Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

61 reviews

adiajamille's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Really lovely book. Nice quick read. There’s some repetitiveness of wording. But overall it’s really moving. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

charrlee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"'What is belonging?' we ask.
She says, 'Where loneliness ends.'" (Solomon 49)

"How disorienting it is to go most of your life wondering about a thing, only to happen upon the answer, and it is a horror." (Solomon 57).

River Solomon's novella is profoundly atmospheric. I've never connected to a work so deeply and I will continue to be spellbound by Solomon's beautifully tragic narrative. Listen to "The Deep" by clipping. to see the inspiration and building of the mythos. I am thrilled for my future reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

mmestitches's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

bkwrm1317's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Style was very interesting. I’d like to read more Solomon that’s from a different project. Was unaware of the tie ins with music etc prior to reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide attempt

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Solomon's writing throughout The Deep is evocative and rhythmic. It's no wonder that this whole story is based on a song of the same name by clipping. The concept at this book's core, that merpeople were born of pregnant women thrown overboard on slave ships, is so haunting and poignant. I loved the lore that Solomon built around the wajinru and their culture: The Remembering, the relationships with land dwelling humans, the connections with whales... The Deep contains such a beautiful and rugged undersea world.

The Deep is a truly stunning novella. My only complaint is that the length of the story left me wanting more. I wanted more info on the Tidal Wars or Oori's family. The Deep was so immersive that I would have gladly stayed in its world for many more hours. Alas!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

building_a_bookdom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

pages_and_cacti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Yetu, the Historian for the Wajinru, descendants of pregnant African slave women that were thrown into the ocean by slavers, wants to live a life of freedom from the history she holds for her kind.  She must learn that her history is what makes the Wajinru who they are. 

My thoughts: I actually enjoyed the story as a whole and the meaning of the importance of one’s history. I love the line, “We cannot understand a people that would willingly choose to cut itself off from its history, no matter what pain it entails”.  Our history is who we are and should never be lost. The problem I had with the book, other reviews touted this as an LGBTQ+ book and I am not  as convinced. While Yetu and Oora did develop a relationship, Oora was human and Yetu was a “mermaid”. The Wajinru were described as fish, had both sex organs, and also called an “animal” in the writing. This relationship would seem to be more like beastiality than a lesbian relationship. I understand that this is likely not what the writer meant to portray, but it came across that way to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury

ananthousflorist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pregnancy

giulianalb99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is pure suffering but I think everyone should read it. 
Unfortunately, in the times we are living in, there is a lot of racism and this book talks about it in a way that makes you suffer from start to finish. I’ve read this book in an afternoon and it is so well written but it wasn’t an easy read for all the topics it deals with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail