whilereadingandwalking: The Deep by Rivers Solomon is directly inspired by the song of the same name
whilereadingandwalking: The Deep by Rivers Solomon is directly inspired by the song of the same name by the group clipping., made up of Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. The song and book tell of water-dwellers descended from pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard by slave owners: their babies were nurtured and protected by whales, and they adapted to an underwater life. In Solomon’s novel, a single person takes responsibility for holding the traumatic and violent past of the entire society; but the memories are destroying the historian, Yetu, and she flees. But far away from her fellow people, she will discover why it’s so important for them to reclaim and own their full history as a people. The novel is short and easy, quick to read, and yet it is incredibly powerful. Solomon has a real gift with character: Yetu’s character is compelling, as are those she meets on her journey. Solomon tells rich, intriguing stories using “we” to demonstrate the collective and collaborative sense and feeling of a shared history, and helps to convey the weight and sometimes pain of holding several lifetimes of horror, war, and death within a single person. It asks intriguing questions about what it means to remember the past—how painful it can be, but also how it can be necessary for collective solidarity and kinship. The Deep comes out November 5, 2019. I received a copy of this book from the publisher at BEA in exchange for an honest review. -- source link