Open Water

Open Water
Caleb Azumah Nelson
RRP:
NZ$ 34.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 28.87
Paperback
Not defined - 160pg
29 Apr 2021 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9780802157942
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence. At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.
A beautiful and powerful novel about the true and sometimes painful depths of love -- Candice Carty-Williams, Sunday Times bestselling author of QUEENIE Open Water is tender poetry, a love song to black art and thought, an exploration of intimacy and vulnerability between two young artists learning to be soft with each other in a world that hardens against black people -- Yaa Gyasi, bestselling author of HOMEGOING This is an amazing debut novel. It' s a beautifully narrated, intelligently crafted piece of love that goes deep, then goes deeper. You should read this book. Let' s hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future -- Benjamin Zephaniah, award-winning poet, playwright and novelist Open Water is a very touching and heartfelt book, passionately written, which brings London to life in a painterly, emotive way. I love its musical richness and espousal of the power of the arts - pictures, sounds, movement -- Diana Evans, Women' s Prize shortlisted author of ORDINARY PEOPLE Open Water encapsulates what it means to fall in love, explores what it means to move through the world whilst black, and explores the beautiful melding of the two. I will always remember it, and I will always return to this novel. A stunning piece of art. -- Bolu Babalola, Sunday Times bestselling author of LOVE IN COLOUR A short, sharp poetic burst of a novel; it crystallises the torments and heat of young love brilliantly -- Andrew McMillan, award-winning author of PHYSICAL Open Water is a powerful portrayal of the way that systemic violence can make a person forget softness and vulnerability. It exposes the failure of language to encapsulate feeling and illuminates the love and the anger that rage around the edges of everything -- Jessica Andrews, award-winning author of SALTWATER Open Water is about defiance, mourning, art and music. It is an ode to being a full human being in a society that does not see you that way. It is about clinging to love in a world heavy with injustice and violence. There is not a wasted page -- Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, award-winning author of HARMLESS DAYS Open Water has a delicate, painterly quality while packing a real emotional punch. Caleb Azumah Nelson is a real talent -- Olivia Sudjic, author of SYMPATHY, EXPOSURE and ASYLUM ROAD Open Water is a beautifully, delicately written novel about love, for self and others, about being seen, about vulnerability and mental health. Sentence by sentence, it oozes longing and grace. Caleb is a star in the making. -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of THE GOOD IMMIGRANT and author of BROWN BABY Open Water is the most mesmerising read. Caleb Azumah Nelson writes voice like a young Baldwin, placing himself both inside and outside the world he describes. Open Water drew me in, hypnotised me and left me, a few hours later, both devastated and a little high. This is the kind of novel which doesn' t let go. -- Jan Carson, award-winning author of THE FIRE STARTERS Lush, urban, black, British and beautiful -- Inua Ellams, award-winning playwright and poet Exquisite -- Kayo Chingonyi, award-winning author of KUMUKANDA Set to the rhythms of jazz and hip hop, Open Water is an unforgettable story about making art and making a home in another person. In language bursting with grief and joy, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the ode to Black creativity, love, and survival that we need right now -- Nadia Owusu, author of AFTERSHOCKS A brilliant debut whose gentleness and joyfulness are as profound as its examination of the cost of living in a racist society -- Megha Majumdar, author of A BURNING
Caleb Azumah Nelson is a 26-year-old British-Ghanaian writer and photographer living in South East London. His photography was shortlisted for the Palm Photo Prize and won the People' s Choice prize. His short story PRAY is shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2020. OPEN WATER is his first novel.
Status: No local stock, title imported to order
ISBN-13: 9780802157942
Published: 29 Apr 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: Black Cat
Publisher: Black Cat
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160

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