Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

20 reviews

sophia_ryann's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Slavery

Moderate: Colonisation and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

numerous_bees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Colonisation, Blood, Child death, Slavery, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

jakobvongunten's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Slavery, and Genocide

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

chalkletters's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.75

Many years ago, after Twilight and Blood and Chocolate ushered YA paranormal romance through its vampire and werewolf phases, somebody in publishing promised me that mermaids would be next. As far as I’m aware, mermaids never hit those heights, but I was very excited to read The Deep, eve thoughts the focus of the novel was on more serious matters than romance.

The Deep’s creatures call themselves wajinru, rather than mermaids, and their origin is the pregnant slaves thrown overboard during the crossings of transatlantic slave ships. They are their own kind of fantasy creature, with their own history, culture and traditions, rather than drawing from existing mermaid folklore. Their struggle to deal with the traumatic memories of their species is obviously a metaphor for handling intergenerational trauma, and different characters deal with it in very different ways: by getting angry, by divorcing themselves from the history, by trying to protect others.

Fittingly, the narrative isn’t strictly linear. While Rivers Solomon writes mostly from Yetu’s perspective, her role as historian means the reader also experiences other lives. Zoti’s memories of the discovery and foundation of wajinru society, and their first encounter with humans, are particularly compelling. Yetu’s conversations with Oori, another human, were similarly well executed.

As is often the case with novellas, the story feels a little unbalanced. Yetu spends a lot of time thinking about the problem of the memories, which is all perfectly paced, and then the solution and ending all turn on a dime without really being given room to breathe. That said, it’s obvious from much earlier what the solution is likely to be, so it doesn’t feel out of place. While it would have been nice for Yetu to be able to brainstorm solutions, it’s thematically appropriate that she had to come to an answer on her own.

The Deep is a painful, hopeful book saying interesting things about truly important topics, and I would definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Death

Minor: War, Suicide, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

ahbmacgregor's review against another edition

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Slavery

ezwolf's review against another edition

It’s just so very repetitive. I don’t know if it would have seemed the same way if I was reading vs listening to the audiobook but it was enough that I decided to stop. It’s incredibly interesting and I think others may enjoy this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

nojerama's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

Loved this so much, it was a re-read for me and I definitely appreciated it more the second time around. Heartbreaking yet somehow comforting in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death of parent, Deportation, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gore, Murder, Racism, Violence, and War

hannibanani29's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: War, Violence, Racism, Death, and Blood

Minor: Suicide, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts