The Deep

by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, et al.

Book Overview

ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019

The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society--and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song "The Deep" from Daveed Diggs's rap group clipping

Yetu holds the memories for her people--water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners--who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one--the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities--and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past--and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity--and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode "We Are In The Future," The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1534439862
• ISBN13: 9781534439863
• Release Date: November 2019
• Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

More than just mermaids

A beautiful book unafraid to tackle the pain of darker topics. Lots of good world building and culture. I loved the use of cyclical writing

Loss and remembrance

A novella of loss. Loss of self, loss of one's people, loss of freedom. And of finding and acceptance. Finding one's self, accepting one's purpose. Finding love. Finding people. Finding truth. A novella of the ocean, womb and protector to those discarded. And a novella of remembrance. A strange tale of the ocean people, born of discarded and drowned slaves, coming to accept the pain of their past and deciding whether they can live with such knowledge without destroying themselves or the land-dwellers who cruelly treated their ancestors. These are not mermaids or sirens. These people are the ocean's memories of the sorrow and devestation man inflicts on man and how we can build new selves even from pain. How memory of that pain must not be discarded in order for us to be whole.

Not quite as expected

I liked the idea, especially the theme of survival, but it did not have the dreamlike quality I expected.

One of my all-time favourites!

This book is definitely not going to be for everyone. It's written in a somewhat dream-like way. But I still love the themes of generational trauma and breaking cycles of harm. I think it's beautifully written, and I'm so glad to have it in my collection.