In this novella's brevity, Caleb Azumah Nelson paints several vivid pictures, lives, and realities. Though the protagonist never reveals his name, you know him. He's your brother, cousin, neighbor, classmate, son, maybe he's you. Though the story's set in London, the story fits in any urban landscape where one realizes his body - his black body - isn't necessarily his own. But, despite his thoughts on race and masculinity, his soul finds an equal in a dancer and she creates his desire to love and to see - really see - who they both are as they figure this thing called life.

Though a novella, I read this story in four days because I did not want to rush, but rather savor, the words gifted to me.

It's honest, heartwarming, poetic, and jazzy. This story touches you and invites you to follow this young man's "coming of age" with caution and mutual affection.

5/5 Highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this beautiful story via an advanced reading copy; although I would buy a copy for myself nevertheless.

4.5 stars. A STUNNING debut! This novel is written in second person, and as such gives the impression that you are in the mind of the narrator. The gorgeous prose tells not just a story, but the FEELINGS of the story. You don't really read this novel so much as FEEL the characters falling in love, only to be torn apart. And OH the heartbreak as violence results in fear, and the withdrawal into self.

"Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.

At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was absolutely beautiful. The writing, the descriptions, the way the characters blossomed. I seriously love this book and can not wait until people get their hands on this book. Loved how the author's writing style reminds me of James Baldwin's writing. Reading this book it felt like a movie and I loved every last bit of it.

This is a beautiful poetic novella! Throughout this story you can feel the aching emotions of the protagonist’s love for his best friend mixed with his struggles to articulate how he feels throughout their relationship. The central thread is the love story between two young Black British people in London, yet from this narrative it also weaves in discussions of racial profiling, masculinity, and a celebration of music.

There is a persistent tension throughout the novel that I do not think is ever directly addressed as an issue of masculinity, perhaps intentionally, where the protagonist is holding in all of his emotions of love, grief and anger. It’s used as a way of coping to hide his vulnerability from others and himself in order to not feel pain. From reading what this character goes through you can understand why he feels this heaviness, and from his internal reflections he also knows why those feelings are there but is unable to actually feel them. However there are subtle moments where this character finds the freedom to express his emotions through listening to music. The writing in these sections is the hope that was needed to lift this novel and gives the reader, as well as the main character, an emotional release of what has been kept hidden.

The author is able to explore the discomfort of confronting emotion in such a raw and reflective approach using a second-person narration. As this is a debut from the author I’m excited to pick up any of their future works as this was an incredible debut!

Poetic meeting of two British black artists, narrated with a second-person perspective . As the story unfolds, the two friends fall in and out of love, touching on racial and identity themes. I'm not a fan of the second person narration, it seemed a bit forced and took away from the story.

Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut novel is at once lyrical, insightful and captures the vulnerability of being in love when black. Open Water opens with two people falling in love and for much of its first half, the book spends time exploring that feeling of love. But nothing is easy while being black, much less falling in love, so there's the brooding presence of racial politics simmering in the background - in the form of menacing cops and racial prejudices - even as the narrator is slowly falling in love. So when the trauma of being black in London percolates into the narrator's life, affecting his mental wellbeing, it threatens to destroy his love. Written entirely in second person, Nelson's ingeniously powerful prose gets into your head and lingers long after the book is finished. Excellent read.

Once I got used to the narration style, I found Open Water to be a beautiful and raw exploration of vulnerability. I saw some comparison to Normal People before diving in, and while I agree the novels similarly follow male protagonists grappling with trauma and depression, the comparison is otherwise derivative and does a great disservice to Caleb Azumah Nelson’s stunning debut. Rather, Open Water has much more in common with Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, transporting the reader into Southeast London- smelling the rich spiced aroma from the Caribbean takeaway and feeling the dub bass line pulsing from the speakers at a weekend house party.

The love story, or rather, the falling in and out of love story focuses the narrative, but Open Water is about so much more than that. The protagonist also grapples with his second generation Ghanaian identity, details his harrowing encounters with police brutality and racial profiling, and shares his heart-wrenching experience of feeling “not okay” and being unsure what to do about it or who to burden with this heavy admission.

