Over the summer we have read This Lovely City by Louisa Hare and Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, both with the underlying theme, amongst others, of what it is like to be black in this country.
In This Lovely City, Lawrie answers the post-war call for workers and arrives from Jamaica on Empire Windrush in 1950. Lawrie works hard to make a life for himself, as a postman by day and musician by night. He lives in a tiny rented room and falls in love with the young, mixed-race woman next door. However, as soon as tragedy strikes the local community, he becomes a prime suspect. The book contains some interesting historical detail – who knew many Windrush arrivals were originally housed in the bomb shelters under Clapham Common – and is in many ways a sad story, both in the prejudice suffered and in the family history of his girlfriend.
Open Water follows two young people who meet by chance in a London pub. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools, where they struggled to fit in, and both are artists – he a photographer, she a dancer. Gradually, they move from friendship to falling in love. The book portrays not only what it is like to be black in this country but what that does to you and how people can be torn apart by the fear and violence. The writing style is unusual. The story is told in the second person and the two main characters are never named. The writing is lyrical and, with many repeated phrases, almost has a rhythm to it, but it is not an easy read and requires some perseverance.
Both these debut books have good reviews and, in the case of Open Water, have won awards. The views of the group were mixed in both cases but overall, it was felt neither fully met the expectations created by those reviews. In particular, the majority struggled with Open Water, although a few of us really enjoyed it. We are hoping for more success with our autumn choices.
Our future reading list is as follows:
Sept Beautiful World Where Are You Sally Rooney
Oct Love After Love Ingrid Persaud
Nov Frostquake Juliet Nicolson
Dec The Dalai Lama’s Cat David Michie
Recent Comments