Dazzling technique makes this book stunning on the style level as Owusu weaves between poetry and prose, using assonance, rhythm, cadence and rhyme with a masterful ease that feels natural and inevitable at the same time as it oozes a kind of spontaneity and authenticity.

It's extremely hard to pull off this kind of poetic prose and I've personally found it try-hard and often meaningless when used by [author:Daisy Johnson|14247059], [author:Jessica Andrews|19734705], [author:Emma Glass|16775684] amongst others - which makes it all the more impressive to see it done so beautifully in what is a first novel. This intuitive feeling for the flexibility, pliancy and resonance of language is rare, and thrilling when it is made to work as is the case here. Owusu is as much a musician of words as a writer and it's well worth reading this aloud or listening to the audiobook (beautifully and feelingly read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith).

Of course, words alone don't necessarily make a strong book but Owusu has something to say as well: about loneliness and race, about masculinity and identity, about self-harm and addiction, about suicide and mental illness - and how to find a way out of that spiral towards regeneration and some kind of faith beyond despair.

It's especially positive to see this book challenging our cultural myths about Black masculinity as this embraces vulnerability and defencelessness with grace and integrity. In that sense, this reminded me of the intimacy of [book:Open Water|53414230] by [author:Caleb Azumah Nelson|20293142], with the linguistic facility of [author:Kei Miller|707250].

At just 100 pages or so with plenty of white space, this proves that so much can be said not necessarily with lots of words but with precisely the right words placed faultlessly.

I don't think it will be possible to ever forget K. He grew up and thrived in spite up society, his family and his upbringing. He became the sum of his surrounding parts. He was endearing, inquisitive, he loved life. He was accepting and optimistic. He was kind and generous. He suffered and despaired. He tried to progress, succeed despite all of the obstacles that stood in his way. He will stay with me for a long time to come.

This was an impactful and brave read, particularly the parts about mental health which really stood out to me. I loved the honest and raw storytelling and will be looking out for more of his work. Additionally, the Audiobook narrator sounded perfect