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A review by cb1984
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
So this book is about the impact of the slave trade on black America and how to reckon with and recollect it. As a white British person I am supremely unqualified to have much informed comment on it. But hey, this is the internet, when has lack of qualification ever stopped anyone?
It was very interesting. It felt like rather than being about the underwater society of wajinru, it was really about the division of labour in black society between remembering the impact of the slave trade on their society versus existing/thriving in current society. The idea of having a specific rememberer and the unfair burden on them, but then also the impossibility of everyone having responsibility to remember everything. It's just a very interesting and important concept. I could see it being explored again and again by different authors/different formats (as it already has been - it's a book based on a song based on an album).
The writing was a bit hit and miss - it felt like there were passages which were really well and evocatively written, but then there'd be pages which felt just pretty prosaic.
Overall, I think because of the writing I found it more interesting in concept than in execution, but that's not to say the execution was poor.
It was very interesting. It felt like rather than being about the underwater society of wajinru, it was really about the division of labour in black society between remembering the impact of the slave trade on their society versus existing/thriving in current society. The idea of having a specific rememberer and the unfair burden on them, but then also the impossibility of everyone having responsibility to remember everything. It's just a very interesting and important concept. I could see it being explored again and again by different authors/different formats (as it already has been - it's a book based on a song based on an album).
The writing was a bit hit and miss - it felt like there were passages which were really well and evocatively written, but then there'd be pages which felt just pretty prosaic.
Overall, I think because of the writing I found it more interesting in concept than in execution, but that's not to say the execution was poor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery