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The Deep
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater societyand 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 rap group Clipping. Yetu holds the memories for her peoplewater-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave ownerswho live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save onethe 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 responsibilitiesand discovers a world her people left behind long ago. Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own pastand about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, theyll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identityand 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.
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review
Chelsea.Poole
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

My first #auldlangspine read from @IndoorDame was a winner! This has been on my radar for years and I‘m glad for the push to finally get around to listening to the audiobook. I agree with @monalyisha (on an earlier post) the end of the audio describing the work was one of the best parts.
The setting is brilliant and brutal: an imagined underwater world populated by the descendants of African women thrown from ships while pregnant.

IndoorDame Glad this one spoke to you! (Always a tough one to recommend because, as you say, it‘s brutal) 3mo
86 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Chelsea.Poole
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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#libraryhaul including 2 for #auldlangspine to prep for January!

monalyisha The Deep was on my list, too! I honestly wasn‘t sure it would be until the afterword. I *love* it as concept art. This article helps to explain (and links to the song by clipping. that blew it all out of the water for me…so to speak): https://www.npr.org/2019/11/07/776948306/the-deep-sings-with-many-voices 3mo
IndoorDame @monalyisha @monalyisha Same! I love it when artists inspire each other like this! When I read The Deep it was a Libby ebook borrow but I knew I wanted to own a copy and the artist who recorded the album it‘s inspired by reads the audiobook so I bought that. I‘ve listened to his intro to the book which is very cool, and I‘m excited to hear him read it when I decide to go back to this one. (edited) 3mo
monalyisha @IndoorDame I definitely enjoyed the audiobook! 3mo
70 likes3 comments
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IndoorDame
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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For March‘s #12Booksof2023 I actually don‘t know know how to pick between this and Sara Teasdale‘s Collected Poems. They were completely different reading experiences, but both hit me to the core in their respective ways, and both are things I‘ll read again. @Andrew65

BookmarkTavern I loved this one! 3mo
IndoorDame @BookmarkTavern I fell even more in love with it when I heard the story about the music it was based on and listened to that. I love when artists inspire each other! 3mo
BookmarkTavern Daveed Diggs also does the narration for the audiobook if you like audiobooks! 💙 3mo
IndoorDame @BookmarkTavern I was so excited when I saw that! 3mo
Andrew65 A good choice, it is often hard to pick just one. 3mo
43 likes5 comments
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catsuit_mango
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Next up. I am very curious about that one, the blurb is interesting but i have no clue on the style or anything.

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BookwormAHN
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

This was a fantastic story about how mermaids came to be. The story itself is tragic. The mermaids came from pregnant slaves who were thrown overboard, and their babies became mermaids or rather the wajinru. One wajinru at a time is chosen to keep all the memories of their people. And it's Yetu's time.
#Booked2023 #Afrofuturism @Cinfhen @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage
#Patone2023 #blueperennial @Clwojick

TheBookHippie I loved this read! 6mo
Cinfhen This actually sounds fabulous!!! And it would be perfect for #TitlesAndTunes #Blues 🩵💙😁 6mo
IndoorDame @Cinfhen it would be so perfect! It was incredible! And even inspired by music 6mo
Cinfhen Hopefully I‘ll get to two books this month @IndoorDame - I‘m completely fascinated by mermaids 🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️ 6mo
62 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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Ellen_C
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

Fantasy inspired by a rap song. The wajinru are sea dwelling people whose origins are human — from pregnant enslaved women thrown from ships to die in the ocean. Their past is tragic and traumatic, and the only one who knows it all is the historian, Yetu, but the burden/gift of knowing their history might be killing her. https://cannonballread.com/2023/06/the-deep-elcicco/

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monalyisha
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

I‘ll be honest, I didn‘t love this novella...until I got to the afterward and the companion song by clipping. Then, I was left shouting about how cool this project is from the rooftops! It‘s SO COOL! Solomon‘s writing wasn‘t my favorite. I‘m not sure if their style was intentionally mimicking history/mythology (blunt, declarative statements; often repetitive) or if they write the same way all the time. But conceptually, it‘s *totally* worth it!

60 likes1 stack add
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IndoorDame
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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The #TransRightsReadathon has motivated me to get through more titles than usual this week, but most of them were novellas, MG, GN, picture books… so not much more reading than usual. Most of it has been fabulous! And the highlight was definitely The Deep by Rivers Solomon which surprised me in the best way and has me thinking about it constantly days after I closed the book. #BookReport #WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen

Reggie Wow, great job! 12mo
Cinfhen What @Reggie said!!!!! 12mo
42 likes2 comments
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IndoorDame
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

#TransRightsReadathon Day 3

Rivers Solomon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! The Deep is at once devastating and beautiful, as you might expect if you‘ve read anything else of theirs. It is mythic and visceral. Even though it‘s short, it contains a full and rich world. I couldn‘t read this at anything close to my normal reading speed, it demanded and deserved time.

