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cicelyvford 's review for:
The Water Dancer
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Grateful to have received The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates , for free, from Katie over at Penguin Random House. I was not paid to write a review.
Coates is one of those authors who can write with such depth that nearly every word on every page leaps into your very consciousness and makes you rethink what you thought you knew in the world. He challenges your compass in all areas while teaching something valuable whether he is unpacking racism or dissecting ANY social issue or delivering an impactful fictional and magically real narrative that leaves you gasping after each chapter.
From the first page I felt literary parallels to Toni Morrison. Coates manages to write such a preeminent story so delicately yet at the same time give the reader all the rawness and realities of the system of slavery. Within the painful reminders of this story of such a time, lies an idea of how indomitable and transformative our memories can be.
Hiram, the main character, prides himself on his memory. However, when he was a young boy, Hiram’s mother was sold into slavery by his father which left him with no memory of her. This is such a disheartening reminder of how trauma can affect memories - how suppression becomes necessary for self preservation. What makes this story unique is that although Hiram was stripped of the memory of his mother, he was given a gift where his memory would be the catalyst for an unprecedented event.
Hiram has a brother, Maynard. Sidebar: I thought the relationship between them was compelling. I believed Hiram cared for his brother very much while also feeling the burden of responsibility to him. While driving, Hiram had a vision of his mother that sent him and his brother veering into the water. The water seemed to be a metaphor for the dreams realized, and unrealized, of those suffering under the laws of slavery.
Maynard did not survive, but Hiram did. As the story continued, many of the Tasked {slaves} spoke highly of Maynard, but Hiram was quick to remind them that he was not the person they portrayed him to be. He did not understand how someone becomes a saint in death when they were anything but in life.
"Then everything fell away, the chains, Maynard, the field itself and I was enveloped in the blackness of night. And the black branches of forest sprang up around me, and I was alone, and afraid and lost until looking up I saw a silver moon, and then heavens blinked out from the blackness, and among them I could distinguish Ursa Minor, the mystical bear who secreted away the old gods. I knew this because Mr. Fields had shown me a star map on our last day together. And looking at the tail of the bear, I saw something else: the mark of my future days, wreathed in brilliant, but ghostly blue, and the North Star."
The above quote from pg. 44 is Hiram’s dream. I think his dream was about the burdens he carried and his desire not just for physical freedom, but freedom from the responsibility of those burdens including his brother and those deemed as the Tasked. He wanted to emerge from the darkness of his circumstances into the light of a better life. I love the part of the passage where it says “…until looking up I saw a silver moon…” - a silver lining, perhaps, that makes freedom within reach.
His relationship with Thena, a woman who lived on the plantation and whose firm and straight forward manner was misunderstood by many, blossomed throughout the story. Thena’s pain was palpable as so much personal loss had hardened her heart. She became like a second mother to him. She gave him tough love and hard truths but it was what he needed because Hiram, while determined, was stubborn to the core.
To sort of rewind a bit, I thought it clever of Coates to use the Tasked & the Quality to identify class - the slaves & the slave masters, the house slave & the field slave, the “low whites” as Coates termed them and those of means. However, as I continued to read, those two terms could not be held simply to just identifying these groups. I saw them as quite more. The Tasked seemingly represents the weight carried by most people to push past the most heinous of circumstances into a better life. The Tasked, for me, came more to mean the obligatory feelings humanity deals with when wanting to control & fix the things that cannot be controlled . Hiram had a savior complex - heavy is the head that wears the crown - so to speak. The Quality represents the way in which we push past those burdens or not. Will you fight or will you use every excuse to cave?
Hiram chose to fight. Fast forward. The gift that was bestowed upon Hiram is called conduction which is awakened by memory. I envisioned how easily the lives of slaves could have been transformed if such a power was in fact real. However, I can see where this idea would have swayed some reader s as it sort of puts a magical spin on one of the most heinous systems in American history. Hiram being aware of this power, almost dying himself and losing his brother evokes in him the courage to escape. He also helps the people he loves to escape from the walls of the Virginia plantation where he was born and raised. Coates ties a prominent historical figure into this part of the story.
Coates tapped into the idea of accessing transformative power in order to ignite change. This story is layered and entangled in the heavy topic of slavery and the thought of incorporating magical realism into it could devalue its significance to some readers. However, stories are told through generations that inherently shape the present. It’s the memory of these stories that either harnesses the power within or creates a perpetual state of victimhood. Hiram chose the power within. I think Coates subtly makes this distinction. The pacing is slow in the last few chapters but this doesn’t take anything away from the overall narrative. I wanted to include a few things about Hiram’s memories. I hope you enjoyed this review and you bookmark this one for the near future.
This book was powerful, layered & textured. I’d even say a modern classic. Coates never disappoints with his ability to storytell while teaching and teach while storytelling. I will by anything he writes!!
Coates is one of those authors who can write with such depth that nearly every word on every page leaps into your very consciousness and makes you rethink what you thought you knew in the world. He challenges your compass in all areas while teaching something valuable whether he is unpacking racism or dissecting ANY social issue or delivering an impactful fictional and magically real narrative that leaves you gasping after each chapter.
From the first page I felt literary parallels to Toni Morrison. Coates manages to write such a preeminent story so delicately yet at the same time give the reader all the rawness and realities of the system of slavery. Within the painful reminders of this story of such a time, lies an idea of how indomitable and transformative our memories can be.
Hiram, the main character, prides himself on his memory. However, when he was a young boy, Hiram’s mother was sold into slavery by his father which left him with no memory of her. This is such a disheartening reminder of how trauma can affect memories - how suppression becomes necessary for self preservation. What makes this story unique is that although Hiram was stripped of the memory of his mother, he was given a gift where his memory would be the catalyst for an unprecedented event.
Hiram has a brother, Maynard. Sidebar: I thought the relationship between them was compelling. I believed Hiram cared for his brother very much while also feeling the burden of responsibility to him. While driving, Hiram had a vision of his mother that sent him and his brother veering into the water. The water seemed to be a metaphor for the dreams realized, and unrealized, of those suffering under the laws of slavery.
Maynard did not survive, but Hiram did. As the story continued, many of the Tasked {slaves} spoke highly of Maynard, but Hiram was quick to remind them that he was not the person they portrayed him to be. He did not understand how someone becomes a saint in death when they were anything but in life.
"Then everything fell away, the chains, Maynard, the field itself and I was enveloped in the blackness of night. And the black branches of forest sprang up around me, and I was alone, and afraid and lost until looking up I saw a silver moon, and then heavens blinked out from the blackness, and among them I could distinguish Ursa Minor, the mystical bear who secreted away the old gods. I knew this because Mr. Fields had shown me a star map on our last day together. And looking at the tail of the bear, I saw something else: the mark of my future days, wreathed in brilliant, but ghostly blue, and the North Star."
The above quote from pg. 44 is Hiram’s dream. I think his dream was about the burdens he carried and his desire not just for physical freedom, but freedom from the responsibility of those burdens including his brother and those deemed as the Tasked. He wanted to emerge from the darkness of his circumstances into the light of a better life. I love the part of the passage where it says “…until looking up I saw a silver moon…” - a silver lining, perhaps, that makes freedom within reach.
His relationship with Thena, a woman who lived on the plantation and whose firm and straight forward manner was misunderstood by many, blossomed throughout the story. Thena’s pain was palpable as so much personal loss had hardened her heart. She became like a second mother to him. She gave him tough love and hard truths but it was what he needed because Hiram, while determined, was stubborn to the core.
To sort of rewind a bit, I thought it clever of Coates to use the Tasked & the Quality to identify class - the slaves & the slave masters, the house slave & the field slave, the “low whites” as Coates termed them and those of means. However, as I continued to read, those two terms could not be held simply to just identifying these groups. I saw them as quite more. The Tasked seemingly represents the weight carried by most people to push past the most heinous of circumstances into a better life. The Tasked, for me, came more to mean the obligatory feelings humanity deals with when wanting to control & fix the things that cannot be controlled . Hiram had a savior complex - heavy is the head that wears the crown - so to speak. The Quality represents the way in which we push past those burdens or not. Will you fight or will you use every excuse to cave?
Hiram chose to fight. Fast forward. The gift that was bestowed upon Hiram is called conduction which is awakened by memory. I envisioned how easily the lives of slaves could have been transformed if such a power was in fact real. However, I can see where this idea would have swayed some reader s as it sort of puts a magical spin on one of the most heinous systems in American history. Hiram being aware of this power, almost dying himself and losing his brother evokes in him the courage to escape. He also helps the people he loves to escape from the walls of the Virginia plantation where he was born and raised. Coates ties a prominent historical figure into this part of the story.
Coates tapped into the idea of accessing transformative power in order to ignite change. This story is layered and entangled in the heavy topic of slavery and the thought of incorporating magical realism into it could devalue its significance to some readers. However, stories are told through generations that inherently shape the present. It’s the memory of these stories that either harnesses the power within or creates a perpetual state of victimhood. Hiram chose the power within. I think Coates subtly makes this distinction. The pacing is slow in the last few chapters but this doesn’t take anything away from the overall narrative. I wanted to include a few things about Hiram’s memories. I hope you enjoyed this review and you bookmark this one for the near future.
This book was powerful, layered & textured. I’d even say a modern classic. Coates never disappoints with his ability to storytell while teaching and teach while storytelling. I will by anything he writes!!