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Reviews tagging 'Death'
Open Water: Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2021 by Caleb Azumah Nelson
189 reviews
cass_cgallegos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I loved that this book has honest depictions of grief and pain and fear, and also joy and love and life in equal amounts. This isn’t just a story of how a Black man endures trauma. This is a story of how a Black man lives in the truth of systemic racism and the hope for joy despite it.
What a stunning story. What an important one.
Moderate: Grief, Death, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Chronic illness
sakisreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Racism, Police brutality, Classism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Drug use
nouranato's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
I have expressed my genuine feeling at the start of this book when I said that I feel like this an intimate story it's like I shouldnt be reading this words it feels as if I'm intruding these two.
This is how I felt at roughly the first 50% of this book, it felt like a calm story then it started to get relatively repetitive. Repetitive to the point where one of the characters said something so lame I had to drop a star for that shit.
The story resembles two individuals meeting for the first developing not feelings but some sort of an intimate understanding of each other. The book highlighted the police brutality against black people as well as the sickening sticking judgement that they face without even opening their mouth. How danger equals black and how crime is the black people's logo.
It had mentions of death multiple (here's your TW) and how one deals with it. It talks about what it is to be looked at and to be seen and I quote:
"It’s one thing to be looked at, and another to be seen; you’re scared that she might not just see your beauty, but your ugly too." And that:
"To be you is to apologize and that apology comes in the form of suppression. That suppression is indiscriminate. That suppression knows not when it will spill."
This book served as reflection of what is forced on us in life, in our environment and our community and what is that we force ourselves to indulge.
How that if you keep everything bottled up you'll end up spilling over yourself and others (AND OTHERS) you'll feel unbearable to live with and here I don't mean the people close to you no, I mean you won't be able to handle yourself, you'll keep on closing up further and further until you are left alone because it's easy to punish yourself when others aren't there, so severing ties serves as an excuses for you to torment yourself more and more. Or really this was my own thoughts ? I don't know
What I disliked was the writing from that 4th pov or so because it was confusing at some time as well as the repetition and a very lame line that annoyed me sm I had to drop an entire star from the book (Also this is my 3rd book or so on kindle YAY)
Moderate: Death
_abii__'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"You’re like a pair of jazz musicians, forever improvising. Or perhaps you are not musicians, but your love manifests in the music. Sometimes, your head tucked into her neck, you can feel her heartbeat thudding like a kick drum. Your smile a grand piano, the glint in her eye like the twinkle of hands caressing ivory keys. The rhythmic strum of a double bass the inert grace she has been blessed with, moving her body in ways which astound. A pair of soloists in conversations so harmonious, one struggles to separate. You are not the musicians but the music."
Without art forms culture is dead and without culture we, as a society, as humans, are dead.
The novel goes on a path to correlate these things, the multiple references from musicians and writers help to sustain the main character’s background story, and where he stands in life. It controls and shapes his thinking and his morals and sometimes even how he interprets the situations in his life.
"You have been going and going and going and now you have decided to slow down, to a halt, and confess. You are scared."
At first I was hesitant due to it being narrated in second pov, but there was no need for it. This book uses this narrative device extremelly well, the best i’ve read. It uses it in a way that reaches the reader and takes you into the narrative, into the experiences of the main character. You are able to immerse yourself in the story and feel it.
The prose is astonishingly beautiful and sometimes too clever and pretty for me to understand. It is not linear, it jumps throughout space, grasping concepts isntead of plot. And while it works for most of the novel, at times it felt to abstract to comprehend. Sometimes it needed to be more specific and concise intead of the endless ramblings that, while beautiful, can leave the reader a bit lost.
“Besides, sometimes, to resolve desire, it’s better to let the thing bloom. To feel this thing, to let it catch you unaware, to hold onto the ache. What is better than believing you are heading towards love?”
This at least has given us some gorgeous quotes.
"This is your brother, your charge, your duty, your son."