I am in awe of Nelson’s self-assured style and world building proess, it’s hard to believe this was a debut work. A must-read sure to stay with me for some time.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The closest I can equate the feeling I had when reading this book, this book I just thought I’d start but which refused to let go until the final page, was the same as when I watched Amanda Gorman at the inauguration. I had moved forward on my couch as if her words had connected us, pulling me in, giving buoyancy. Caleb Azumah Nelson did the same. His prose is like poetry, passages flowing and filling and aching to be said aloud. I found myself wiping tears away, my heart both bursting and breaking for these beautiful souls, discovering each other, their chrysalis of tentative intimacy, and for him the intersections of masculinity, and Black identity.

”How does one shake off desire? To give it a voice is to sow a seed, knowing that somehow, someway, it will grow. It is to admit and submit to something which is the outer limits of your understanding. But even if this seed grows, even if the body lives, breathes, flourishes, there is no guarantee of reciprocation. Or that you’ll ever see them again. Hence, the campaign for summer crushes.”
This book presses on the bruise of a Black mans survival, sprouting through broken asphalt. It’s George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Stephon Clark, Philando Castille, Tamir Rice and on and on and on. This is a beautiful heartbreaking debut, my first great book fo 2021, and I encourage you to open your heart and experience it.

this is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.
so much was happening. it was experimental. it was loving it. it was social critique.

how Black men are unable to fully let themselves express emotions due to racism.
yet he loved her so much but still couldn't be vulnerable.

i want this book in every form possible

The protagonists of Open Water are a pair of young, black people — the boy is a photographer, the girl a dancer — who meet one evening in a pub, and have been inseparable ever since. Friendship turns into love and is accompanied by plenty of contemporary music, cinema, literature and art, with the elements of London in the background.
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This novel is written in a very poetic language, however, it did not compensate for the fact that I found the plot completely out of my zone. It reminded me very much of Normal People, a book I am not a fan of as I invariably believe that good communication is the key to proper human relationships. In Normal People there were themes such as friendship/love and social class, in Open Water, there is a theme of friendship/love and racism, so I think fans of Normal People will also love Open Water. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

This debut novel absolutely blew me away. I cannot wait to see future works by Caleb Azumah Nelson, I am such a fan!

This novel is set in Southeast London and follows the relationship of two young Black British people. While at the surface it is a love story, the true story expands over so many topics such as grief, trauma, systemic racism, vulnerability, and solace to name a few. I would not call this a light read, as it covers heavy topics but in the most lyrical way. This novel felt so deeply real that you could feel the emotions of the bloom and eventual wilt of the main characters’ relationship.

I absolutely adored the writing style, which was so beautifully lyrical - you can tell that the author was inspired by poetry in their writing style. The novel is in second person yet told from the point of view of the main male character, which was so unique and really grabbed my attention. Another interesting writing technique was the repetition of some phrases, with reminders interspersed throughout the novel of the importance of these mantras. The weaving of cultural references to music, film, literature, and art by Black artists dove you even further into the already culturally rich story. Finally, the metaphor of the title, Open Water, in describing the characters’ relationship is so unbelievably poetic.

This novel is out now in the UK and will be published in the US in a few months and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!
UK Pub date: February 4, 2021 by Viking Books UK, Penguin Books UK
US Pub date: April 13, 2021 by Grove Press, Black Cat, Grove Atlantic

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press, Black Cat for the gifted e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Open Water is a story about 2 young Black people - he’s a photographer and she’s a dancer- trying to make a mark in a place where they actually are not wanted and seen as only Black body. The trauma of losing family members, family relationships, finding love in its purest form and systemic racism play a big part in this book. The exhaustion and injustices felt by the main protagonist makes him look for love thinking that it can shield him. Finding love and only to lose it because in anticipation of something to happen to him, he protects the one he loves by withdrawing and distancing himself.

Nelson’s debut novel is beautifully written with just 145 pages but pack with so much love and meaning. It is also refreshing to see a male perspective as being vulnerable and open to his emotions the are so pure and raw. You can feel the love in the deepest sense of the word while reading this book. I like the author’s style of writing that has lyrical prose to it, how the author was able to connect the readers to the unnamed characters, something that might be seen as impersonal. I just had a hard time with the use of second person narrative and had difficulty reconciling who was being referred to in the story. But overall, it’s a beautiful love story and something I will remember for some time.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. UK Pub day - Feb 4

I knew going in that Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut novel was going to provide a visceral experience, but no amount of preparation can describe the beauty and power of its relatively slim page length. As the author shares so many points of reference of his central character, it may be that this potent romance is metafiction, but that's difficult to say for sure. The relationship between him and his family, his lover, and most strongly, himself, is spooled out in second person, providing an even deeper intimacy.

