Small Worlds: THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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There are actual songs inside too, they show up often, as does dancing. I'm a dancer and when a book starts with dancing and has it as a central theme throughout...well, I'm sold. Honestly though, the whole book is relatable, because Nelson knows how to write. Even the London and Accra settings were so vivid that I felt like I was there myself. I haven't been to Accra yet, but boy, do I want to. Like Open Water, Small Worlds isn't just a book, just a novel. It's a playlist, a poem, a song. It's a work of art, a place you want to disappear into. For anyone worried that Small Worlds won't be as good as Open Water, let me reassure you. It's just as good. Caleb Azumah Nelson is so incredibly talented that reading his writing feels like looking directly into the sun. rounded downwards. I enjoyed this slightly less than Nelson's debut novel Open Water, from which Small Worlds felt like a natural progression. It's clear that he's growing as a novelist while maintaining the core features of what worked so well for him last time, but he threw in too many discordant elements this time, signaling his wider and deeper ambitions. And, well, I liked it, I guess, but I wasn’t in love. Nelson did showcase more of his potent nature, but there was also disappointing filler. So, you can say I am in two worlds when it comes to this one.

To deepen the portrayal of his characters, Nelson relies mostly on reportage. Del has been shaped by being an orphan. “Her life is informed by loss but because she’s lost, she loves freely, openly, with all she can.” We’re told that music is key to understanding Del’s character, but the author offers little to fire our imagination that how she plays the double bass, for example, might be a manifestation of her grief. Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription Intergenerational trauma is characterised by the estrangement of fathers and sons, stemming from paternal disappointment and rejection, following the sacrifices that come with migration. Towards the conclusion it becomes a governing theme, and although it works well as a coda it would have been more impactful had it been signposted earlier. As we were playing, my fingers slipped, an odd note coming from my horn. The mistake didn’t go unnoticed, but we continued on. It made me grateful for the freedom to be in that space, to make a mistake; and how that mistake might be beautiful to the right ear; how Del heard that odd note and followed with her own, adjusting her thrum; how the rest of us followed that twist and shift, surrendering to whatever unknown we were going towards. It was there that I noticed I only really knew myself in song. In the quiet, in the freedom, in the surrender.”This was a very emotional book about family, community, love, friendship, grief, and life. It also touches racism and the importance of our past and roots to better understand ourselves. I want him to be more open, to allow me the space to say, I feel broken, and I’m slowly taking myself apart, so I might build myself up once more" After this, I would still look forward to reading anything that Nelson will write, and this gave me entry into a world I would like to revisit. Especially the deep cuts by J Dilla... An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from Caleb Azumah Nelson, the no.1 bestselling, award-winning author of Open Water Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades? When his father begins to speak of shame and sacrifice, when his home is no longer his own? How will he find space for himself: a place where he can feel beautiful, a place he might feel free?

So, Caleb’s writing is definitely my kind of thing, but his stories a little less. You might feel different and adore this book! Reading this felt like a gift because I’ve felt so many of Stephen feelings before, and I’ve been where he has been and would never be able to put it into words. Stephen might only know himself in song, but Caleb certainly knows in words.Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I couldn't be more grateful that I got to be one of the first reviewers. I heard that Nelson wrote this novel in the space of three months. And while that’s super-impressive, it might also prove that it needed more work. I’ve only know myself in song, between notes, in that place where language won't suffice but the drums might, might speak for us, might speak for what is on our hearts, and in this moment, as the music gahers pace, looping round once more, passing frenzy, approaching ecstasy, all my dance moves are my father's” But this new book isn’t about a photographer. It’s about a musician, Stephen, and we follow him through three summers with perhaps the main focus being Stephen’s developing relationship with Del. A short, poetic and intellectual meditation on art and a relationship between a young couple' Bernardine Evaristo, Booker prize-winning author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER

My first Caleb Azumah Nelson book, and I'm blown away by the prose. Wow. I knew it would be good, but THIS GOOD? But it's not always sunshine and rainbows, there's also grief. As someone's who's lost a parent young, I could relate all too well.

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Now here’s the thing, this book did not cohesively come together for me. In a nutshell, there are two main plots: 1) Stephen’s romance with Del 2) Stephen’s relationship to his parents and their immigrant story. The sad thing is that one story is more successful (and interesting) than the other. And the writing for these two was like night and day. One of the things I highlighted in one of my distracted moments was the times when remembering and forgetting were paired in phrases. Also, I remembered that a key phrase for me in Open Water was about an “honest meeting”, a meeting where words weren’t needed because of the openness between the people involved. Here, there is a big focus on being “open”, on seeking for emotional depth in relationships. I didn’t feel like myself there. I didn’t like this me, who was insecure, and rarely at ease; who felt like he was living in a city with no community to lean on, no one to just spend some time with; who not knowing how to dismantle his loneliness, cocooned, retreated.” ALSO, I can't wait for the TV series, I know it's going to be amazing. But in the meantime, everyone go and get yourself a copy of this book, that I just finished and immediately want to reread. Yes, it's one of those. Now run, don't walk. His purposeful inclusion of the phrase "small worlds" throughout the story perfectly encapsulates that feeling of pure unadulterated joy from that spark of connection you feel with another person or group during a moment of intimacy over a shared experience. It moved me in a way I wasn't expecting and made me appreciate the small worlds I've built and continue to build with the ones I hold close to me.