Open Water
AuthorCaleb Azumah Nelson
LanguageEnglish
GenreRomance
PublisherViking Press, Penguin Books
Publication date
February 4, 2021
Pages146
ISBN978-0-241-44878-6 (Penguin Books, 2022)

Open Water is a novel by Caleb Azumah Nelson, published February 4, 2021 by Viking Press, and again in 2022 by Penguin Books.

The novel is written from a second person point of view, and features a protagonist who remains unnamed throughout.

Personal background

The year before Azumah Nelson began writing Open Water, his godfather, aunt, and three grandparents died.[1] He spoke of his writing at the time, saying it "came about as I was trying to afford my grief, and in turn, myself, more form and detail. I didn’t want to feel so hazy anymore. So I was spending a lot of the time at libraries, gallery spaces, cinemas, concerts, trying to go past the level of knowing, towards feeling, and asking where those feelings come from. That’s a question which is written throughout Open Water. How do you feel?”[2] 

Azumah Nelson continued, "There’s a level of vulnerability which love demands. To ask someone to see you is to ask someone to see all of you and trusting someone with all of you can be difficult. To see all this beauty and rhythm and joy but also to see your uglier parts, your pain, your grief. But it’s wonderful when it does happen, when you are no longer being looked at, but being seen.”[1] 

The writer said "he had to make himself vulnerable to write it," much like the poet Morgan Parker says writers sometimes must "[dig] so deep you touch bone."[1] Azumah Nelson said, "I feel like I did this and then some. It is a joy to write but at times, quite heartbreaking. I guess, I’d love for readers not just to know what I’m saying, but to feel it too. The book is written in the second person so it’s very intimate, and in that way when a question is asked, I’m asking both myself and the reader. When I’m asking, How do you feel? That question comes both ways."[1] 

Reception

Reviews

Open Water received starred reviews from Library Journal[3] and Booklist,[4] as well as positive reviews from Kirkus,[5] The Guardian,[6] The New York Times Book Review,[7] Chicago Review of Books,[8] The Wall Street Journal,[9] The Irish Times,[10] Los Angeles Review of Books,[11] Washington Independent Review of Books,[12] and Publishers Weekly.[13]

As a debut, the book has been called "truly exceptional,"[4] "exciting, ambitious,"[6] "breathtaking,"[13] and "searing."[5]

Guernica's Mary Wang applauded Azumah Nelson's writing, saying, "Open Water’s narrative moves like jazz, punctured with loops, diversions, and improvisation. The characters’ relationship is sketched through a series of images that emerge as quickly as they fade, as if tied to a rolling film reel."[14]

Ploughshares' Brady Brickner-Wood provided a mixed review, noting that the book is "brimming with brilliant ideas and charming interiority," but it "struggles to temper its lyricism and narrative ambitions, resulting in a captivating if not uneven read."[15] Despite criticisms, Brickner-Wood called Open Water "a moving novel that celebrates Black art and explores generational trauma."

TIME named Open Water one of the best novels of the year,[16] and The Observer named it one of the top ten debut novels of the year.[17]

Awards

Year Award Result Ref.
2021 Booklist's Best First Novels Top 10 [18]
Desmond Elliott Prize Longlist [19]
Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist [20]
Costa Book Award for First Novel Winner [21][22]
2022 Somerset Maugham Award Winner [23]
Betty Trask Award Winner [23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shaffi, Sarah; Vincent, Alice (11 January 2021). "2021 debuts: get to know our new authors". Penguin Publishing Group. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah; Vincent, Alice (11 January 2021). "2021 debuts: get to know our new authors". Penguin Publishing Group. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Bissell, Sally (1 May 2021). "Open Water". Library Journal. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Tommelleo, Enobong (15 February 2021). "Open Water". Booklist. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Open Water". Kirkus Reviews. 3 March 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  6. 1 2 Donkor, Michael (19 February 2021). "Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson review – an exciting, ambitious debut". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  7. ↑ Christensen, Lauren (7 April 2021). "For Caleb Azumah Nelson, There's Freedom in Feeling Seen". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Ramji, Shazia Hafiz (26 April 2021). ""Is there a greater flex than love?": Uncompromising Black Joy in "Open Water"". Chicago Review of Books. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Sacks, Sam (16 April 2021). "Fiction: 'Open Water' Review". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Gilmartin, Sarah. "Open Water: Promising novel on pervasive racism in London". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  11. ↑ Yeboah, Tryphena (21 August 2021). "A Deep Dive into Caleb Azumah Nelson's "Open Water"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  12. ↑ "Open Water | Washington Independent Review of Books". www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Fiction Book Review: Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. Black Cat, $16 trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-0-8021-5794-2". PublishersWeekly.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  14. ↑ Wang, Mary (23 April 2021). "Caleb Azumah Nelson: "The confrontation with myself enabled me to find a brief freedom."". Guernica. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  15. ↑ Brickner-Wood, Brady (9 April 2021). "Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson". Ploughshares. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2021". Time. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "Caleb Azumah Nelson: We meet Lewisham's breakthrough novelist". Catford Chronicle. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  18. ↑ Seaman, Donna (1 November 2021). "Top 10 First Novels: 2021". Booklist. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  19. ↑ Blau, Jessica Anya (20 April 2021). "Awards: Desmond Elliott Longlist". Shelf Awareness. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  20. ↑ Nygaard, Mads (29 October 2021). "Awards: Kirkus Winners; Waterstones Book of the Year Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  21. ↑ "Awards: Costa Book Category, Aussie Prime Minister's Literary Winners". Shelf Awareness. 5 January 2022. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  22. ↑ Flood, Alison (4 January 2022). "Caleb Azumah Nelson wins Costa first novel award for Open Water". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  23. 1 2 "News | The Society of Authors". societyofauthors.org. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
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