A lyrical, reflective journey through the course of one London summer, the relationships and encounters that shape a life, and coming to terms with emotional trauma. So often, while reading this book, I felt I was drifting out onto open water on the currents and eddies of Nelson’s beautiful prose. The central current that carries the narrative forward, is the romance at its heart. But swirling and coursing around and beneath it, are stories about pain, about loss, about living an authentic life and seeing yourself as others see you.
A couple of stumbling blocks: one was the choice to narrate
in the second person. Because the main protagonist shares a lot of
characteristics with Nelson himself, I read it as an attempt to put some – but
not too much - distance between the narrating persona and the protagonist.
However I was never really sure whether the narrator is Nelson speaking to
himself, or whether he is addressing a collective young black male entity. The
other was that sometimes the emotional impact was sacrificed to the style or
technique, for instance with some of the deliberate use of repetition. I would
read something and take a moment to appreciate the language, thinking ‘wow,
that was good!’ but then I think Nelson must also have thought the same thing,
because he does it again. But unfortunately, the second time I read the phrase
or sentence, it didn’t have the same impact as the first.
Nevertheless, the language is fluid and evocative and, for a
jaded old thirty-something like me(!), it certainly brought back a sense of
being in your twenties and experiencing the blossoming of a new relationship - the
doing nothing except being in each other’s company together, the long phone
calls, the seeing each other off at train stations when it becomes a
long-distance thing, will all be recognisable to anyone who has been through
it. I also loved how London was like a character on its own – the feeling of summer
evenings in the city, the crossing of paths with friends and strangers.
Amongst the sweetness of the romance, the book also has a darker
flavour in the way it alludes to issues such as the individual and generational
impact of institutionalised racism, stop and search policies, and gang culture.
However Nelson deals with these with a light touch and without any moralising
or preaching, focusing instead on their impact on the psyche of black men and
women. At one point in the novel I felt that this tale of what it is
like to be a young black man in a city like London, in a society where you are
seen as a minority, was in fact the real story Nelson wanted to tell, and the
love story was just an excuse to tell it. However, he convincingly entwines the
two threads at the end of the book.
Overall, a beautifully-wrought and emotional debut from a
very promising new talent. I look forward to more from this author.
Brown Brontë rating: 4 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and @VikingBooksUK for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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