Open Water is, without a doubt, one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. I connected with so many of the passages and prose - I wish I had a physical copy to annotate and bookmark.

The second person narrative did take some getting used to, as well as the jumping around in time without much warning, but it ultimately added to the beauty and nostalgic feeling of the book. I love books about people and emotions and putting words to feelings - Open Water was the perfect example of that. I felt like I was falling in love and having my heartbroken at the same time. The story is about love, but also about being a black person, the racism experienced at different ages and every day. It's about finding a place you belong and being vulnerable.

While it is a short book, it was not a quick read for me. I threw myself into it, not wanting to miss anything the author wrote. Just so beautiful. Thank you a million times to Netgalley and the Publisher. I will shout about this book from the rooftops.

A beautifully written book to open anyone’s heart.

I am looking forward to more books by Caleb Azumah Nelson.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a honest review!

Open Water follows to Black persons who fall in love in modern society. It is both heartbreaking, though provoking, lovely and aching.

I was blown away about the poetic and fantastic writing style that swept through this novella. It was magical to read. The relationship, the ache and the heartbreak and building of this relationship that are the main focus on this story - I felt every word. Caleb Azumah Nelson is an excellent writer, and I can't wait for more books/novellas by him.

The second person perspective took a little time for me to get used to, but it was done in such a great and fulfilling way. You feel everything whilst reading the book, and I think the choose for second perspective made the story even more empowering.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Written beautifully in second person present tense, this is a story of contemporary love but it's also so much more. The talent you have to have to write such an evocative and powerful novel in under 150 pages is beyond me. Not only is Open Water about the journey of two friends who eventually becoming lovers, it is also a journey through the black London experience, touching on themes of masculinity, microaggressions and police brutality. The last few chapters were heartbreaking and really highlighted how exhausting and devastating the trauma from racism can be.

I found the writing style very poetic and it took me a while to get used to the writing in second person but it was definitely worth it. The prose was elegantly crafted and flowed really well. I also loved the references to hip hop throughout.

A must read!

“You have always thought if you opened your mouth in open water you would drown, but if you didn’t open your mouth you would suffocate. So here you are, drowning.”

This story follows two black artists as they navigate new love, community violence, mental health, and long-distance. This book is beautifully written! Highly recommend.

"To be you is to apologize and often that apology comes in the form of suppression. That suppression is indiscriminate. That suppression knows not when it will spill. What you're trying to say is that it's easier for you to hide in your own darkness, than energy cloaked in your own vulnerability. Not better, but easier. However, the longer you hold it in, the more likely you are to suffocate. At some point, you must breathe."

Caleb Azumah Nelson's debut, a slim volume just under 150 pages, blew me away. I'm inherently skeptical of second-person narration; I find it particularly tricky to do effectively and with real purpose, so when I started reading it was with a slight apprehension, but Azumah Nelson won my trust effortlessly. His writing is absorbing and gorgeous, the bond between character and reader sealed by the author's choice to frame reader as protagonist, a choice that has the potential to fall flat but which instead is elevated by Azumah Nelson's sharp commentary on sight and observation.

This probably sounds like an off the wall comparison but Open Water is a bit like James Baldwin meets Sally Rooney. It has that tender, push-and-pull, will-they-won't-they quality of Normal People but it's also heavier; the stakes are higher; it's not a book generically about young love but instead specifically about young Black love, and the cost of systemic racism on Black love and Black bodies. It's a gentle, supple story, joyous and heart-rending and intimate.

26-year-old Caleb Azumah Nelson is an author to watch. Calling it now, whatever he writes next will be shortlisted for the Booker.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Viking for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the most beautiful books of 2021.
...less than 150 pages....
...written in stunning poetic second person....
...Caleb Azumah Nelson’s simplicity and profundity is sagacious > gorgeously brilliant.
...soooo much intimacy I ached,
...I understood,
...I related,
...but I’m white?
...I still related.
...I didn’t cry.
...I didn’t cry.
...I didn’t cry.
Until....
I finished the last pages at 2am...
...closed my kindle....
set it on my nightstand...
and wept soundless tears... next to my sleeping husband.
...I wept...feeling the sadness, hurt, injustice, fear, anger, guilt, and love mixed together in our world.
...I even prayed.

