Another beautiful, haunting, and memorable work from the author of Open Water. A love song to music and to love itself.

I loved OPEN WATERS, and was excited for SMALL WORLDS, but I just could not get into this one. :( I found it hard to read and just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. Thank you for the arc.

Caleb Azumah Nelson has perfected the quiet novel. I’m left speechless and raw.

Small Worlds illuminates the small worlds we make for ourselves. It’s as much about loneliness, grief, and coming of age as it is about fathers and the sons who want to know them. It’s unbelievably quiet and tender, asking readers to please sit and listen.

The writing is gorgeous, as expected, but the way that Caleb Azumah Nelson used a handful of phrases over and over throughout the entirety of the book feels very special. I’m not sure any other author could execute this style of call back as effectively. These phrases, sentences, and plot lines are always repeated in the same way so that we, the reader, never forget the parallels or the way our lives are connected. This particular attention to detail feels really rewarding, its repetitiveness feels like a parent ensuring we do not forget.

“How could I forget?”

I really didn't think I would love this book so much starting it, to be honest. But after the first third of it, it moved me so deeply I couldn't stop thinking about it, and about Stephen and his way of seeing every little things, every little lights that shine around him and the people he loves. That was beautiful.

Caleb Azumah Nelson's "Small Worlds" is a beautiful and poetic book set in London. Nelson is an artist. Coming of age stories are one of my favorite genres. In this book, the story is told from the point of view of Stephen. He uses music and photography to connect with family, friends and community. But as the child of immigrants, his parents do not approve. They want to see their son in a follow a more traditional career. Beautifully written I would love to hear the audio version of this book to fully appreciate the prose.
Thank you Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

As someone who holds Open Water very near and dear, I went into this with maybe too high of hopes. While Open Water felt like a novel of its time, Small Worlds didn't connect in a similar way. I think, for me, this is because the prose was a bit forced at times, with stakes that didn't match the energy.
Poetic jabs come in at a weird time, often in closing paragraphs that didn't call for heightened, emotional moments. Sadly, I didn't like this. But I think the author is exceptionally talented and will continue to read what they release.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this!

An absolutely great read.

I was super excited to read Nelson's second book after absolutely LOVING his first.

I cannot wait to see what else he continues to write.

There were many moments throughout this where I had to stop and just admire the gorgeous sentences before me. The writing is lyrical and poetic. I have many quotes written down from this book in my journal. At the heart of this is a coming of age story about the spaces we create and live in. I really admired we were able to explore the spaces created for family, friends, religion, culture, and ourselves, and how all of those spaces come together to form a person's reality. There were moments that were a little repetitive when it didn't feel necessary to the story. I wish there had been more time spent diving deeper into how the spaces we create interact with one another, and the ways in which those spaces force us to grow in new and challenging ways.

This is beautiful, moving, and lyrical. The way that Caleb writes transforms me. It felt like reading a 270 page long poem rather than a novel. This was my first book written by Caleb Azumah Nelson, and sure won't be my last! I'll read anything this author writes and immediately bought a hard copy.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the lyrical writing in this story about life, family, love and time. In a complex web of family and friendship the ultimate question is what is it to be truly free. The command of language is good and the plot moves in a clear manner. I highly recommend.

SMALL WORLDS was one of my most anticipated books last year after reading Nelson's debut novel ( and a 2021 favourite) OPEN WATER.

Unfortunately, Small Worlds didn't blow me away like his first book: it fell a little flat for me (sorry to say).

I think, though, that's bound to happen when you go in with such high expectations. And things did pick up more for me towards the end.

I did like the great music mentioned and loved how we were constantly reminded about the healing power of dancing throughout the story.

And I loved watching the power struggle, generational gap and evolving relationship between Stephan and his father. Eventually understanding the reasons for the underlying tensions served as a nice reminder that our perspectives are shaped by our own life experiences. The story gave a nice nudge about the importance of cultivating a deeper empathy for others, especially our parents, and how that can lead to much growth and transformation as we all journey through life. I liked that reminder.

3.5 stars for me

Caleb's writing will always grab me by the throat and make me a member of his world. I loved a large majority of this book but unlike Open Water, where everything was brand new, this felt more of the same. Still complex, still beautiful but very much similar to Open Water in subject matter. Unfortunately, this made me bored towards the end and the use of repetition, a stylistic device I loved at the beginning, began to feel excessive.

