Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

51 reviews

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

maeverose's review against another edition

5.0

I don’t have the words to properly review this but this book is beautiful and everyone should read it (though check content warnings first, there are some heavy themes in it).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

Death in childbirth, baby is born after mother died

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

giulianalb99's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is pure suffering but I think everyone should read it. 
Unfortunately, in the times we are living in, there is a lot of racism and this book talks about it in a way that makes you suffer from start to finish. I’ve read this book in an afternoon and it is so well written but it wasn’t an easy read for all the topics it deals with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racism

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

galexy_brain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

This novella beautifully explores how intergenerational trauma can wear on individuals of later generations. It touches on how forgetting is easier but doesn't allow for healing. Interrogating the past is important because one is nothing without their history. Supporting one another as a community is a way to work through the collective trauma that stops individuals from shouldering the burden alone. 

I overall enjoyed this book but found the main character, Yetu, quite frustrating. I appreciated that the themes also explored parents misunderstanding their children (notable quote: "Yetu appreciated Amaba's caring nature, but sometimes her gentle chiding turned into chafing, and Yetu was reminded of all that was wrong between them.") and what I interpreted as navigating a neurotypical world as a neurodiverse person. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Slavery, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Kidnapping

andreapap15's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

My only gripe about this novella is that it's not longer. Gorgeous writing as expected of the author, with a captivating conversation about the legacy of generational trauma and memory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Slavery