Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

115 reviews

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

serinas's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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? Yes

4.5

I've heard a lot about this book on booksta and booktok. As it was only 160 pages I decided to give it a try, especially as I've heard mostly great things about The Deep!

I rated it 4.5 stars. I just wish it was a little longer - to explain some things and exploring the relationships between the characters in more depth. The worldbuilding could also use some work - but I'm more forgiving on this as it was a short book.

The story and premise are something I've never read before, and really sucked me in. I really liked Yetu and the dilemmas she faced, and the philosophical questions that followed. This was definitely more of a 'deep' read, that leaves you thinking about life and the choices we make. 

The story was also good, and the origin story of the wajinru was very interesting and sad.

It's unfortunatly true that slaves were often thrown into the sea

, even though the wajinru isn't a thing. The Deep has a cool mix of true and fictional history - which makes an interesting story for the wajinru.

I'll also add that the start was very confusing - but if you're able to push through it, try! It gets a lot better. If you're still not into it 30 pages in, this might not be for you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

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

xxenjoy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I initially picked it up without reading any summary because the premise was intriguing, and I'm so glad I did. This is not an easy read, due to the subject matter, but I would recommend it to anyone open to something darker. And to anyone finding it too difficult

the second half is not quite as heavy as the first.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Minor: Gore and Suicidal thoughts

I would warn anyone especially sensitive to things like overstimulation. As someone who experiences it fairly often, parts of the book were difficult to get through, mostly in the first half.

lue_moon's review against another edition

5.0

Overall excellent. Better worldbuilding in a short amount of time than the first 150 pages of other fantasy books I have read. Though I wouldn't have minded existing in that world for longer, it's a complete story that makes a strong impact, including beautiful exploration of ancestral/generational/cultural trauma, memory keeping, and how that is processed/stored within bodies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death and Pregnancy

artemis7's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Murder

sophia_ryann's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

bucketsjen's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

The children of pregnant African women thrown overboard by slavers have adapted to the water and built their own society. They appoint one person every generation to be the Historian that holds all of their memories - but the current historian is struggling as the only person holding the awareness of pain and history. She returns the memories and flees, leaving her people to grapple with their history alone as she tries to find herself... but of course, their unprocessed pain effects everything.  

Has themes of cultural, generational, and personal trauma, the pain of being the only one who Knows and Understands, and processing/healing to move forward.  It's REALLY well done. While the subject matter is heavy, it's managed deftly and the book is surprisingly healing to read.

I really recommend the audiobook for this one. Daveed Diggs does an incredible job, and the work's musical history really lends it to auditory retelling.  There's an Afterward by Diggs which was an awesome addition to the story (he's funny and insightful).

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Animal death, Attempted suicide, Grief, Hallucinations, Slavery (past), Self-harm, Trauma (personal, generational, cultural), violence, references to familial death.

numerous_bees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Blood, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Child death