Reading and Analysis of Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
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NUJU BOOK CLUB: Reading & Discussion of Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Open Water is a beautifully written novel that follows a young Black British photographer and a dancer as they fall in love and try to navigate that love within the realities of race, masculinity, and vulnerability. Told in the second person, the story feels intimate—almost like a letter or a confession—drawing us into the narrator’s emotions and struggles.
In our reading and analysis, we will focus on how Caleb Azumah Nelson uses language almost like music: the rhythm, repetition, and flow mirror jazz and photography, capturing both fleeting joy and deep pain. We also talked about how the book explores tenderness—especially the ways Black men are often denied the space to be soft or vulnerable.
Themes that stood out included love as both connection and conflict, the pressure of visibility as a Black person in white spaces, and how art—through photography, music, and writing—becomes a way to survive and be seen.