...I’m glad.. you know? Really glad I finished this slim-gem tonight...the day before January 20th inauguration...
Tomorrow we will have a new President and Vice President...
Hallelujah!

Open Water:
“an expanse of an ocean, sea, or large lake which is distant from shore and devoid
of nearby islands or other obstructions”......
Or....
Open Water:
“honor and respect are necessary in our interconnected world”.

“Language fails us, and sometimes our parents do, too. We all fail each other, sometimes small, sometimes big, but look, when we love we trust, and when we fail, we fracture that joint”.

“You have been going and going and going and now you have decided to slow down, to a halt, and confess. You are scared. You have been fearful of this spillage. You have been worried of being torn. You have been worried that you could not repair, would not emerge intact. You have lost your God so you cannot even pray, and anyway, prayer is just confessing one’s desire and it’s not that you don’t know what you want, it’s that you don’t know what to do about it”.

“We are all hurting, you said. 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 mislabeled. We who are loud and angry, who are bold and brash. We who are Black. We find ourselves not saying it how it is. We find ourselves scared. We find ourselves suppressed, you said. But do not worry about what has come before, or what will come; move. Do not resist the call of a drum. Do not resist the thud of a kick, the tap of a snare, the rattle of a hi-hat. Do not hold your body stiff but flow like easy water. Be here, please, you said”.

“How do you cope? you asked”.
“I smoke. I drink. I eat. I try to treat myself well. And I dance”.

“You realize there is a reason clichés exist, and you would happily have your breath taken away, three seconds at a time, maybe more, by this woman”.

“Are you and her together yet then?”
“Who?”
“Don’t treat me like an idiot, Samuel said”.
“We’re not together”.
“But you want to be?”
“I said, don’t treat me like an idiot. I saw the way you looked at her when you first met”.

“She spends the week apartment hunting in Dublin. She’s left it late; only a few weeks of the summer remain. You don’t talk about what happened, not really. But what more is there to be said that your bodies did not?”

“She’ll go from London to Holyhead and take the ferry to Dublin. On the platform, she kisses you, one foot on the train, one foot off. The whistle blows once. You need to step away from the train but you’re not ready. You have never loved from a distance, but then you have never known love like this. You want to tell yourself, and her, that it will be OK, that nothing will change, but you don’t know. All too quickly, the whistle is blowing again, and the train doors are sliding shut. You hold off the tears until the train has pulled away, until you are stumbling down the platform. It is like this summer has been one long night and you have just woken up. It is like you both dived into open water, but you have resurfaced with her elsewhere”.

“Nothing is more durable than a feeling. Tell her you’re scared of being taken from her. Tell her what you struggle to tell yourself on some days.
Tell her you love her and know what comes with these words”.

“You want to tell her there are some things you won’t heal from, and there is no shame in your hurt. You want to tell her that in trying to be honest here, you dug until shovel met bone, and you kept going. You want to tell her you hurt. You want to tell her that you have stopped trying to forget that feeling, that anger, that ugly, and instead have accepted it as part of you, along with your joy, your beauty, your light. Multiple truths do exist, and you do not have to be that some of your traumas”.

“You came here, to the page, to ask for forgiveness.
you came here to tell her you were sorry that you wouldn’t let her hold you in this open water. You came here to tell her how selfish it was to let yourself drown”.

Saidiya Hartman....
is an American writer and academic focusing on African American studies ....
She.....
“describes the journey of
Black people from chattel to men and women, and how this new status was a type of freedom if only by name; that the re-subordination was only natural considering the power structures in which this freedom was and continues to operate within. Rendering the Black body as a species body, encouraging a Blackness which defined as abject, threatening, servile, dangerous, dependent, irrational and infectious, finding yourself being constrained in a way you did not asked for, in a way which could not possibly contain all that you are, all that you could be, could want to be.
That is what you are being framed, a container, a vessel,
a body, you have been made a body, all those years ago, before your lifetime, before anyone else who is currently in your lifetime, and now you are here, a body, you have been made a body, and sometimes this is hard, because you know you are so much more”.

I reflect again:
Open Water:
“an expanse of an ocean, sea, or large lake which is distant from shore and devoid
of nearby islands or other obstructions”......
Or....
Open Water:
“honor and respect are necessary in our interconnected world”.

Thank you Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and the talented Caleb Azumah Nelson

5 very strong stars from me.