“We know death in its multitudes, but we’re all very serious about being alive”

Small Worlds did not hit close on the scale that Open Water did for me…but still gave me much to walk away with.

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s pen game can forreal provide a pulse into any small scale of emotion, feeling, or scenario. It feels poetic and consuming. This is the second time Nelson’s writing caught me swooning. The patterns of melanin skin reflected in the sun, languid bodies swinging to a heavy bass, the dark cloud of a well-greased Afro curling to the sky, slow tears escaping, traveling down flushed cheeks, a full mouth wrapping over an instrument in musical release, excited friends slapping calloused hands together before a night of partying, and the simple tangling of limbs in the heat of intimacy….small images from the book, small worlds like this is what Nelson ensnares me with. 🫠

Our narrator, Stephen’s small world:

(4): “I’ve only ever known myself in song, between notes, in that place where language won’t suffice but the drums might, might speak for us, might speak for what is on our hearts”

(9): “We’ve known each other so long, I know when she hears a sequence or a phrase which pleases, her features will soften, taken by something like wonder. We’ve known each other so long I don’t know what name to give this knowing.”

(71): “I feel tired inside, my spirit worn out by the effort I took to hope and dream, to believe, to imagine myself a future in which I could choose something for me.”

(80): “I’ll hide away my solitude, how its enormity had turned it into something I don’t know how to wrangle with, something thick and heavy and suffocating.”

(106): “ I want freedom to walk over to him, to pull him into an embrace, to be held; I want to feel the heat of his love against mine, to know if he really did love me. But more, I need more. I want to know my father because, facing this man, I don’t know who he is, or who he was”

(135): “I try to leave behind this ache, which has long made a home in the left side of my chest, but I fear this is the shape of the world now. I fear it might be forever.”

Thank you to NetGalley for “Small Worlds” by Caleb Azumah Nelson in exchange for an honest review. I have never read anything before like Caleb Azumah Nelson. He became an instant auto-buy author. Five stars for every book I’ve ever been lucky to consume his words with my eyes. I wish I could weave his prose into my DNA. It’s beautiful, it’s raw, it’s intimate, it’s heart-wrenching. I demanded to everyone I knew to drop what they’re doing and read this book! One of my absolute all time favorites. Thank you. I will read it again and again and again.

I read the author’s previous novel, Open Water, and enjoyed so I anticipated loving this as well. It was good but not at great as the previous book. I love his unique writing style, but the story fell a bit flat for me.

“Sometimes, silence in the face of trauma is useful. It allows for those grieving to mourn, to organize, for a feeling to lose its haze and ossify, and try to give words to what has been done unto us. And if not words, then sound, music, rhythm, an ah, a gasp, a hum, a groan, spillage, deluge. But a continued silence, this might consume us.”

This story is poetry. It is love in the form of a book. It is lyrical. It is freedom. It is grief.

This is the author's second book after Open Water, and it is as beautiful and gut-wrenching as his debut. I tried as hard as I could to separate it from his debut and look at the book as is. It is not a sequel; it is its' own story. Another fantastic story.

Honestly, I don't know how to describe why I gave it 5 stars, except that I did. Nelson's writing of his characters and their development over the course of a story is truly amazing. And I encourage everyone to pick up this book and understand the beauty of Nelson's writing. I will forever buy any book he writes.

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson // 5 stars

Caleb Azumah Nelson does it again, there themes that are explored in this book and the symbolism of music is beautiful. Caleb Azumah Nelson has some of the best writing I've ever expirenced, extremely detailed and poetic. I would read just about anything he ever publishes.

A story chronicling parents never-ending desire to see their children succeed and have a life better than the one they lived. The coming of age story is beautiful and unique, while the writing has a wonderful musical flow. Thank you netgalley and Grove Atlantic, Grove Press for letting me read this ARC.

Caleb Nelson is simply a great writer. His voice and emotions are distinct in SMALL WORLDS. The quick verse gives great snapshot of life, its complexities, and its mundane. Refreshing.

Very sad to report that this one did not work for me. It's especially disappointing because "Open Water" was one of my favorite books of 2022. "Small Worlds" should have been a hit for me since Nelson's writing is just as beautiful and intimate as his previous novel, but I really struggled to get immersed in this story.