The Well-Read Woman Book Club discussion
Book Discussion
>
The Water Dancer
date
newest »
newest »
Who's planning on joining in for the read this month? Give us a shout out here!What are you looking forward to discussing with this book?
Have you read any other work by the author or in the genre of magical realism?
This was a library borrow for me! I was lucky because of the COVID-19 return protocol to get my copy when I did.I think I'm struggling to pick it up because I've never read the magical realism genre before, I've heard that it's even better than fantasy though.
Does anyone else have thoughts on the magical realism genre? Have you read other books in the genre?
What do you think so far if you've started your read??
Why do you think Coates uses terms like “Tasked” and “Quality” instead of “slaves” and “masters”? What do you think the novel gains from this altered language?Hiram says that the Tasked are “Blessed, for we do not bear the weight of pretending pure.” How does Coates define morality in the novel? In what ways does Hiram’s notion of morality differ from that of the Quality, or even Corinne?
Sophia tells Hiram, “But what you must get, is that for me to be yours, I must never be yours.” What is Coates saying about the particular struggles of black women in this novel? How does Hiram’s relationship with Sophia change over time?
HOLY HEAVY. I am not yet finished with this, but how beautiful is the resiliency and brilliance of Hiram? This was intensely eye-opening for me and I'm so happy to be reading it.
The suffering and brutality of the enslaved community is heartbreaking and puts into perspective just how a majority can create horrendous societal norms that make jaded the members who aren't experiencing the trauma.
Part of what was so hard-hitting to me was the parallel of sloth between the races, to one, death, the other, luxury.
The language of "Tasked" and "Quality" input nuance to juxtapose the conditioned terminology of our daily speak to be able to recognize the true horrors that we so dismissively acknowledge and overlook. We are truly conditioned to miss the brutality of a common language.
I think that the perspective of freedom to an enslaved Black woman is much more complicated and adds an even deeper layer of hardship, gender roles and patriarchy holding greater walls to break through for truly felt freedom. She must face multi-faceted prejudices and forms of control simply for being born Black and a woman.
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her — but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.
So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.