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The Deep
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Jalilah
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Jul 16, 2020 09:57AM

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How Rivers Solomon turned award-winning Afrofuturist song The Deep into a book
https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/31/18...
And a Youtube of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT1uj...
Thanks for sharing the song and article!
I read this last December and these are the impressions that have stayed with me: How a traumatic history can be passed down and inherited; Yetu's struggle with PTSD; community healing; I liked the romance in the second half.
I remember it being an interior novel about the psychology of group trauma. The plot hinges on the Yetu's interior turmoil vs. outside turmoil.
I think it dragged a bit for me, and might've been even better if it were a bit shorter (though it's already quite short).
I read this last December and these are the impressions that have stayed with me: How a traumatic history can be passed down and inherited; Yetu's struggle with PTSD; community healing; I liked the romance in the second half.
I remember it being an interior novel about the psychology of group trauma. The plot hinges on the Yetu's interior turmoil vs. outside turmoil.
I think it dragged a bit for me, and might've been even better if it were a bit shorter (though it's already quite short).
I finished this morning and am struggling as how to rate it. I find the idea absolutely brilliant and collective memory about traumatic history is such an important and relevant topic. I want to give it 5 stars just for that!
At the same time I had a hard time getting into it and also being able to understand and visualize what was happening. I don't know to what extent it's her writing style, meaning would one of my favourite authors have been able to tell this story in a way more relatable for me or if it is my own problem I have with some types of fantasy?
I've mentioned before I prefer fantasy set in our world where the magic is slowly revealed rather than being thrust into a world where I have no idea how the magic works and I have to figure it out all at once on my own.
I could get behind the idea of the Wajinru being descendants from pregnant slaves who were thrown overboard and was able to believe that the unborn babies, used to breathing in water in their mother's wombs were able to make the transition to becoming water creatures with the help of the whales who rescued them. I loved this idea! What I had a problem with is the idea of the historian having to hold all the memories for the entire people. How could this be done? And what purpose would this serve the people except for alleviating the pain for the others, but at what cost for the historian! And wouldn't it be important for the Wajinru to always know their history instead of reliving it once a year then forgetting it again?
Anyway all I mentioned made me enjoy the book less.
I did absolutely love the story between Oori and Yetu and this was my favourite part!
At the same time I had a hard time getting into it and also being able to understand and visualize what was happening. I don't know to what extent it's her writing style, meaning would one of my favourite authors have been able to tell this story in a way more relatable for me or if it is my own problem I have with some types of fantasy?
I've mentioned before I prefer fantasy set in our world where the magic is slowly revealed rather than being thrust into a world where I have no idea how the magic works and I have to figure it out all at once on my own.
I could get behind the idea of the Wajinru being descendants from pregnant slaves who were thrown overboard and was able to believe that the unborn babies, used to breathing in water in their mother's wombs were able to make the transition to becoming water creatures with the help of the whales who rescued them. I loved this idea! What I had a problem with is the idea of the historian having to hold all the memories for the entire people. How could this be done? And what purpose would this serve the people except for alleviating the pain for the others, but at what cost for the historian! And wouldn't it be important for the Wajinru to always know their history instead of reliving it once a year then forgetting it again?
Anyway all I mentioned made me enjoy the book less.
I did absolutely love the story between Oori and Yetu and this was my favourite part!
I think having the historian carry all the painful memories is meant to be a philosophical and psychological exploration vs something that makes any kind of internal logic.
The historian ends up being the sacrifice--have you read the short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin? The Historian's role makes me think of (view spoiler) I think there are a lot of instances, too, of systems where people's happiness depends on another person's unhappiness, but they don't recognize that as being so, or don't want to acknowledge it.
If it were possible to erase all painful memories and have them exist in only one person's mind, would you let your memories be taken? I imagine not, but if it were traditional to do so, if your parents and grandparents and great grandparents had done so, than for many it would become something they didn't even think about.
I don't know if that makes sense. It's been a long day. :)
I do think it's important for the Wajinru to experience their history, and that's why they had to experience it once a year. Otherwise, they became listless and unhappy. And once the history was shared with everyone, it created a better balance.
The historian ends up being the sacrifice--have you read the short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin? The Historian's role makes me think of (view spoiler) I think there are a lot of instances, too, of systems where people's happiness depends on another person's unhappiness, but they don't recognize that as being so, or don't want to acknowledge it.
If it were possible to erase all painful memories and have them exist in only one person's mind, would you let your memories be taken? I imagine not, but if it were traditional to do so, if your parents and grandparents and great grandparents had done so, than for many it would become something they didn't even think about.
I don't know if that makes sense. It's been a long day. :)
I do think it's important for the Wajinru to experience their history, and that's why they had to experience it once a year. Otherwise, they became listless and unhappy. And once the history was shared with everyone, it created a better balance.
Yes, it made total sense for the Wajinru to experience their history, I just couldn't understand why one person had to experience it all the time. It would make more sense to collectively keep handing done the stories orally, but I agree with you that meant to be a philosophical and psychological exploration. I have never read Ursula K. Le Guin except for the one we read here a few years ago.

