7.22k reviews for:

The Deep

Rivers Solomon

3.9 AVERAGE

pokenonpotato's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

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That was all remembering was. Prodding them lest they try to move on from things that should not be moved on from. Forgetting was not the same as healing.

This book was so beautiful. Words cannot describe how much I loved it. Its a beautiful reminder of how important history is. How important it is to know your history, no matter how painful it is.

simplyalexpls's review

4.0

challenging dark 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

tlxm's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

maedbetweenthepages's review against another edition

5.0

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5 stars. Audiobook.

This book was amazing. It was extremely heavy and I truly think I'll have to re-read it more than once to really unpack everything that was in here, but even on first read, this was fantastic.
The themes of generational trauma, mental health acceptance, and the merits (or lack thereof) of societal norms really stuck out to me the most this first time though. I also loved the atmospheric writing. You truly felt like you were in the depths of the ocean while reading this. I don't know why I have a fascination with reading books set in the deep ocean when I'm terrified of it in real life, but this book did a fantastic job of submerging me in that space.
This is definitely not a light read, but absolutely worth your time.

hypevoy's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

ltaranto's review against another edition

4.0

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While there was more of a telling than showing style to this prose, it fit the content, and gave it a fable-like quality. The wajinru are merfolk descended from pregnant African slave women tossed overboard. Out of their entire civilization, one Historian takes on the burden of absorbing and carrying all the memories of their ancestors both ancient and recent, which holds hundreds of years of pain and sorrow. Yetu, the newest Historian has held this duty since she was 14 and the trauma of the rememberings is killing her. She is torn between honouring her duty and her people and honouring her own instinct for survival. How can she survive and preserve the history that made her and all her kind?

embetweenpages's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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: No

bookblanketmaker's review against another edition

4.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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It was a great premise, but it needed to be a lot longer.

randomthoughtsoftara's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional inspiring mysterious relaxing sad 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: Complicated

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"forgetting is not the same as healing"

Such a powerful book that's short.  The struggles of Yetu were very relatable and the ideas of healing and remembering were so interesting.  This was just amazing.

mariadonnamc's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Complicated