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allthatissim 's review for:
Open Water
by Caleb Azumah Nelson
The synopsis of Open Water mentioned "A stunning, shattering debut novel about two Black artists falling in and out of love". And yeah that explains pretty much the base story. But at the heart of this 145-page story is grief, duty, trauma, and the fear of being black in today's world.
Two artists in their 20s - photographer and dancer, living in South London, start as friends but soon fall in love. But the journey is not easy as it is often shadowed by confusion and fear. Caleb, a British-Ghanian, captures the essence of being black lyrically. Told in second person through the eyes of an unnamed male narrator 'You', it captures the fresh feelings of young love, to discover the black culture and shared experience through music, art and cinema, to fear of being killed by the police just for being a black man. The themes of racism, mental health and toxic masculinity show the vulnerabilities of the narrator.
This is another theme in the book - the beauty of being seen rather than simply looked at. Being seen for all that you are rather than being seen just for what's expected of you.
Open Water is deeply touching, poetic, filled with raw emotion and feels intimate. Poetical or lyrical writing isn't my sort of thing AT ALL but nonetheless, this book mesmerised me from the first page and I've lost count of how many quotes I've highlighted. This is definitely a debut you shouldn't miss this year, especially if you love poetic writing. There is not much to say about this book. You have to experience it yourself. A love letter to Black art, enlightening, heart-wrenching, mesmerising, important and one of a kind read!
"if flexing is being able to say the most in the fewest number of words, is there a greater flex than love?"
Two artists in their 20s - photographer and dancer, living in South London, start as friends but soon fall in love. But the journey is not easy as it is often shadowed by confusion and fear. Caleb, a British-Ghanian, captures the essence of being black lyrically. Told in second person through the eyes of an unnamed male narrator 'You', it captures the fresh feelings of young love, to discover the black culture and shared experience through music, art and cinema, to fear of being killed by the police just for being a black man. The themes of racism, mental health and toxic masculinity show the vulnerabilities of the narrator.
"It's one thing to be looked at, and another to be seen."
This is another theme in the book - the beauty of being seen rather than simply looked at. Being seen for all that you are rather than being seen just for what's expected of you.
Open Water is deeply touching, poetic, filled with raw emotion and feels intimate. Poetical or lyrical writing isn't my sort of thing AT ALL but nonetheless, this book mesmerised me from the first page and I've lost count of how many quotes I've highlighted. This is definitely a debut you shouldn't miss this year, especially if you love poetic writing. There is not much to say about this book. You have to experience it yourself. A love letter to Black art, enlightening, heart-wrenching, mesmerising, important and one of a kind read!
"Sometimes you forget to be you is to be a Black body, and not much else."
"We are all hurting. We are all trying to live, to breathe, and find ourselves stopped by that which is out of our control. We find ourselves unseen. We find ourselves unheard. We find ourselves mislabelled. We who are loud and angry, we who are bold and brash. We who are Black."