Finished reading: Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson 📚

Second person, poetic passages, woven through with music references. So many things I’m interested in squeezed into 164 pages. It’s heavy though (not, like, physically heavy).

Craig Mod has talked about how second person stories, when done well, can feel like video games, this definitely fits the bill. It’s engrossing. It was like I was hovering just over the shoulder of the protagonist.

Here are some (no spoilers) snippets that I noted down: > There are really only two plot devices when writing: a stranger comes to town, or a person goes on a journey. All good work is just variations of these ideas.

Gotta love writing advice hidden in a piece of good writing.

Every time you remember something, the memory weakens, as you’re remembering the last recollection, rather than the memory itself. Nothing can remain intact.

Just casually dropping some philosophical knowledge bombs.

Faith is turning off the light and trusting the other person will not murder you in your sleep.

Probably the best definition I’ve heard. (is this what George Michael was singing about?)

If you give a name to this day does that mean this life is yours? To name: basic, audacious.

I don’t have an answer.

WARNING: the below is not a plot spoiler, but it is a beautiful, haiku-like poetic passage spoiler.

As you walk through the front gate blossom showers, like burst bag of glitter. Overhead.