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The Deep

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The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Jonathan Snipes, William Hutson, and Daveed Diggs is a novella that delves into the concept of a mermaid society descended from pregnant African slaves who were thrown overboard during the slave trade. The story follows the protagonist, Yetu, who carries the memories of her people's traumatic past, struggling with the burden of remembering while the rest of her society chooses to forget. Through poetic and beautifully written prose, the book explores themes of memory, history, trauma, and the conflict between personal preservation and community duty.

Characters:

The characters are complex, reflecting themes of trauma, identity, and the struggle between personal desires and community responsibility.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is lyrical and poetic, creating an immersive experience while sometimes being challenging to follow.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot centers on Yetu, a historian of the Wajinru, who struggles with the burden of her people's painful memories and ultimately seeks her own identity.

Setting:

The story is set in an imaginative underwater world, juxtaposed with the surface world, symbolizing the characters' struggles.

Pacing:

The pacing initially feels slow but gradually becomes more engaging as the themes unfold.
“Then wake up,” Amaba said, “and wake up now. What kind of dream makes someone lurk in shark-dense waters, leaking blood like a fool? If I had not come for you, if I had not found you in time…” Amaba ...

Notes:

The main character, Yetu, is the historian for the wajinru, a group descended from pregnant African women thrown overboard during the slave trade.
The wajinru can breathe underwater and have built their society deep in the ocean.
Yetu struggles with the burden of holding all the traumatic memories of her people, which is a key theme of the book.
The story explores themes of intergenerational trauma and memory.
The concept originated from a song called 'The Deep' by the hip hop group Clipping, which includes Daveed Diggs.
Yetu faces a choice between her freedom and the well-being of her people when she escapes to the surface.
The novella addresses contemporary issues such as racial identity, gender fluidity, and historical oppression.
The writing style is often described as poetic and lyrical, mirroring the ebb and flow of ocean waves.
The book is a fascinating exploration of the balance between forgetting trauma and remembering history for future generations.
The resolution of the story leaves readers contemplating the relationship between personal trauma and collective memory.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes of slavery, historical trauma, grief, loss, and mental health struggles, which may be distressing for some readers.

From The Publisher:

The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society-and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song "The Deep" from Daveed Diggs's rap group clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people-water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners-who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one-the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities-and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past-and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity-and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode "We Are In The Future," The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

(P) 2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings (13)

Incredible (3)
Loved It (2)
Liked It (3)
It Was OK (5)

Reader Stats (53):

Read It (15)
Want To Read (33)
Not Interested (5)

3 comment(s)

It Was OK
1 week

This was a reread. I liked the premise more then the actual story, sadly. I feelt like there wasn't enough of the plot to sink my teeth into, I would probably have enjoyed if it was a bit longer and more would happen as the premise was very unique and had potential to be great.

 
It Was OK
3 months

3*

RTC

 
Loved It
5 months

Strong start, great world building and creature mythology, and an interesting MC that engages you. It had some good themes on individual vs. community, generational trauma/history, and shared burdens. Not a five star read for me just because the ending was meh at best, maybe a bit rushed but just lackluster all around after the pretty bow was tied on the plot.

 
 
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