The Deep
Ratings129
Average rating3.7
I absolutely loved the concept of The Deep, essentially that there are descendants of pregnant African slaves who'd been thrown overboard during the oversea voyage. The descendants, born of water, raised by whales, continued to thrive in the ocean.
The concept was easily the best thing about The Deep. It's an idea I'd love to see explored in more depth. I also really liked the language in this book. The words Solomon uses echo the lull and tempest of the ocean.
This is a very short book, and I never felt as though the story or the characters were given sufficient space to be fleshed out, or to grow.
This was a unique story with a focus on Yetu who has to carry the memories for her people. It was a satisfying read with an ending I wasn't quite expecting.
It's definitely a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.
I got the advance listening copy of this book a couple months ago and while I was very fascinated by its premise, I didn't have any plan as to when I wanted to read it. But when I was thinking about with which book I should start my 2020, I just decided to pick this up on an impulse. And woah what a choice for the first day of a new decade.
There's just no easy way to describe the writing in this novella. It's a bit too flowery for my taste, so it took me sometime to get acclimated to it, but it's also hauntingly beautiful and emotional and made me feel a lot. Discovering the history of the wajinru, their ancestry tracing back to the pregnant African slaves thrown overboard slave ships, and how they grew to communicate and build their own world in the depths of the sea is a very interesting read. We could have definitely benefited from a little more world building but I think it's slightly vague on purpose, going along with the story's underlying themes of the importance of history and memories - how valuable it is to carry forward memories even when generational trauma can be painful, alleviating the pain by sharing the burden with the community, and understanding our history so that we can move on and build a better future.
The story really rips out your heart at times and you can feel the pain and anguish and loneliness that the main character Yetu is feeling; on the other hand, you can also feel all the tenderness and flutters of a newly formed connection when Yetu encounters someone. It's such a beautiful exploration of an unlikely relationship and I was amazed at how well it was captured in so few pages. The other relationships of her life are also well developed and we see her changing dynamic with every one of them, including her understanding of her history and her responsibility towards her people.
In conclusion, I truly can't tell whom I want to recommend this book to. If you enjoy fantasies which are unique and beautiful and probably weird, and leave you with lots of thoughts and emotions, maybe this one is for you. I alternated between the book and the audio and both formats worked well for me. I don't know if I'll ever reread it but I have a feeling I might discover something more in its words if I do.
Stunning. A reminder to find the difficult balance between honoring history without letting it consume you.
Unfortunately this became forgetful I'm not sure I'll remember much from this book in the future.
This book has an interesting backstory: inspired by a song written for the podcast This American Life by the rap group Clipping. It is a world where the children of pregnant women thrown overboard during slave trade survived their mother's murders and become the wajinru - a ocean dwelling people.
Solomon builds off this premise and creates a main character who seeks to find herself apart from her job of remembering all of the wajinru's past. I enjoyed reading this book and immersing myself in this world.
Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this great book.