#transrightsmatter #transrightsarehumanrights

KristiAhlers Me staking! 12mo
IndoorDame @KristiAhlers 💙💙💙 12mo
TheBookHippie @KristiAhlers @IndoorDame this is my favorite of theirs. It‘s so good. So many layers. 12mo
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ChaoticMissAdventures Have you listened to the companion song by Daveed Diggs band Clppng? It is on YouTube. It is a vibe but I think interesting to listen to during or after reading the book. 12mo
IndoorDame @ChaoticMissAdventures Yes! So cool to hear the Clipping song and the Drexciya album! I couldn‘t concentrate on the story while listening (I did try) but I loved that in the afterword Diggs described all 3 as primary sources about this world. 12mo
IndoorDame @TheBookHippie Yes! So many layers! I expect I‘ll be thinking about this for a long time! 12mo
TheBookHippie @ChaoticMissAdventures I did that too and agree! 12mo
57 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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ChaoticMissAdventures
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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#TransRightsReadathon
Author highlight agender storytelling powerhouse #RiversSolomon
This fantasy book is a companion to Daveed Diggs bands song of the same name. The premise is that pregnant people who were thrown overboard from slave ships in the Atlantic gave birth to a community of people who now live on the ocean floor. Our main character is the keeper of memories for the community. Gorgeously written and hopeful. I really enjoyed this one

TheBookHippie This book I read last year and it‘s so so good!! 12mo
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TheBookHippie
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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https://www.instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fundraiser_id=205328658757576

https://www.instagram.com/p/CptBB50An0b/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

I‘m doing this readathon I will be posting books I read here as well as on IG -join if you wish on here and on IG

#TRANSRIGHTSREADATHON 🏳️‍⚧️ March 20-27

AllDebooks I'm in x 13mo
Cazxxx Count me in 😊 13mo
Bookwomble I'm not on Instagram, so won't follow it there, but I have a couple of books I've been meaning to get to, so please tag me in on Litsy 😊🏳️‍⚧️ 13mo
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IndoorDame I‘m in! Thanks for sharing! ✊🏼🏳️‍⚧️ 13mo
Leftcoastzen Looking forward to it ! I‘m not on Instagram either , will look for your posts here, tag me please!🏳️‍⚧️ 13mo
psalva Thank you for sharing this! 🏳️‍⚧️ 13mo
Catsandbooks I want to join in both here and IG. I'm traveling then so idk how much I'll be able to read but I'm going to try to get in as much as I can 13mo
TheBookHippie @Catsandbooks 🏳️‍⚧️💗🏳️‍⚧️ 13mo
69 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Outofcontroltbr
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was very well written and it kept me interested and I was upset it ended so soon!!

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hissingpotatoes
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Mehso-so

2.5/5⭐ Excellent concept and deals with issues of memory, loss, and greed poetically, but it would have been better as a short story with the vast repetitiveness removed.

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hissingpotatoes
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Forgetting was not the same as healing.

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jenniferw88
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick
Cortg Awesome! This was such a unique read! ❤️ 1y
59 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Thndrstd
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

A smart novella about a group of underwater creatures descended from African slave women tossed overboard focusing on the importance of remembering history and being part of a community. The story is inspired by the song “The Deep” from the rap group Clipping. Daveed Diggs, a member of Clipping, reads the audiobook.

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Evita
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
Pickpick

3 out of 5

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thereflectiveflaneur
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Mehso-so

Struggled with this one as I am not big on fantasy! Interesting concept though and some beautiful writing in parts!

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BBooks
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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What a great find! Daveed Diggs narration is perfect. A mythology with a melancholy undercurrent of a horrific historic reality 😢 🧜🏿‍♀️

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kgriffith
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

I'm listening to The Deep on Scribd. Check it out: https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/390805927

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TheBookHippie
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

Part of my Black women authors challenge. So not my genre. However it was really stunning work and a fast read. Good to stretch every once in awhile.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Deep/Rivers-Solomon/9781534439870

mcctrish I did this on audio and I don‘t know what led me to pick it, but I‘m glad I did. 2y
TheBookHippie @mcctrish a book friend recommended it to me! I would have never found it! 2y
55 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Cortg
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

This is like a modern day myth. Originating from an album by Drexciya, ‘Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller‘, it evolved into a song by Clipper, then written in lyrical words into a novella unlike anything I‘ve read before. Extremely creative and quite sorrowful, it‘s the story of mermaid-like sea creatures born from the birth of pregnant slave women thrown overboard during the slave trades and the historian that holds the memories.