Mayhaps this made me weep. Siblings relationships are something so fulcral to one’s being and fundemental to one’s growth. The bond between siblings goes deeper than many people take notice, you raise them and then they comfort you as you go through breakups, and a love is forged, a connection is made that can never be broken. A love and understanding that is so uniquely yours that outsiders will always be estranged to it no matter how hard you try to explain. You love your sibling so fiercely, but they’re also the person you fight with the most. Nelson was able to capture this in ten words, a setence.
"No one has bars harder than your mum as she prays for you every day that this will not be the day."
Black mothers go through a certain pain that I can’t even begin to understand. Nelson describes it better than I ever could.
"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."
The relationship between our two characters is so tender, so precious but also so fragile and heartbreaking. They understand each other, they know who they are at their core and become a little codependent. However, not in a way that they don’t have space for development, but in a way that incentives that self growth.
Vulnerability is a big theme across this book, and our main character learns how to deal with it. He battles a lot with the question of whether vulnerability is connected to love and what can it mean in a relationship. It also explores how the black experience with police brutality can affect your relationship with your loved ones. Should you be vulnerable about subjects that also affect your partner on a personal level, that being honest with them about how you feel could bring up their own trauma? These are questions Open Water seeks to answer.
The scenes where police brutality is explored are quite descriptive and graphic so be aware of that.
In conclusion i enjoyed this book for its beutiful prose as well as for the love story between the main characters. It tackles interesting topics about the human condition and what it means to enjoy life. While still providing insightful social commentary.
Graphic: Police brutality and Death
katewhite77's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The way it plays with language to convey meaning is exquisite.
I first started reading this book on the page but could not get into the rhythm of the narrative, and it languished on my 'currently reading' pile for months. However, yesterday, I switched formats to audio and just let Caleb's silky tones wash over me. I listened to the book in two sittings. I don't think this is the sort of book that you should stop start with as part of it's charm is the narrative beat Caleb has created.
The novel tells the story of an unconventional relationship and in so doing, covers themes such as racism, death, grief, and intergenerational trauma but does it in such a gentle, inventive, and beautiful way.
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Racism, and Death
violetends's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
When I initially took Open Water out of my bookshelves and read the first pages, I felt annoyance over the star-crossed-lovers-esque direction the narrative seemed to take. Fortunately, I gave it a second shot, beginning from the first pages again. Having just finished it, on a rainy fall day, huddled under several blankets, I struggle to find words for what I just read.
The prose is breathtakingly beautiful and so powerful I felt myself shiver again and again as I reread paragraphs to grasp the beauty of these words. While I feel that this sentenced should be bold, underlined and however else stressed, I don't know how else to highlight how hauntingly beautiful this book is written. It is clear as day that Caleb Azumah Nelson writes poetry as well.
While I was initially annoyed with the idea to find myself reading yet another story of two people just looking at each other across a room and simply *knowing* they're made for each other, I quickly found myself accepting the sense of idealization and the overt focus the narrative has on this relationship for the majority of the time. I loved the tender way with which they continue to dance around each other while they figure each other as well as themselves out. I loved how their relationship is not necessarily one that needs labels and descriptors but how prevalent the idea of wordless communication through their bodies and gazes is. There is a playfulness and curiosity to the way in which this narrative portrayed them together that I felt myself connect with very well.
Open Water is not merely a story about love though. It's a story of Black love and Black lives. It is clear to me that many of the emotions and experiences described are nothing I can relate to and I'm fairly certain many specific feelings ascribed to the experience of music, interpersonal interactions and encounters with police as well as a racist society, flew over my head. And I think that's ok. I have the feeling this book is only partially written 'for me'. The protagonist (do we actually ever learn his name?) continously ponders over the difference between perceiving someone else and seeing them, the latter only ever ascribed to other Black characters. And this book very much feels like an attempt of this very seeing and being seen.
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol
dafni's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Death, and Police brutality
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Police brutality, and Racism
mollyb13's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol
maritareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Death, and Mental illness