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touchegiantsquid's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Amazing premise but the execution didn't engage me. The nonlinearity of the storytelling didn't feel like it was deployed to help heighten the tension or deepen my emotional connections. It felt like a lot of world building that didn't have a smooth place to fit into the story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Suicide attempt
macknificent's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, and Violence
Minor: Body horror
ellariawrites's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
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
5.0
“Forgetting is not the same as healing.”
This was such a beautiful and intense story. I haven’t encountered a story like this before. I haven’t seen mermaids presented this way before.
I heard about The Deep after listening to an episode of the Sci-Fi Sigh Podcast. The story follows Yetu who is the historian for an underwater group of people called the Wajinru. Think of the Wajinru as mermaids, mermaids that came to be because they are the descendants of enslaved pregnant African women who were thrown over board during the trans Atlantic slave trade. As a historian, Yetu is tasked with the responsibility of holding all the memories of her people. Their entire history, origins, traumas, everything, she has to hold. And as you can imagine, that is a crushing weight to bare. Once a year, the Wajinru hold this event called the Remeberance where for about 3 days, all the Wajinru come together and Yetu gives them back their memories. It’s the only time of the year when she is free from holding the memories. She’s been doing this for 20 years but this time, she leaves. She flees her people. And the story follows her from there.
This is a story of trauma, and of generational trauma. And carrying that burden is practically killing Yetu. Many times she tries to harm herself or take her own life because of how much pain she’s in. She also experiences gaslighting because her people don’t think it’s that bad. They believe it to be an honor to be the historian, how could it ever be a burden? And the saddest part of all to me is that Yetu feels like a failure. She’s feels like she’s letting everyone down because of how much she struggles to carry the memories. And she doesn’t know who she is. She talks often about how she is the historian to her people and how she is existing as all of the people before her, to the point where she doesn’t believe she herself, Yetu, exists or is alive.
This story asks some incredible questions. What is a people without their history? Does a people exist if there’s no one left to remember them and tell their stories? Is it right to make one person bare the entire weight of a society? What can happen when we don’t deal with our trauma, if we choose to ignore it or not acknowledge it? Who are we after we’ve let go of all our trauma? Is it right to abandon your people in order to save yourself?
This story is also unapologetically queer. The characters are queer, the perspective the story is told through is queer, the romances sprinkled throughout are queer. The story also takes an interesting look at gender and sexuality. I really liked the way gender was presented in this story. Yetu says that the wajinru have self determining bodies and can choose to have either, both, or neither parts. And it’s normal for wajinru to have multiple partners at one time or at different times.
This is as much a story of pain as it is a story of hope. There is so much this book goes into and in a surprisingly short amount of pages. Many many many papers could be written about this one book. Everything in this book, trauma, history, queerness, the environment, and fantasy, all of them weave together to form an enthralling tale that I highly, highly, highly recommend reading.
This was such a beautiful and intense story. I haven’t encountered a story like this before. I haven’t seen mermaids presented this way before.
I heard about The Deep after listening to an episode of the Sci-Fi Sigh Podcast. The story follows Yetu who is the historian for an underwater group of people called the Wajinru. Think of the Wajinru as mermaids, mermaids that came to be because they are the descendants of enslaved pregnant African women who were thrown over board during the trans Atlantic slave trade. As a historian, Yetu is tasked with the responsibility of holding all the memories of her people. Their entire history, origins, traumas, everything, she has to hold. And as you can imagine, that is a crushing weight to bare. Once a year, the Wajinru hold this event called the Remeberance where for about 3 days, all the Wajinru come together and Yetu gives them back their memories. It’s the only time of the year when she is free from holding the memories. She’s been doing this for 20 years but this time, she leaves. She flees her people. And the story follows her from there.