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bookishbitch
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

I finished this today. It was really interesting. I thought it was a great concept. Parts of the story felt like poetry. It spans generations of the wajinru and humans alike. It is sad, but ultimately the story of family and love. *TW for suicidal ideation.* My tea snack today was homemade biscotti made by my daughter and it was delicious.

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Gissy
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

Mixed feelings. I liked the story, how the author, inspired by a song, create a story about what happened to some pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard by their owners due to sickness or overboard. You will feel how painful is to remember through Yetu‘s voice, responsible to remember to transmit the history, to maintain their identity, pertinence in the community but so hard😢Some parts for me were isolated from the story. 3.7⭐️

Gissy Love the cover. The paperback cover in my opinion is prettier than the hardcover.

#FabulousFebruary #Readathon @Andrew65

February 2022 #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaOfBooks

#BlackHistoryMonth

#2022ReadingGoals read more books received from swaps Thank You @Chrisdyreadit I received this book during #SliceOfSummer swap 2021 📖 🥰
2y
Andrew65 Great 👏👏👏 2y
48 likes2 comments
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broughtyoubooks
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Visual recap of the books I own that I read in 2021! Happy New Year.

Ruthiella Happy New Year! 🥳🥂 2y
52 likes1 comment
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SkeletonKey
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Currently reading.

BookmarkTavern I loved this one! Hope you‘re enjoying it! 2y
SkeletonKey @ozma.of.oz - So far, definitely! 2y
22 likes2 comments
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Blaire
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

I found this really fascinating, and the afterward is worth reading about how the project evolved from mostly instruments music to song to novella. It takes one of the horrors of enslavement - pregnant women thrown overboard from slave ships - and imagines a world where the children survive as a sea people. The study of collective trauma and memory and how to handle as an individual and community was really powerful.

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mcctrish
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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I discovered this audio book on a list Modern Mrs Darcy posted and I‘m really enjoying it. Sometimes I‘m confused but it‘s haunting and fantastic

ChaoticMissAdventures Daveed Diggs band Clippings did a song that is a companion to this. It is a trip and something to listen to when you read this! 2y
mcctrish @ChaoticMissAdventures yes!! At the end of the book they talk about how they wrote it 2y
ChaoticMissAdventures @mcctrish cool!! Ii love the collaboration on this. 2y
45 likes3 comments
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SilverShanica
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new - don‘t judge me I have a lot of books.
Join the fun if you want. This is day 262.
#bookstoread
#tbrpile
#bookstagram

2 likes1 stack add
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Lauren890
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The idea behind this story - the creation of a species from the unborn babies of African slaves thrown overboard ships - was immediately intriguing to me. I did love most of this novella, though it was occasionally difficult to follow. Overall it‘s a powerful novel about history, trauma, and remembering.
This was a book riot #gettbr recommendation.

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Nikki_Reads_2021
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

A quick and powerful exploration of generational trauma ,coming of age , and fate v free will. This novella takes a spin on a dark history through a fantastical exploration of blackness through the lens of merpeople. Though the story focuses on a fantastical underwater civilization there are many poignant connects to the collective past of the black diaspora . There‘s a lot of meat in this very short book !

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Anita
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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I just know this is going to break my heart.

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Larkken
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

Fun #twofortuesday! Finding book club books is hard. I really liked Lovecraft Country and Mexican Gothic - my book club had really lively conversations and competing theories for both, + they were both well-written and fun to read.

2. The tagged book is highly recommended. The format and subject matter stretched everyone‘s imagination in such a fun way, plus, the story has such an interesting backstory (the clipping. song, etc.) to delve into.

Larkken OMG litsy won't let me fix this, it's driving me crazy: "to do love into" should be "to delve into" gah 3y
TheSpineView @Larkken IKR!🤪 Thanks for playing! 3y
6 likes2 comments
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Kenyazero
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

Yetu is her people's historian and holds the memories of their entire existence inside of herself to protect her people from their painful origins. When these memories combined with her existing sensitivities to sound and movement become too much to bear alone, Yetu faces a difficult choice between dying and running away. I really enjoyed this book. It was intriguing, and dove into shared cultural trauma and the different ways people handle it.

