was so engaging and kept me hooked throughout. I’d like to add that the chapters were short but this was no issue because I absolutely love short chapter books as they’re easier to read when you’re out and about.

Thank you so much to @netgalleyuk for my e-copy ARC of this book I loved every minute of it!

What a read. I flew through this book, I've enjoyed previous books by this author to. Would highly recommend.

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

Stephen is our protagonist, an aspiring jazz musician living in Peckham with his Ghanian-born parents. We meet him in his final year of school, as his own small world opens up with the prospect of university and life outside of the community of people he knows best.

Set across three summers and against the backdrop of London’s gentrification and the riots of 2011, the first person narration gives us an insight into Stephen’s struggle to find his space in the world and admit how he’s really feeling to the people he loves. Nelson writes so beautifully about relationships - not only Stephen’s relationship with his childhood friend Del but also the love story of his parents, Eric and Joy.

I knew I would enjoy this book from its very first chapter. There is something so compelling about the rhythm of Nelson’s writing that clicked for me instantly, and I was buoyed along by its flow right to the end. He uses repeated phrases to create links between each section, which act like musical refrains and give the reader a sense of comfort and familiarity as unexpected events affect Stephen’s friends and family.

I enjoyed this much more than Nelson’s debut Open Water and I’ve been trying to work out why - perhaps it’s the perspective, told in first person rather than second person, or the way that the writing perfectly captures family tensions, summer in London, and that weird feeling between school and university. Perhaps I just read Open Water at the wrong time. There are some heavy themes explored in this book but ultimately everything just keeps on moving - as we are reminded throughout Small Worlds, ‘the one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing’.

Since reading Open Water, Nelson has been an auto-buy author for me. The way he connects you with every emotion is something I haven't experienced in the same way with other authors. You're so close to the person, the moment.

The same is true for Small Worlds. We love Stephen's summers, through family and music. The neighbourhood lives through him and the connections he gives it, until characters and places that could just be parody the background mean so much to us.

This is also what makes it so hard to read at times. We're so enveloped in the world and the emotions that when moments are so all encompassing and relatable, they hit hard.

This is a story of father and son connection, but it's also a story of a neighbourhood, and a community, and the lives beyond that. And even though it hurt to read, you can bet I'll be reading again.

This book was a stunningly beautiful read I had high hopes and wasn’t let down it was brilliant and I highly recommend

Much more than a coming of age story, this is the story of Stephen dropping out of university and trying to work out where he wants his life to go. Stephen finds there’s always music and love to overcome the racism and family tensions. As with his first novel this is poetic and beautifully written. A thoroughly enjoyable novel that looks at identity and heritage.

Caleb Azumah Nelson is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I loved their first book - Open Water. I thought that it was a lyrical, experimental, work.

This book is more traditional in structure, but the lyricism remains.

Caleb Azumah Nelson is a master of writing place. He brings London to life, making it a character. I loved this work.

This book tells the story of one young man struggling through his early 20's and finding solice in music and home comforts. Nelson does a brilliant job of exploring lonliness in your 20's, and I think alot of people will find comfort from this book.

A paean of love to the vibrant and very recognisable world of Ghanaian and South London culture. Immerses you immediately into the sensory world of love, food, music and laughter alongside the emotional rollercoaster of family life especially the sometimes tricky relationship between fathers and sons.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really liked Open Water, and Small Worlds is just as good. Nelson's writing is lyrical but not to the point of redundancy, and the book lulls you into the world of Stephen and his family. It deals with some big issues - grief, race, love, mental health - but always within the focus of living as a young Black man in contemporary London. The writing makes you feel the emotions on the page. I'll be recommending this a lot.

Stephen is navigating the small worlds we create in our lives across three linear years, he experiences loss and love, music and dance, hatred and sorrow all set in London and Ghana. The poetry and lyricism are exquisite, the themes of racism and immigration so relevant and relatable. This is certainly a book I will be recommending to students and staff alike.