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hngisreading's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Death, and Police brutality
savvylit's review
- 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
4.5
This entire story is told in second-person, which lends the book an incredibly intimate quality. "You wish you had the words, no, you wish you had the courage to climb up from whatever pit you have fallen into, but right now, you do not." By addressing his audience as "you," Nelson puts the readers directly in the perspective of the narrator. This makes all of the ups and downs of Open Water all the more visceral -- it's like it's all happening to you.
Lastly, Nelson mentions a variety of songs and albums throughout the story. Music as connection, music as healing, music revealing the words you couldn't find... This thread of musicality fits the story so perfectly. Nelson's writing includes a fair amount of repetition. Repeated words and phrases lend the novel it's own rhythmic, lyrical quality. It's incredibly effective and unforgettable.
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, Alcohol, and Death
jaja_1212's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality and Racism
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
caseythereader's review
- 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: Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Violence
mollysam's review
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Death, and Alcohol
nebraskanwriter'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
5.0
The way Caleb writes is incredible, the way he is able to put words to trauma and raw emotion is unmatched. This is a story about two people who love each other but Caleb also talks a lot about police brutality, how that has affected the main character and how it affects the Black community on a daily basis.
This is such an important book for everyone to read as it deals with internalizing trauma, racial profiling, police brutality, learning to love yourself even when the society you live in doesn’t love you/care about you. So, so important for everyone to read this so that the Black community can be seen, they can be heard and we can put an end to violence against their community and people of color in general.
Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence
ritanevescunha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence, Hate crime, and Racism
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol
thxrxsa's review
- 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
"You feel you have never been strangers.
You do not want to leave each other, because to leave is to have the thing die in its current form and there is something, something in this that neither is willing to relinquish." (Open Water, p. 15)
Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol
garynoplastie's review
4.75
Graphic: Death, Grief, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Sexual content
vasha'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'm only referring to the narration, because most of the dialogue is impoverished on purpose, the protagonist being reduced to few words or silence at important moments. The girlfriend's verbal skills are something for the protagonist to aspire to. She lyrically describes what dancing is like for her: "I’m making space and I’m dancing into the space. I’m like, dancing into the space the drums leave, you know, between the kick and the snare and the hat, where that silence lies, that huge silence, those moments and spaces the drums are asking you to fill." The protagonist answers less inventively by inviting her to a club where he says there's "an energy that's very freeing, a bunch of black people being themselves."
Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cultural appropriation, and Terminal illness