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A review by marmalade_and_books
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.75
This should not have taken me a year to finish lmao but here we are…
This book is absolutely beautiful. I never read anything quite this poetic, so I think that’s what hung me up in terms of motivation to read it. However, that being said, it was a great challenge for me. I underlined these chapters like crazy because CAN’s writing is so gorgeous and heartbreaking. There’s also so many musical, artistic, and literary references infused seamlessly, which made for a fun side project of researching and saving the pieces mentioned.
Playlist of mentioned songs:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PU1PvGJbjoiAfFJMCnWfI?si=k0jugrUvSWa4MblQ7aVwQg&pi=u-wEhCF0mhRimc&pt=8bf8de5ad584552b6b3c6cfefd6af29d
This book is absolutely beautiful. I never read anything quite this poetic, so I think that’s what hung me up in terms of motivation to read it. However, that being said, it was a great challenge for me. I underlined these chapters like crazy because CAN’s writing is so gorgeous and heartbreaking. There’s also so many musical, artistic, and literary references infused seamlessly, which made for a fun side project of researching and saving the pieces mentioned.
Playlist of mentioned songs:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PU1PvGJbjoiAfFJMCnWfI?si=k0jugrUvSWa4MblQ7aVwQg&pi=u-wEhCF0mhRimc&pt=8bf8de5ad584552b6b3c6cfefd6af29d
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Police brutality, Grief