It's A Small World
This week we take a look at Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson.
If you follow along on my social media, you may have seen that this book was my top pick for August 2023. I read 22 books in August. I gave 5 stars to 7 of the 22 books read, and this one came out on top!\
If I was a person who annotated books, I think I would’ve highlighted nearly the entire book. It was so beautifully written – like reading poetry. I am yet to read Open Water also by Nelson (Nelson’s debut) but am definitely going to move it up my TBR so that I can experience more of this beautiful writing.
Small Worlds has significant themes, and characters who are coming of age. It is largely about the struggle to find your place in the world as a young person trying to decide what they want to be when they grow up, in the face of societal and parental pressure. The story is that of Stephen, an 18 year old budding musician who is navigating early adulthood. Some of the themes touched upon include love, loss, friendship, fatherhood, and mental health to name a few. Nelson uses the phrase “small worlds” throughout the book to capture that feeling of pure joy experienced in the little day to day moments of life with one another. It made me think about and appreciate my own “small worlds”.
The thing that really cemented this for me as the top pick for August, is the absolutely exquisite writing. Now, I don’t usually do this, but when I was reading, I jotted down some entire excerpts just because the writing was so beautiful. I borrowed this one from the library so I wasn’t about to start highlighting the book. I think this is one to buy for my bookshelf though!
I will let these beautiful words do the talking..
“.. we stand in silence, the air heavy with things we don't like to say to each other but can never forget: to forge these worlds for each other means to collectively dream of our freedom. In the wake of violence, acute or prolonged, we ask what we might need, how we might weather this time, how we might care for each other, how we might cultivate the space which encourages honesty, which encourages surrender. How we might build a small world, where we might feel beautiful, might feel free.
We all fear the phone calls or text messages, which remind us that outside of these spaces, we are rarely safe. Remind us that dreaming is difficult when we feel like we're so close to death.
Remind us that the world was not built with us in mind, and that someone, at any time, might intrude upon our homes, crumbling our walls, making dust of our foundations. It's days like these which remind us that we don't have space, that the city feels like it's closing in, trying to magic us away, encouraging our disappearance.”
How does this sound to you? Let me know in the comments, because life is too short to read bad books.