Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

38 reviews

kjulie's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really wanted to like this. 

I was looking forward to it, but it just didn’t connect with me. I think my biggest hang up was the 2nd person narration. The author seemed to be trying to establish a sense of intimacy through that choice (and from the look of some reviews, it absolutely worked for other people), but it created distance during my reading. 

I was also not expecting such an dark emotional journey, and that’s totally on me. I thought this would be uplifting (not really sure why, the synopsis literally says: “But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence”), but instead it was a tragic love story and an exploration of trauma and the Black body. 

I think that if I ever decide to give this a second read, knowing what it really is, I might understand it better. 

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bookwormjoshua's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.75


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sorcha's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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literaryrevisited's review

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emotional 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


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bootsmom3's review

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0


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hilarylouise's review

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emotional sad slow-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? Yes

4.0


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emmahe's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0


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hannahdotmay's review

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5.0


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