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A review by notesofacrocodile
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
4.0
4☆ — it has been a long time since i've read a story of two people in love that was rendered so evocatively and poetically. for the first few pages i was having a somewhat difficult time adjusting to the second-person perspective, one that i so rarely read. but i found it easy to get used to it, and could see why the second-person perspective was the most effective one to use, especially for our narrator. there's a quote mentioned in this novel, attributed to james baldwin: "i want to be an honest man and a good writer." the narrator further explores the idea of meeting people 'honestly', and i personally think the usage of the second person narrative allows for such an honest meeting between us (as the reader) and the narrator, in the metaphorical open water.
i really admire the way and the ideas that the author ruminates over—blackness, black masculinity, and vulnerability with the people you love being just some of them—and i raved about the book to my close friend even before i finished reading it. i think one of the few things that i think could have been improved upon was the over usage of the poetic style prose, which in some parts bordered on sort of unnecessary and tended to take on the nature of purple prose.
i really admire the way and the ideas that the author ruminates over—blackness, black masculinity, and vulnerability with the people you love being just some of them—and i raved about the book to my close friend even before i finished reading it. i think one of the few things that i think could have been improved upon was the over usage of the poetic style prose, which in some parts bordered on sort of unnecessary and tended to take on the nature of purple prose.