So the reader wonders: Why doesn't he act and try to make friends? Why the self-pity? And plot holes abound: When Stephen is so passionate about music, why do we hardly hear that he plays the trumpet, that he works towards performing, that he hangs out with bands, etc.? Let's take Stephen's attempt to go to university: He feels lonely and out of place, and it's depicted like a Shakespearean plight. But nothing here is worked through in a stringent manner, it's a text heavily reliant on moody writing and heavy-handed plot points that treat small and big tragedies alike. Now that could make for interesting concept: A young protagonist torn between his own world - a relatable position, as we all try to build a place where we can thrive with the ones we love and feel ourselves - and the world around him. What is meant here is that Stephen shuts himself away in his own small world, a world he intends to protect, where he knows himself in music. Thus, the language picks up a rhythm that is then again reflected in the idea that dancing is the only thing that can solve Stephen's problems, which sounds poetic, but is of course nonsense: Issues like police brutality, the reverberations of the slave trade, youthful disorientation and other topics the text mentions will not be danced away anytime soon. The text is also structured by repeating certain sentences like a chorus. Music is important on the plot level: Not only because Stephen and Del are musicians and music is important for just about every character, Nelson also constantly gives the events depicted a soundtrack by referring to musicians and records. All narrative strands of this coming-of-age novel relate to familial trauma and experiences of racism, particularly in Great Britain. And this motif of transit(ion) is central, as we learn about the migration history of Stephen's parents and his own journey to Ghana, his brother's path to becoming a father, and Stephen's dream of striking a romantic relationship with his friend Del and becoming a musician. Much like the highly praised Open Water, Caleb Azumah Nelson's second novel is lyrical and poetically ambitious: Rendered in an intense, dramatic voice, we accompany our narrator and protagonist Stephen during three summers after his high school graduation, so in a transitory phase of life. Set over the course of three summers in Stephen's life, from London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within. 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? ![]() Stephen has only ever known himself in song. Dancing alone, at home, to his father's records, uncovering parts of a man he has never truly known. ![]() Dancing with his best friend Adeline, two-stepping around the living room, crooning and grooving, so close their heads might touch. Dancing with his band, making music which speaks not just to the hardships of their lives, but the joys too. ![]() Dancing with his friends, somewhere in a basement with the drums about to drop, while the DJ spins garage cuts. Dancing at Church, with his parents and brother, the shimmer of Black hands raised in praise he might have lost his faith, but he does believe in rhythm. The one thing that can solve Stephen's problems is dancing. 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
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