The Deep

Solomon has a true gift with their writing - this was my second book by them, and it was such a wonderful read. It was poignant, tackling pain as a celebration of life. Yetu should be hard to relate to (she's a mermaid tasked with holding onto her people's entire history), but she's actually so human. The emotion in this story is written so perfectly - it's not over-the-top, it never forces any ideas on you, it just guides you slowly through the process. The story and world-building is so incredibly creative. Honestly, it's hard to really describe this book other than that it's not like any other I've read, and I mean that in the best way.

The Deep is a novella written by Rivers Solomon that is based on the Hugo-nominated song of the same name by the experimental hip hop group clipping. Their song was itself based on the afrofuturist mythology that Drexciya, an electronic duo from Detroit, created for their compilations.⠀⠀Which is the sort of fascinating thing you learn when you read the acknowledgements. ⠀⠀The Deep is about a lot of things. On its surface, though, it is about the wajinru, a mermaid-like people who have great power over the ocean but little memory. For good reason — they are a people descended from the pregnant African women who were thrown overboard during the slave trade, their unborn babies granted new aquatic life by the ocean. Theirs is a history of pain and strife. In order to thrive despite the suffering, it was decided long ago that one of their people — a Historian — should carry the burden of their history and collected memory. A responsibility that falls on Yetu, our delicate and long-suffering main character.⠀⠀To be a Historian means experiencing every single memory as if it was your own. Yetu however, has a fragile constitution, and so this task, this weight she carries that has stripped her of any individual identity, is killing her.⠀⠀So it is no surprise to us when, during an annual ceremony where the wajinru gather in order to receive the memories of their past for a brief time, time enough to satisfy a deep thirst for their own history, that Yetu, free from remembering, runs away. ⠀⠀What do we do with the trauma that we've inherited?⠀⠀In the acknowledgements, clipping. describes the nested style of development this particular story has gone through as a game of Telephone, the original message relayed over and over, each time a bit more different. Drixceya's songs were largely wordless, and so they started to tell a story through their song titles — a provocative and engaging concept. clipping. took inspiration from it, added considerable amounts of verbiage, and sang a story about a world being destroyed by global warming, and about a people who rise up and exact revenge on the ones who caused it. Rivers Solomon heard the song, and decided to bring it back down to a more personal level, writing a story about a people, and their relationship to history. Their relationship to stories. ⠀⠀Stories (and what is history if not a bunch of stories we tell about ourselves?) act much like a game of telephone. They are passed down, and thus they survive, but their shape changes as they get interpreted differently by every individual. In The Deep we are told that the role of Historian is one handed down from generation to generation, and we are presented with three different bearers of the title: Zoti, Basha, and Yetu. And through them we get three interpretations of history. To Zoti, the first Historian, it is vital to the continued survival of their people. To Basha, it is a call to action, past hurts fueling a righteous rage at present injustice. And to Yetu, it is simply a burden, too deep and heavy to carry on her own.⠀⠀What do we do with the trauma that we've inherited? It's the central question Yetu struggles with during her journey of self-discovery. It also happens to be the question millions of people whose history has been steeped in anguish and adversity. Do we let it define us? Do we ignore it? Do we drown in it? Or do we use it to build a better, more just civilization? ⠀⠀Yetu finds her answer in The Deep. She shares it with her people. And she shares it with you, too.⠀⠀Rivers Solomon has written a compelling, poetic, and thought-provoking story, with lyrical prose that enriches clipping.'s exhilarating song, with an imagination that expands Drexciya's foundational mythos. It'll stay with you. You will remember it.

This story was exceptional — I’m glad to have read it. Specifically because I loved the premise. There were so many lessons learned about the importance of honoring history, and of sharing burdens with your community. Next, while I grew to like Yetu as a character— in the beginning, she came across as one-dimensional and I was afraid she’d fall into the character trope of their entire characterization being their self-pitying attitudes. I only came to understand Yetu once I learned the history of the Wajinru and knew some of her history too, and from there could appreciate her more for understanding how and why she is this way. And I think she grew as a character over the course of the book, which helped.I took off a star because for all that I like the premise and the plot, I’ll admit that I’m still confused about some of the broader concepts of the world in this book, like how things work in the deep. I think the world-building left much to be desired. A lot of what we know about the world is told from ‘rememberings’, and those are typically just brief stories, that while they offer good context for a lot of what is happening in the world, sometimes left me with more questions than answers. This book ultimately is one that left me with a lot of feelings, though I had to accept that I may never fully understand it. Still a great, and gripping read.

This story delves into a captivating premise, centered around Yetu, the protagonist who carries the memories of her people— similar to mermaids that descended from pregnant African slave women cast overboard by slave owners. Yetu grapples with the weight of her gift, experiencing the emotions and pains of her ancestors firsthand. Overwhelmed by the burden, she embarks on a journey to escape her destiny, navigating the complexities of her identity and the legacy she carries.

The book was great. It shipped fast.

I read this in one sitting, and I loved it so much that over the same weekend, I went back to listen to the audiobookThe Deep, a 2019 fantasy novel by Rivers Solomon in collaboration with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, delves into an underwater civilisation created by the descendants of pregnant slaves thrown overboard from slave ships. Fascinating to learn that it was inspired by a song of the same name by Clipping, an experimental hip-hop trio. David Diggs narrates the audiobook.Solomon paints a mystical underwater world where only Yetu, the Historian, bears the burden of their community's painful memories to spare the others. Suppressing their own emotions and desires, Yetu leads the community in reliving these memories annually.“Without history you are empty”As the weight becomes unbearable, Yetu abandons their duty and finds refuge on a new shore, encountering Oori, the last of the Oshuben. I couldn’t help but be captivated by the profound wisdom and emotions conveyed in this very poetic novella, it left me pondering the complexities of love, loss, and the enduring power of memory.“Forgetting was not the same as healing.”

Please give this book a try if you haven't already. Although I wished I had taken more time to read it, the pacing was well-done and the story was too captivating to put down.

Great book but the quality is not good

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