Reviews

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

erika023's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

The author is a very good writer and the surrounding the character exists within is brought with a lot of clarity. His messages are also very clear, but for some reason, this didn’t stand out to me. Maybe because I’ve read books with similar messages that have affected me more. 
I would also say the issue for Hiram’s character development isn’t so huge and also hinted quite early on so there isn’t a lot of anticipation on that point to release once everything comes together

kristineqtl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

5.0

apollo11's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

wetdirtreads's review against another edition

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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? No

4.0

lecid's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

5.0

cadillaceazy's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-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

3.75

tamara_mousa's review against another edition

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4.0

There is a summary about it in my blog - https://www.tamarayousefmousa.com/

red_steele's review against another edition

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3.0

Joe Morton was masterful and I hope he receives a nomination for his performance.

I generally enjoy slave narrative novels, however, I struggled with understanding the magical realism portion of the novel. The writing is lyrical and poetic, however, there were slow moving parts that were unappealing. Character development could have been better and I didn’t like how the book ended between Sophia and Hiram. We deserved more.

ktxx22's review against another edition

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4.0

What an enjoyable experience... after I was a couple chapters in. This book has so much heart! And despite there being aspects of magic in the narrative I walk away after reading feeling INCREDIBLY satisfied by the story and how it all came together. I’m not someone who typically enjoys any aspect of magic in a book that is mostly realistic, but here it was subtilely done and with a lot of care to make it seem as if it might have actually been done that way back on the Underground Railroad! Coates always slays when it comes to research and finding out post read that some of these characters are based on actual real agents for the Underground Railroad, he also provided another book to check out, that I was floored but also not surprised! I highly recommend this book, going to be 4/5

tayloreve07's review against another edition

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Excellent!!!!!!! I will admit it took me a little bit to grasp what was happening with the more mystical elements of the novel but once I got it i felt it really added to the overall story. Really good. Even set in the pre-civil war era, it felt very relevant to today as well