Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

51 reviews

seratsexyrat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

I will never fully understand the pain of chattel slavery that was experienced by Black people, but I share the sentiment and the feeling of intergenerational pain and trauma as a diaspora person. Solomon managed to tap into that raw feeling of not wanting to know and needing to know that particular trauma because like it or not, that trauma to a point defines who we are. Yetu's pain and existence as a person is so real on the pages, this book haunted me for days after finishing it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Self harm

kanthereader's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Animal death, Death, Abandonment, Slavery, and Pregnancy

Minor: War and Suicide attempt

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

dancingprince's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Colonisation, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Minor: Slavery and Pregnancy

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Slavery

Moderate: Pregnancy, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Self harm

discarded_dust_jacket's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. Ok, let me collect my thoughts.

This story is an incredibly imaginative and deeply moving study of generational trauma, the struggle between the importance of remembering and the need to survive, and the power of community—of a people, as one, sharing the weight of history together, grieving and celebrating together.

And beyond that, I love how this book, like its characters, can’t exist on its own. Solomon openly embraces the direct inspiration that birthed the story’s central mythology: a song of the same name by clipping., who, in turn, acknowledges its origins in the work of Detroit-based musical duo Drexciya. 

The afterword puts it beautifully:

“We prefer to imagine each of these objects as artifacts—as primary sources—each showing a different angle on a world whose nature can never be observed in totality. … Experiencing these works requires labor—something like that of an archaeologist who’s discovered multiple texts about the Drexciyan civilization [the underwater society descended from the children of drowned, pregnant enslaved women that forms this story] and is tasked with assembling a picture of that civilization.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, War, Self harm, Violence, Gore, Death, Slavery, Blood, 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

catwhisperer's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Slavery, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Suicidal thoughts