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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
alsoapples's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Slavery
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Definitely a novella unlike anything I’ve read before. While the story gave me much to think about and I liked Solomon’s writing, I found it difficult to get into. I liked Yetu and Oori and the wajinru, but wasn’t truly invested in any part of the story.
Representation
Representation
- all Black cast
- sapphic demisexual Black intersex protagonist and love interest
- intersex side characters
- nonbinary side character that uses they/them pronouns
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy
Also features mentions of drowningkylieqrada'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
storiesandsidequests's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.0
Representation: all-Black cast, intersex characters, sapphic relationship, nonbinary side character
Content warnings: self-harm, suicidal thoughts, references to slavery and genocide
This novella features an underwater society comprised of mermaid-like creatures who are the descendants of pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard by slave owners. The burden of remembering this traumatic past is placed on one individual known as the historian. When Yetu becomes overwhelmed by the memories that she alone holds, she escapes to the surface world leaving her people to struggle with the pain of remembering the trauma. For being such a short story, it’s very difficult to describe. The world building was beautiful, but the backstory and explanations felt fragmented at times, which could be an intentional choice to highlight the theme of overwhelming memories of trauma as they return to the people. The audiobook was narrated by Daveed Diggs, so I highly recommend listening if you can.
Content warnings: self-harm, suicidal thoughts, references to slavery and genocide
This novella features an underwater society comprised of mermaid-like creatures who are the descendants of pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard by slave owners. The burden of remembering this traumatic past is placed on one individual known as the historian. When Yetu becomes overwhelmed by the memories that she alone holds, she escapes to the surface world leaving her people to struggle with the pain of remembering the trauma. For being such a short story, it’s very difficult to describe. The world building was beautiful, but the backstory and explanations felt fragmented at times, which could be an intentional choice to highlight the theme of overwhelming memories of trauma as they return to the people. The audiobook was narrated by Daveed Diggs, so I highly recommend listening if you can.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
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
story_goblin's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-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
5.0
This is not a book I know how to review. It's so unique in both content and concept that I have no idea how to talk about it to someone who hasn't read it. I was fascinated the entire time. The audiobook (read by Daveed Diggs) was fantastic. I have also read Rivers Solomon's book An Unkindness of Ghosts. I would say that this book is a less... difficult? somewhat easier to stomach?... than An Unkindness of Ghosts, but is equally unflinching in it's treatment of heavy topics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Self harm
tqlikesbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“One can only go for so long without asking ‘who am I?’, ‘where do I come from?’, ‘what does all this mean?’, ‘what is being?’, ‘what came before me and what might come after?’. Without answers there is only a hole. A hole where a history should be that takes the shape of an endless longing. We are cavities.”
A powerful and beautifully written novella with an exceptional premise. However I didn't enjoy this story as much as I thought I would; I found the story a little too abstract and would have liked to see more from the world and story. I did really enjoy the themes of intergenerational trauma, healing and memory. It's definitely very creative and conceptual, and it's certainly a book I would recommend to others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Slavery
Moderate: Death
moonlit_paperbacks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism
sauvageloup's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
brilliant!! ^-^
pros:
- excellent writing, simple but gripping, powerful and visual. It's so easy to just get swept up and immersed in it, just like the sea
- Yetu is a relatable figure, even as she struggles with herself over what to do. The situation is fictional but the pain between self and community, between past and present, desire and duty, are all relatable difficulties
- there is a clear arc, even as there are diversions and back-and-forth parts in the middle. Yetu grows hugely, as does her mother, and Oori, too, and their whole community
- the idea and worldbuilding are fascinating and the details of 'mud womb' and their traditions add a lot of depth
- i loved the dips into previous "historians", who were clearly of very different temperaments to Yetu. it never became too confusing about what time we were in, roughly, nor where we were headed
- whilst it dealt with very heavy topics and Yetu was struggling, there was never an overwhelming heaviness that made it suffocating to read
- the we pronouns used in it were a great way to emphasise the community and togetherness of the wajinru
cons:
- only con was for me personally, that i could've done without the fairly graphic description of birth, though it didn't go on long enough to be too bad. Also wasn't too interested in wajinru genitals tbh, but i appreciate that it showed Oori and Yetu's growing relationship and her curiosity.
overall, fantastic. I'd like to read it again when i've forgotten it a bit. it's a powerful must-read
pros:
- excellent writing, simple but gripping, powerful and visual. It's so easy to just get swept up and immersed in it, just like the sea
- Yetu is a relatable figure, even as she struggles with herself over what to do. The situation is fictional but the pain between self and community, between past and present, desire and duty, are all relatable difficulties
- there is a clear arc, even as there are diversions and back-and-forth parts in the middle. Yetu grows hugely, as does her mother, and Oori, too, and their whole community
- the idea and worldbuilding are fascinating and the details of 'mud womb' and their traditions add a lot of depth
- i loved the dips into previous "historians", who were clearly of very different temperaments to Yetu. it never became too confusing about what time we were in, roughly, nor where we were headed
- whilst it dealt with very heavy topics and Yetu was struggling, there was never an overwhelming heaviness that made it suffocating to read
- the we pronouns used in it were a great way to emphasise the community and togetherness of the wajinru
cons:
- only con was for me personally, that i could've done without the fairly graphic description of birth, though it didn't go on long enough to be too bad. Also wasn't too interested in wajinru genitals tbh, but i appreciate that it showed Oori and Yetu's growing relationship and her curiosity.
overall, fantastic. I'd like to read it again when i've forgotten it a bit. it's a powerful must-read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, and Racism
Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content
graphic scenes of childbirth, suicidal ideation, threat of suicide, passive suicidal ideation