Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

41 reviews

peggy_racham's review against another edition

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5.0

"Ask: if flexing is being able to say the most in the least amount of words, is there a greater flex than love?"

Second person perspective, my beloved. Never have I read a love story quite so profound and beautifly written and also tragic.

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alexisvana's review

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reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I'm SO in the minority for pretty much every part of my review, but here goes...

  • I think the writing style (i.e. prioritizing poetic/lyrical prose over like... baseline plot development) actually mostly worked for me, I'm shocked! There were a couple times where I highlighted lines because I thought "hmmm... this line sounds pretty, but it doesn't make a lick of sense" but aside from that, I generally enjoyed it
  • Don't care about the second person narrative in this context. For me, this very rarely works for my brain in novels/memoirs and I don't really understand what purpose it was serving here
  • I think the plot of the first 70% of this read like an episode of 'Friends' in that... I feel like we were romanticizing deeply problematic/toxic behavior. I think 5-10 years ago I would've been absolutely swooning but now I'm like "damn, I would've dumped BOTH of you a long time ago" lol
  • In general, I think there was far too little character development for this to be moving for me. I'm walking away knowing next to nothing about our main characters other than they are presumably very hot and drink pretty much constantly

Not mad I read it, but I think it should've just been a poem or a novella - I think the lack of character devleopment/floofy writing style would've been much more successful if it were less drawn out.

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vanesst's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0


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violetends's review

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dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • 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

Read for my bookclub.

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.

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christinaanna's review

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dark emotional reflective 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

3.25


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mollyb13's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Though short in page number, this took me a while to get through but I enjoyed the slow journey overall! Caleb Azumah Nelson has a very lyrical and rhythmic way of writing, which mirrors the repeating themes of music and rhythm in the book. The author paints a story of being Black in London which is both beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. I had a bit of trouble getting used to the second person narration and found myself having to reread certain sections to figure out what was going on. 

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minella's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75


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pkc's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective slow-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

4.0

If I was asked to review this story around the mid way point, it probably wouldn’t have been massively favourable. In fact, I came reasonably close to DNFing but in the last 70 pages, something happened. The core of the story unveiled itself, made itself known in a really profound way that I hadn’t expected. At just over 140 pages I hadn’t expected as much depth as I got from this book. It’s a touching and haunting look at the safety (or lack thereof) of black people  amidst the persistent thrumming drumbeat of a system that is built to oppress and violate in equal turns. The second person narrative is so well considered and any reader can become engaged in the unease and feel everything that “you” are supposed to feel. I loved the protagonist and the rich storytelling was poetic, languid and sumptuous at points.

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

a wonderful book, but simply wasn't for me.

nelson's writing is plain beautiful. lyrical. it sounds like a song, like a poem, like a friend telling you about their woes, like an observation of the world - its beauty and terrors - all in one.

i've never seen anyone describe life and love quite like he did. nelson's portrayal of love must be one of the most comforting, most romantic and rawest portrayals one can find in literature today.
passages heart-wrenching, alternating between joy and grief. appreciation for all kinds of art created by people of color. celebrating it.

nevertheless, i was a little bored. and i want to note that that's totally on me, not the book. since it is a very lyrical piece, it doesn't have a lot of plot. i also found it a little hard to concentrate on some of the passages, kept zoning out, because there were a lot of repetitions (used as a stylistic device and executed beautifully, but alas), long descriptions of memories and photographs of moments to remember. i just couldn't quite find my footing, if that makes sense.

it was kind of like swimming in open water - lyrical and sensitive words flowing all around you, but there was nothing to grasp, nothing that wouldn't immediately seep through your hands again, leaving you with but open water, and no land to be seen.
if you like swimming, that's great, you'll love this. but personally, i'm not one to swim.

but whatever! will this stop me from reading nelson's second book? absolutely not.
even if i won't be staying for the story, i will for the quotes, i know it. because the ones in open water were all gorgeous, filled with dreams and pure truth.

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moriahleigh's review

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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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