Reviews

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson

v_elke's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

 Reading has been quite the chore lately, what with me not having been able to properly focus for various reasons, really. With how much I loved "Open Water" a couple of months ago, I knew that Caleb Azumah Nelson's new one would not disappoint.

How I love his writing style. While I did think that "Open Water" was more poetic and I basically felt like marking every single quote or paragraph, "Small Worlds" is much more focused on the storyline. I loved the storyline. I loved the atmosphere. I loved how this book just breahes music and dancing and most of all friendship.

Adored this, thoroughly enjoyed spending a few hours in the company of Stephen and his thoughts, his family and Del... In London and (however briefly) in Ghana too... 

laurabustard's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

rebecca_hedger's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

4.5

tammyanne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

4.5

carla_z's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

iphigenie72's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

ckzinger's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

anna__28's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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? No

4.25

madelinedalton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I'm a bit disappointed by this one. Open Water was a slam dunk for me last year, and I expected Small Worlds to be the same. Caleb Azumah Nelson's otherworldly grasp of the English language is still apparent in this novel, which I love. Unfortunately, though, I felt as though the first ~150 pages were so focused on beautiful prose that they meandered away from the heartbeat of the story. The first ~60-80 pages especially felt like such a slog to me. 

I think that Small Worlds largely repeats what Open Water did, not in a good way, and then stacks more characters/topics on top of that. I struggled to differentiate characters in the beginning because Nelson emphasizes flowery prose and big-picture emotions over characterization and dialogue in his writing. In my eyes, Open Water did not have this problem because it was shorter and had a more centralized focus. 

All of that said, the ending wrapped up really nicely and tied all the themes together. I was just a little checked out by that point, so I couldn't fully appreciate the writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, and Sexual content

guerre's review against another edition

emotional 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? N/A

5.0