This is a story of trauma, and of generational trauma. And carrying that burden is practically killing Yetu. Many times she tries to harm herself or take her own life because of how much pain she’s in. She also experiences gaslighting because her people don’t think it’s that bad. They believe it to be an honor to be the historian, how could it ever be a burden? And the saddest part of all to me is that Yetu feels like a failure. She’s feels like she’s letting everyone down because of how much she struggles to carry the memories. And she doesn’t know who she is. She talks often about how she is the historian to her people and how she is existing as all of the people before her, to the point where she doesn’t believe she herself, Yetu, exists or is alive.
This story asks some incredible questions. What is a people without their history? Does a people exist if there’s no one left to remember them and tell their stories? Is it right to make one person bare the entire weight of a society? What can happen when we don’t deal with our trauma, if we choose to ignore it or not acknowledge it? Who are we after we’ve let go of all our trauma? Is it right to abandon your people in order to save yourself?
This story is also unapologetically queer. The characters are queer, the perspective the story is told through is queer, the romances sprinkled throughout are queer. The story also takes an interesting look at gender and sexuality. I really liked the way gender was presented in this story. Yetu says that the wajinru have self determining bodies and can choose to have either, both, or neither parts. And it’s normal for wajinru to have multiple partners at one time or at different times.
This is as much a story of pain as it is a story of hope. There is so much this book goes into and in a surprisingly short amount of pages. Many many many papers could be written about this one book. Everything in this book, trauma, history, queerness, the environment, and fantasy, all of them weave together to form an enthralling tale that I highly, highly, highly recommend reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicide attempt
melaniereadsbooks's review
dark
fast-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
Wow I loved this book so much! The history and lore and plot behind this book was so so good! I was so intrigued. I also absolutely loved the writing style. I was instantly drawn in and wanting to know what would happen next. This was such a good and fast read, with really deep themes and messages! I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness
kylieqrada's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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
I listened to this via the audiobook version, which is narrated by Daveed Diggs. I highly, highly recommend that reading experience. I had previously read An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, so I knew that I was in for some deep (no pun intended) stuff with anything by them. However, I think that what Rivers accomplished here is so beyond anything else I've read, especially when considered with the context of the Drexia ouevre and the clipping song. The exploration of generational trauma and the impact of history on the collective and the individual was heart-rending, deeply impactful, and richly portrayed through each character. Also the diversity in this short novella is some of the best I've ever seen. I see you, demi rep!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Xenophobia
sarah984's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-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
4.0
This was a short book, but I found the writing style fairly dense and challenging. Somehow it seemed to have a lot of extraneous detail and repetition, especially in the middle. However, I really liked the messages about the pain and power of shared history and generational trauma, and the ending was good enough to make me want to rate it higher than I had initially.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Sexual content, and Genocide
megplant's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
spxnningsxlver's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Genocide, and Mental illness
Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Vomit
podanotherjessi's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-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
Beware of triggering content in this book. Specifically suicide attempts and self harm, but there is a lot of tough content in this book.
That said, this is a beautiful, complex, rich book. This is slow, but very worth it. And worth really taking your time on to absorb. A lot of deep story telling and many layers of messages. Really a brilliant work of art.
Edit:
Reread as an audiobook. I think the faster pace of listening rather than reading myself was a detriment to the experience. Diggs has a wonderful voice, but I'm not sure he's the best at narrating. But still a great story that is worth taking your time with. Really give it your full attention.
Characters: 9
Plot: 8
Setting: 10
General appeal: 9
Writing style: 9
Originality: 10
Ending: 9
That said, this is a beautiful, complex, rich book. This is slow, but very worth it. And worth really taking your time on to absorb. A lot of deep story telling and many layers of messages. Really a brilliant work of art.
Edit:
Reread as an audiobook. I think the faster pace of listening rather than reading myself was a detriment to the experience. Diggs has a wonderful voice, but I'm not sure he's the best at narrating. But still a great story that is worth taking your time with. Really give it your full attention.
Characters: 9
Plot: 8
Setting: 10
General appeal: 9
Writing style: 9
Originality: 10
Ending: 9
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
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