Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

57 reviews

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: Trafficking, Pregnancy, Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Murder, Grief, 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

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

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

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Eating disorder

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

Moderate: Pregnancy

giulianalb99's review

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, Physical abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racism

angelkisses's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

this is amazing. rivers solomon is 3 for 3 in my books now. their work is absolutely phenomenal. try and go to this experience with as minimal explanation as possible. this novella is an explicitly sapphic, gender/sex diverse (interspecies? kinda?) monster romance a la the shape of you (mermaids<3). While I enjoyed those passages elaborating on Yetu and Ooris budding relationship, the bulk of this story discusses the legacy of slavery and the impact of intergenerational trauma on marginalised communities. There is also a large seed of hope sown throughout this story, much in the same way that hope is weaved throughout Solomon's other work. I am grateful for their perspective on such heavy topics, as they provide a distinct feeling of possibility.

Seriously, no more talking about this book because this review should only be read quickly before any of you reading finally make the push to prioritise this off your TBR!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, War, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Genocide

bearbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective 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

4.75

The depth of this book is undeniable, and Sllomon continuously leaves you wanting more- not exactly a bad place to be left, but in this case I think that little bit more would have pushed it to 5 stars for me.

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Content Warnings

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

inestelle_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Genocide, and War

haley49's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

It’s weird to rate this book as if it is a traditional novel. This book was history and theory and philosophy in a fantasy package with no true plot. It is like an African version of the Giver with mermaids and true pain. It feels like mythos that exists to explain the world and teach themes more than to entertain. The subject matter feels vague and yet close to home. Remembering the tragedies of the past is important and this presents the Atlantic slave trade in a new way that we benefit from as readers. That said, the story is deeply tragic and is so vague and cloudy it obscures close connection. The narrative is a story of the collective told through singular eyes. The main character is not made to be super likable but to be a person trying to exist beyond the vicitimhood of their situation. It’s about generational trauma and the effect on one’s self.  
I hope any of that makes sense but what I mean to say is that it’s existence is profound and important but not necessarily enjoyable as it’s own work without context and intention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death