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Kenyazero
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Spending a relaxing day outside finishing my audiobook when suddenly: "the audiobook that you are currently listening to, and are likely upset that you listened to too quickly (were you at double speed? I know you were)..." ? I'm not quite at double speed, just 1.25x, but close enough!

kaysworld1 I read all my audio books at 1.25 and sometimes I think that's too slow 😆 3y
Kenyazero @kaysworld1 Same! I've tried moving up to 1.5, but then it always feels too fast. 3y
21 likes2 comments
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bookishbitch
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Another new book for my ever growing tbr shelves. I just can't control myself sometimes. #tbrpile

all_4_kb Same. Same. Hahaha 3y
BookmarkTavern I loved this one! ❤️❤️ 3y
bookishbitch @KBlackScan We are not alone! @ozma.of.oz Good to hear! 3y
19 likes3 comments
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KatieDid927
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

I loved it! I thought it was poetic and visceral and beautiful.

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AvidReader25
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Mehso-so

Imagine if the pregnant slaves thrown overboard during the middle passage went on to have children that survived & built a society underwater. That's the premise of the book, inspired by a rap song by Daveed Diggs. The story reminds me of The Giver, with 1 individual carrying the societies painful history. I read this after visiting the National Underground Railroad Center & had that fresh in my mind, which gave the story a deeper impact.

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sebrittainclark
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Pickpick

4/5

This novella is fascinating. It's inspired by a song of the same name by The Clippings (and the audiobook is read by member, Daveed Diggs). It's hard to describe beyond that it's about the pain and isolation that living with painful histories can cause.

It's was a great read, and I really enjoyed the audiobook.

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

59 likes5 stack adds1 comment
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sebrittainclark
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Super excited for my April #bookspinbingo with The Deep for my #bookspin and First Art Kit as my #doublebookspin

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
40 likes1 comment
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DimeryRene
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Bailedbailed

Don‘t think I can finish on audio. Thought it may be better on audio, but I think the pacing has been difficult to follow. Maybe a reread for print later. I am obsessed with the cover and the idea though.

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rmaclean4
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Mehso-so

Confusing and at times disjointed. For a novella it took me a long time to read. I am fascinated by the premise and the origins of the work. Ultimately it did not work for me. 2 🌟

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paisleyjess
The Deep | Rivers Solomon
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Mehso-so

This was an interesting story but only had one real plot so it lacks complexity. Very fast read but not fulfilling.

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tenar
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

This month I read a historian‘s grappling with the horrifying mass drowning of disabled Africans on the slave ship Le Rodeur, only to find this novella about the weight of remembering that history.

The Deep imagines the sea-dwelling descendants of enslaved people thrown overboard, exploring their choice to elect one ‘historian‘ to carry all the memories of their kind. Is being without history, especially one so devastating, a freedom or a loss?

tenar Some early problems with the writing, particularly repetitiveness, were much improved by the end of this emotional, magical tale. I was swept away. 3y
sarahlandis This book blew me away. One of my favorites from my 2020 reads 3y
tenar @sarahlandis I‘m glad you thought so! I‘m amazed by how touched and invested I was by the end of such a short page count, especially after I wasn‘t sure about the opening chapters. It conjured something powerful and stuck the landing! 3y
30 likes4 stack adds3 comments
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jenniferw88
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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#lmpbc round 11 #groupy

Do you fancy any of these? Have got plenty more to choose from if you don't! @Powered_By_Plants @Mrs_B @veritysalter

Will tag the others in comments.

See All 9 Comments
veritysalter I like the idea of Crippled, but I am interested in the other two. 3y
veritysalter Or even three (I need more coffee this morning). 3y
Mrs_B I'd really like to read Mr Loverman so that would be my first choice, but the rest sound good too! 3y
Powered_By_Plants All great choices! Deep sounds intriguing and crippled , I imagine that one will stir up some anger! 3y
jenniferw88 I'm going to go with Crippled as it sort of has two votes! @Mrs_B @Powered_By_Plants @veritysalter 3y
Mrs_B Excellent :) 3y
54 likes1 stack add9 comments
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ONH
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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A mythical, creative novella on generational trauma and the toll it takes, both on an individual and on a community. The themes are powerfully honed and I‘ll be reflecting on this book for a while. I do think the writing style could have been refined a bit—parts of it were highly repetitive—but that‘s a personal preference.

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babyruth2510
The Deep | Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
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Pickpick

4.5⭐️ I don‘t know how to sum up my feelings for this book adequately except to say that it is a heavy, thought provoking look at the importance of history and belonging. Carrying the weight of a painful history and the struggle to not lose your identity in that pain but to share and use it to push forward. This short book captured my attention with the premise of mermaids but kept me reading with its message