Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

76 reviews

pikkumarja's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

I believe this story is one of those stories that split the readers. I enjoyed reading this book. It was so powerful. All the emotions were so skillfully described I was almost able to feel the pressure, feel the dark, deep ocean around me and the weight of the history.

The novella is queer in a unique way and very emotional. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Blood

alyssarenee's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

queer little mermaid x the giver x the ones who walk away from omelas

short but packed with emotion. a dystopian underwater society descended from african slaves on ships. i loved the concept and depiction of intergenerational trauma, just wished this were a bit longer/fleshed out more. 

side note, i was definitely picturing the merpeople from harry potter.

this was my first read from this author, and looking forward to more!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Suicide attempt

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

It’s always hard for me to know how to rate such short books because I feel like it was over before I got to really connect with the characters. I enjoyed how the author used time and followed Yetu’s story throughout while also weaving in the experiences of past historians.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

3eggomelet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

2.5

Maybe I can attribute this to the book being hyped up by others, but it was kind of a let-down. I expected more substance or more plot.

The ending felt like the easy way out. I thought Yetu and Oori were going to be together, but Oori being able to physically change so drastically was unbelievable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Self harm, Violence, and Dysphoria

Minor: Pregnancy and Abandonment

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

Given that this is a book based on a song it is in essence very lyrical and free flowing in nature. I liked that in some aspects of the story but it also made it very hard to follow the story in a chronological way. The story from what I can tell skipped between Yetu’s narrative to that of their collective community and was not linear in nature which made it a bit confusing for me. That being said I thought the themes of remembering history in community and of defining yourself grounded in that history were very strong and despite not loving the format the writing was lovely and I think this story would be stunning in other visual formats as well to really carry on the story told here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Death of parent

violetends's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Pregnancy

kirstieanya's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.75

This novel has strong thematic ideas and a great general concept, but I found it really difficult to get into (despite its short length).

I couldn't put my finger on why until I read another review discussing the writing style. The writing is not varied regarding sentence structure, making it not particularly engaging.

As mentioned, the premise is incredibly strong, poignant, and thought-provoking. I just wish it were written in a slightly more engaging way. I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, I didn't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

gandalf_a's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Slavery, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

gabepants's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, and Slavery

culpeppper's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I already wrote out a review and it didn't save, so I'm gonna do a bullet point style thing here:

• The metaphors were immense, sometimes clever and sometimes a little too on the nose, but largely the use of weaving those metaphors into the story was done well and enhanced the reading experience. As an example, the descriptions in the underwater mimic the setting, relying on feelings and ideas to form the world before Yetu goes to the surface where descriptions change to more solid things rather than concepts. 
• The story has multiple perspectives. Though I do feel it worked thematically to have these other perspectives, and the stories they told enhanced our perspective, but it was always jarring and confusing in a way that took me a bit out of the story sometimes. 
• It's a work of creative wonder, filled with countless concepts, and it's inspired me to read more of Solomon's work so I can have a longer experience that I think will suit their style of writing better. 

Overall, there were some things it lacked that could have built out the world a bit more, and the pacing felt weird and off at times, I think that's partially the form and maybe some stylistic elements I don't fully understand. But I liked the experience of this world, of this look into our world, and the use of history and remembering as critical to it. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and War