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thecatconstellation's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
A beautifully written reflection on love, trauma, and Blackness. Steeped in references to music and art and using language as a precise tool, this is definitely a must read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Blood
emilyrowanstudio's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This booook 🤯🤯🤯
Truly one of the most beautiful and eye-opening books i've ever read. Equal parts a love story and the reality of being a young Black man in London. A book about race, masculinity, vulnerability, and being really seen by another person.
The book is written in the second person which takes a bit of getting used to, and it's without a doubt the most lyrical and poetically written prose i've ever read, and just enough at only 145 pages. The writing style won't be for everyone, but this is a really special book. It made me laugh, smile, wince, shake my head in anger, cry (almost). I really felt the possibility of love, and the pain of living, seeping through the pages. This book will stay with me for a very long time. If this sounds AT ALL up your street, I implore you to give it a go.
Truly one of the most beautiful and eye-opening books i've ever read. Equal parts a love story and the reality of being a young Black man in London. A book about race, masculinity, vulnerability, and being really seen by another person.
The book is written in the second person which takes a bit of getting used to, and it's without a doubt the most lyrical and poetically written prose i've ever read, and just enough at only 145 pages. The writing style won't be for everyone, but this is a really special book. It made me laugh, smile, wince, shake my head in anger, cry (almost). I really felt the possibility of love, and the pain of living, seeping through the pages. This book will stay with me for a very long time. If this sounds AT ALL up your street, I implore you to give it a go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Mental illness and Grief
charlottiec's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
if you liked normal people, this is for you
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Violence
vinacasti's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
jesshindes's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As I started reading Open Water I thought it was going to be a bit slight for me - or maybe a bit much of a love story, and I don't usually get that into a book that is *only* a love story - but by the time I'd finished it I'd changed my mind.
This was a debut novel last year and it's set in and around South London (proper South London in specific places, Frances Spufford take note!) (egregious error RE the Brockley overground station notwithstanding). It's about a male character - the narrator, although the book is told in the second person so it's also you, the reader, moving through the story as him - and a woman he meets and falls in love with. They're cautious in taking the first steps, or in moving from friendship to romance, and this is maybe the bit I had less patience for initially - I was like 'Just go for it guys, it's not that deep'. But then actually the whole point of the book is that it *is* that deep (I feel like there's an Open Water pun here somewhere) - because the book is also very much about what it is to exist as a Black person and specifically a Black man, in London, in a society where you can't ever know whether you're going to be seen for who you are or profiled as something you're not; where the police stop and search you as you're on your way to your friend's house for dinner, and it upsets you for weeks; where sometimes the violence or dehumanisation is so much that it's easier not to connect at all.
The book is in lots of ways very different to Natasha Brown's Assembly, which I read last year at about this time and which is also concerned with representing Black experience in London (albeit a different milieu), but I did find myself thinking of them alongside each other. They're both short, powerful debut novels that are more concerned with evoking a specific moment then with unfolding elaborate plots, and I think that as with Assembly this is one I'll find myself thinking over for a good while after having finished it.
This was a debut novel last year and it's set in and around South London (proper South London in specific places, Frances Spufford take note!) (egregious error RE the Brockley overground station notwithstanding). It's about a male character - the narrator, although the book is told in the second person so it's also you, the reader, moving through the story as him - and a woman he meets and falls in love with. They're cautious in taking the first steps, or in moving from friendship to romance, and this is maybe the bit I had less patience for initially - I was like 'Just go for it guys, it's not that deep'. But then actually the whole point of the book is that it *is* that deep (I feel like there's an Open Water pun here somewhere) - because the book is also very much about what it is to exist as a Black person and specifically a Black man, in London, in a society where you can't ever know whether you're going to be seen for who you are or profiled as something you're not; where the police stop and search you as you're on your way to your friend's house for dinner, and it upsets you for weeks; where sometimes the violence or dehumanisation is so much that it's easier not to connect at all.
The book is in lots of ways very different to Natasha Brown's Assembly, which I read last year at about this time and which is also concerned with representing Black experience in London (albeit a different milieu), but I did find myself thinking of them alongside each other. They're both short, powerful debut novels that are more concerned with evoking a specific moment then with unfolding elaborate plots, and I think that as with Assembly this is one I'll find myself thinking over for a good while after having finished it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Violence and Grief
velsbooknook's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
4.75
Caleb Azumah Nelson has a way with words - just wow. Open Water is written in second person and I think I haven't read a book in that perspective. It works so well and you feel like you are a silent observer in the story which I very much enjoyed!
The story is about a photographer and a dancer. The male MC is going through such a lot of trauma and isn't able to express his emotions it is weighing down that otherwise beautiful love story. The book deals with racism, police brutality, relationships, love and overall what it means and feels like to be a British black man.
The story is about a photographer and a dancer. The male MC is going through such a lot of trauma and isn't able to express his emotions it is weighing down that otherwise beautiful love story. The book deals with racism, police brutality, relationships, love and overall what it means and feels like to be a British black man.
“It's one thing to be looked at, and another to be seen.”
This book was absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. It is only 144 pages long but filled so incredibly beautifully with words and feelings. I highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Grief
nialiversuch's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Gun violence and Sexual content
heatherv's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Violence
thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The constant battle of allowing oneself to be vulnerable in a world that hates you was written poetically in a way that made me take several moments to process. This book was so raw and honest, I highly recommend everyone to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness
lizziea229's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Police brutality