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A review by megsreads
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
2.0
A mermaid-like creature. A traumatic shared history. A heavy burden.
Yetu is the Historian, the keeper of memories, for her people—a group of merpeople called wajinru who evolved from pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships. Her people’s traumatic history is forgotten year after year by everyone except Yetu. It is a labor of love, remembering, because it takes such an immense toll on her. Being responsible for the remembered history of the wajinru meant there was no room in her for her sense of self and the memories overwhelmed her. After years of this heavy burden, Yetu has had enough and flees to the surface in an attempt to escape her fate. But if she doesn’t remember, who will? Without passing her people’s memories on to another member of the wajinru, they’ll be lost forever.
I was so intrigued by this premise and I feel like there were so many directions this novella could’ve gone. For me though, while the language was often utterly poetic and many of the descriptions were beautifully detailed, my overall impression was that the story was a bit convoluted and the pacing was very slow and labored. I’m not sure exactly what the reader was supposed to glean from this tale. It seemed as though it was desperately trying to convey something, I’m just not sure what exactly that was.
⭐️⭐️
Their memories faded after weeks or months—if not through wajinru biological predisposition for forgetfulness, then through sheer force of will. Those cursed with more intact long-term recollection learned how to forget, how to throw themselves into the moment. Only the historian was allowed to remember.
Yetu is the Historian, the keeper of memories, for her people—a group of merpeople called wajinru who evolved from pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships. Her people’s traumatic history is forgotten year after year by everyone except Yetu. It is a labor of love, remembering, because it takes such an immense toll on her. Being responsible for the remembered history of the wajinru meant there was no room in her for her sense of self and the memories overwhelmed her. After years of this heavy burden, Yetu has had enough and flees to the surface in an attempt to escape her fate. But if she doesn’t remember, who will? Without passing her people’s memories on to another member of the wajinru, they’ll be lost forever.
I was so intrigued by this premise and I feel like there were so many directions this novella could’ve gone. For me though, while the language was often utterly poetic and many of the descriptions were beautifully detailed, my overall impression was that the story was a bit convoluted and the pacing was very slow and labored. I’m not sure exactly what the reader was supposed to glean from this tale. It seemed as though it was desperately trying to convey something, I’m just not sure what exactly that was.
⭐️⭐️