I only read half, but my main issues were:
1. Writing style. It had that typical thing where the first page is well written and kind of poetic and then it gets really pedestrian and then it gets really bad (I abandoned at the point that Yetu was having a really un-mermaidish conversation with a human about another human who I assume is the eventual love interest. It sounded like they were having a tea party).
2. The total lack of logic. It's already magical. It's already about mermaids. You can have them being born mermaids just because, since it's a book with explicit magic. You don't have to invent some ridiculous story about whales which is about as believable as... as the rest of the book.
3. The group pain thing. I agree that a book exploring historical trauma sounds worthwhile, but it was just so cloying and twee and like a 21st century essay of the ranty type. I realllllly felt they all needed to be a bit tougher -- not about the trauma of their history necessarily, but these are creatures living in the wild of the deep ocean; they've seen death, they've seen violence. I believe they would experience emotional pain, but not in the way they experience it.
4. That annoying word they have for themselves, based on yet another twee unbelievable story about rescuing some human. I really preferred strange fish. I really hate profound things that aren't really profound.
You may have noticed I really hated this book. :-) It's been a long time since I gave something one star. Worthiness is not enough sometimes. In fairness, I should have stayed away from it, because I suspected I might have this reaction.
I wonder if the whole thing about memory has a connection to today's society and how we teach or disregard history.
I understand the whale criticism, but I think why it didn't bug me (and Emily has a very good point, and in another book it would have annoyed me) is that I saw it as a connection to Mami Wata.
I understand the whale criticism, but I think why it didn't bug me (and Emily has a very good point, and in another book it would have annoyed me) is that I saw it as a connection to Mami Wata.

In the beginning I found the nonbinary character's narration confusing (Are they speaking in the name of their People or about themselves?), but that was a matter of being accustomed to them.
I agree with Emily, especially on protagonist's conversations with her LI. But what bothers me is this weird feeling the book could have been so much better if it was structured differently.
Emily wrote: "I only read half, but my main issues were:
1. Writing style. It had that typical thing where the first page is well wr..."
My issue was just the writing style. The parts where Yeti is with her community in the beginning as well as when she returns was confusing for me.
Christine wrote: "
I understand the whale criticism, but I think why it didn't bug me (and Emily h..."
I actually really liked the part of them being rescued and raised whales and found it believable. Many years ago I read a YA book about a feral child raised by dolphins that I really liked, so maybe that's why.
Margaret wrote: "Wow, our opinions really differ! I didn't find anything about this twee."
I didn't know what twee meant and looked it up: "Twee describes someone or something as affectedly and cloyingly cute, sweet, and quaint. It's also a subgenre of indie pop music". I keep learning something new every day!
I didn't understand at all the part of the first human they had contact with and how she was relevant to their story.
1. Writing style. It had that typical thing where the first page is well wr..."
My issue was just the writing style. The parts where Yeti is with her community in the beginning as well as when she returns was confusing for me.
Christine wrote: "
I understand the whale criticism, but I think why it didn't bug me (and Emily h..."
I actually really liked the part of them being rescued and raised whales and found it believable. Many years ago I read a YA book about a feral child raised by dolphins that I really liked, so maybe that's why.
Margaret wrote: "Wow, our opinions really differ! I didn't find anything about this twee."
I didn't know what twee meant and looked it up: "Twee describes someone or something as affectedly and cloyingly cute, sweet, and quaint. It's also a subgenre of indie pop music". I keep learning something new every day!
I didn't understand at all the part of the first human they had contact with and how she was relevant to their story.

My first reading of this (last year) gave it 4*. I only had a dull feeling about it, as though it hadn't been a good experience, yet I couldn't remember why, nor why I had gone for a 4*.
I think the high score must have been for the concept, which is pure gold. Didn't Rivers Solomon pitch this on #PitMad and receive hundreds, if not a couple of thousand likes? (I have this vague memory of it - but I don't think she went by that name/the book went by that name).
Anyway, the plot runs out of steam pretty quickly. I could argue that the twee terminology (what to me was a simple lack of imagination) is some kind of patois, but I'm clutching at straws that I'd rather let go.
Does anyone have any view about the plot being weakened by the joint-authorship?
Overall, lacklustre.

I think I found the lack of story so frustrating because an editor could totally have flagged those issues and tightened the plot. Since there were four authors anyway they could have gotten another one in to give it the screenplay treatment. ;-) It really felt like it had never been given a critique by anyone prior to publication.

Perhaps the members of the group clipping are given author status because they wrote the song that inspired the book?
The article Annette shared above goes into some more details about the collaboration: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/31/18...
"In 2017, Chicago Public Radio program This American Life aired an episode called “We Are in the Future,” which explored the nature of Afrofuturism, a strain of science fiction that addresses the intersection between the larger African diaspora and technology across mediums. The episode followed producer Neil Drumming as he covered the topic and also commissioned a song called “The Deep” from experimental hip-hop group Clipping."
"Solomon explains that the band was involved in the project along the way, reading over the outline and samples in the easiest stages, and later reading the draft of the book to make sure that the story fit within the vision of their song. Their involvement didn’t end with the book, however. Wolfe described the project as a “game of artistic telephone” and said that “none of them are direct adaptations or retellings of each other,” citing Clipping’s William Hutson as saying that “the song and book are two different lenses through which one can access a single fictional world.” Wolfe notes that the musical inspiration will come full circle: the music of Drexciya inspired Clipping, Clipping inspired Solomon, and “clipping will be producing new music inspired by Rivers’ book.”
"In 2017, Chicago Public Radio program This American Life aired an episode called “We Are in the Future,” which explored the nature of Afrofuturism, a strain of science fiction that addresses the intersection between the larger African diaspora and technology across mediums. The episode followed producer Neil Drumming as he covered the topic and also commissioned a song called “The Deep” from experimental hip-hop group Clipping."
"Solomon explains that the band was involved in the project along the way, reading over the outline and samples in the easiest stages, and later reading the draft of the book to make sure that the story fit within the vision of their song. Their involvement didn’t end with the book, however. Wolfe described the project as a “game of artistic telephone” and said that “none of them are direct adaptations or retellings of each other,” citing Clipping’s William Hutson as saying that “the song and book are two different lenses through which one can access a single fictional world.” Wolfe notes that the musical inspiration will come full circle: the music of Drexciya inspired Clipping, Clipping inspired Solomon, and “clipping will be producing new music inspired by Rivers’ book.”