Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

188 reviews

ramreadsagain's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, it has a fantastic concept and has a lot to say about the dangers of forgetting your past, while also acknowledging the burdens of knowledge and generational trauma. 

My main critique is that I feel it's the wrong length. It should have either been shorter—and just focuson the central plotline—or a bit longer. If it was longer, we could have had more development of the events that happen during a different time in this book and perhaps some more character interactions. My gut feeling though is that it should have been shorter and really pack a quick punch. 

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lkjones19's review against another edition

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hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

I wish it was longer.  It is an excellent book, but it could have been well served by the extended development a full novel would have allowed it.

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arkwen452's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

5.0

Immediate thoughts after reading The Deep; it's slightly a casual and emotionally charged review. I'll attempt to edit it later.



Yetu's story in the deep is visceral, and very compelling. The deep is about a civilization of beings that live in the depths of the ocean. They are descendants of slaves were thrown overboard during the slave trade. Pregnant slaves, who were sick or somehow became a burden to their captors who were tossed to the ocean. This society or community of these beings has evolved over the years, and they have accessibility in the ocean, two cents and feel vibrations in the water amongst themselves in the creatures around them but also this electric pulsing power. 

They have this almost telepathic ability, when connecting to each other, during the remembrance ceremony, where the chosen historian of the community, for each generation shares with them memories of all those that have passed, and also the memories of their ancestors, who were thrown in to the ocean and lost to the creatures that dwell on the surface. While there are a few ways to interpret Yetu's pain and the way in which she suffers with the weight of being a historian, and not having a choice in the matter versus the the weight of the importance of preserving their history in their ancestors history really captivates the readers. 

I was interested in reading this book for the Trans Rights Readathon 2024, but also just for the concept in and of itself. I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about the narrative, considering it's another book tied to slavery; and as a black American, there is so much more than slavery when it comes to our history and our culture. But it's also not a thing that we can fully escape from and when it comes to this book, I did not feel that , the source of their existence was the anchor to the story that I thought it was going to be. 

Yes, this community is involved form of those thrown overboard, but they are so much more than that. And the mess one of the messages in the story really just comes from , the perseverance and preservation of their community you continue to thrive and flourish. I think that the deep is a book for all readers, because there are some for all the readers to really draw from when it comes to be struggle of identity purpose the feeling of longing, the feeling of wanting to be connected to  others or to another being. There is this feeling of wanting a freedom to be oneself and only oneself without having to hide. 

Needless to say, I really enjoyed this book. Highly recommended. 

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brendan_clay's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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ginalucia's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

5.0

 
The Deep is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the complexities of history and humanity in a deeply moving way.

I was immediately drawn in by the story's atmosphere - it's incredibly immersive and gripping right from the start. It eases you into its world before taking you on an emotional rollercoaster.

The Deep is a beautifully haunting tale that forces you to confront the harsh realities of slavery while also offering a glimpse of hope for healing and growth.

Throughout the novella, it delves into themes of generational trauma, memory, and the search for belonging, making it a deeply thought-provoking read.

The writing style is dark and lyrical, which I found intense in the best possible way. Despite its shorter length, the story packs a powerful punch. I won’t be forgetting this read.

As a bonus, I highly recommend reading the afterward, as it offers insights into the creation of The Deep.

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt 

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tessamd's review against another edition

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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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pacifickat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-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

4.25

This was a wonderfully original fantasy novella with excellent world building, a unique culture, and themes of collective memory and belonging in tension with the main character's desire for self-determination and autonomy. It is also set against the horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the cruel deaths of so many abducted Africans at sea. The Wajinru, children of African pregnant mothers thrown overboard by cruel captors and transformed into merpeople, have a history marked by tremendous grief. What I liked best about the storytelling was the lyrical style employed when describing the Wajinru in the first half of the story, and again toward the end. As a chorus, their voice is stunningly rendered.

However, there was a section toward the middle where
Yetu, the main character and ‘memory keeper’ for her people, is separated from the rest of her culture. This was less interesting to me in terms of style, but necessary for the plot of the story. Yetu longs for self-determination, individual freedom, and to be an ‘I’ in a culture of ‘we’. It is her voice that annoyed me a bit, the inclusion of details about her romantic inclinations and sexual preferences as well as her personal curiosity regarding biological distinctions between humans and merpeople. I found the unique history and anthropology of the Wajinru far more captivating than the nitty gritty of their biology. Yet Yetu’s individuality is part of the point of the story, that she doesn’t want to be swallowed up and erased in a collective oneness with her people. And what is more individual than that which a person chooses to love, and how they choose to express their affection?
 

Ultimately this is a story about finding balance, between a traumatic past and a hopeful future, between individual and communal identity, between colonizing forces and indigenous cultures, and between the land and sea itself. It is also about remembering.

"Remember. […] That was all remembering was, prodding them lest they try to move on from things that should not be moved on from. Forgetting is not the same as healing.” - Yetu

"One can only go 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 whole where a history should be that takes the shape of an endless longing. We are cavities.” - Amamba

Yetu bears all of her people’s generational trauma, that is her role as ‘memory keeper’ in a society where long-term memory has largely been erased to give her people the freedom to thrive in the present unhindered by a painful past. She is their matriarch, but she is ill-suited for the role.
Out of an instinct for self-preservation, being unable to hold all of her peoples’ pain alone, she ultimately is the one to bring the wisdom of balance to the Wajinru.
 

"She couldn’t determine which was worse, the pain of the ancestors or the pain of the living. Both fed off her.”

"She learned how to make an inch for herself.”

"She touched each one of them, figuring out how each Wajinru was outside of the oneness the remembrance brought. That mattered. Who each of them was mattered as much as who all of them were together.”

"They could bear it all together.”

It is also a story about the function of memory in culture-making and identity. 
One poignant detail is that Yetu and her romantic human interest, Oori, turn out to have come from the same distant ancestors. When Oori’s homeland is swallowed up by the sea, their history washed away, both characters lost something deep and sacred. However, they gained something as well, in the relationship they chose to forge in the present together.
 

In the afterward, The Deep is described as “a game of cumulative telephone.” The concept began as a song and was adapted over time by different musical groups until this novelization was produced.

“Each new telling of The Deep has been productive rather than destructive, and each new iteration has been carried out with admiration for the previous, […] happily taking on adaptations of each new interpreter into the future.”

This is a wonderful description of culture-making, the turning of ‘I’ into ‘we’, of carrying our stories, traumas, and longings together, erasing loneliness in the context of a communal tribe. It is forming collective memory, adapting a shared history into a cohesive perspective, a meaningful and unifying mythology.

"The living put their own mark on the dead.”
 

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frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

What if The Giver was actually based on a song, built more beautifully, with mermaids who were the pregnant enslaved people thrown overboard during the slave ship crossing?

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filosophicfoton's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0


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willow_the_wisp's review

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adventurous dark fast-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

3.5


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