Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

37 reviews

bucketsjen's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

The children of pregnant African women thrown overboard by slavers have adapted to the water and built their own society. They appoint one person every generation to be the Historian that holds all of their memories - but the current historian is struggling as the only person holding the awareness of pain and history. She returns the memories and flees, leaving her people to grapple with their history alone as she tries to find herself... but of course, their unprocessed pain effects everything.  

Has themes of cultural, generational, and personal trauma, the pain of being the only one who Knows and Understands, and processing/healing to move forward.  It's REALLY well done. While the subject matter is heavy, it's managed deftly and the book is surprisingly healing to read.

I really recommend the audiobook for this one. Daveed Diggs does an incredible job, and the work's musical history really lends it to auditory retelling.  There's an Afterward by Diggs which was an awesome addition to the story (he's funny and insightful).

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Self harm, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

Animal death, Attempted suicide, Grief, Hallucinations, Slavery (past), Self-harm, Trauma (personal, generational, cultural), violence, references to familial death.

numerous_bees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Colonisation, Blood, Child death, Slavery, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

biobeetle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Medical content, War, Suicide attempt, Death, Violence, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Child death

tessamd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

The message and plot of this book are beautiful. However, as important as the message was, I felt beat over the head with it. There was little room for imagination and interpretation. Since the book was so short, there was also no time to get to know the characters well

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Racism, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

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

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

kiingalysha's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

I wish this book was longer so the author could have spent more time telling us about the world. I would have LOVED a better look into this unique world. While I understand the book was about Yetu and her journey, I felt like the world she lives in is unclear to me. Ironically, or maybe intentionally, her world feels unclear to me. I just wish we could have built on this special concept so much more. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Death, Pregnancy, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

alicelalicon's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Self harm, Pregnancy, Racism, Blood, and Death

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, Grief, Mental illness, Slavery, Blood, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, and Abandonment

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

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