This is an interesting concept but I'm conflicted. On one hand this is an imagined world so the only "rules" are really up to the creator. On the other hand, this imagined world has a historical connection to the real one, which means the reader can't just suspend all disbelief. The fact that evolution doesn't work like that kept intruding on my enjoyment. If new humanoid species can arise because humans wish it, how come the reverse isn't true? Why can't a Wajinru turn into or birth a two-leg because they wish it? Other than this little qualm, this universe is beautiful and the descriptions very cinematic. These are my own opinions, thank you for this copy.

An incredible fairy tale/speculative fiction story imagining an incredible world in the depths of the ocean where the ocean spirits transformed extreme cruelty during the transatlantic slave trade into an amazing new kind of life. Far more complex than the average mermaid, the beings in the story are intricately created as a blend of human and sea creature with astonishing world building and inner logic. The plot centered on Yetu, made to shoulder all of the memories of her people pulls in social and historical context with our world and the way that collective societal memory harms and shapes us all.

2.9 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/

The Deep is an unique novella based on a species of mere-people originally descended from the children of slave mothers who were thrown overboard when it was found that they were pregnant. Along with reminding people of a terrible history—this novella blends such history fluidly with the present, as Yetu remember her people’s origins among the two-legs. While it was thought-provoking and uniquely based, the story is complicated by strange, almost random glimpses into the past, and a vague and detail-poor present. The mere-people live in a colorless world—which is mostly what I thought of this read. Interesting, but ultimately colorless.

Yetu holds the memories of her people. As a child, she was incredibly sensitive to the ocean around her. To voices, to feelings, to the temperature and flow of the waters. As the Historian of the Zoti Aleyu (meaning “strange fish”), Yetu contains the sum of their memories of old; all the pain, the suffering, the brief moments of hope and love between. The other Zoti Aleyu live in blissful ignorance, free of the pain from before. Since she took over as Historian, her life has become a nightmare. Lost in Remembrance, she has withered away. Nearly died on a increasing frequency. She is in constant pain, and seeks to shut out the world—and her own kind—as much as possible.

Yet the Aleyu cannot sustain themselves completely free of memories. Once a year the Historian must host a group Remembrance for all, during which she must guide them through the memories before ultimately leaving them to digest and interpret. But soon after the Historian must take up the mantle once more, and remember for her people.

But instead Yetu flees. She escapes to the surface where she learns an important lesson, something that may yet save the Aleyu and Yetu herself. All she must do is survive long enough to use it.

The story is very interesting at first, though it takes a few detours early on. And then later. But the Zoti Aleyu ultimately proved fascinating. When the focus was on them, I didn’t really have any issues with the text. Honestly, if you just want to read something entirely new and interesting, skip the rest of this and read the book. Otherwise… well, the rest of this will be less flattering.

The story occasionally switches between the past and present, sometimes seemingly at random. One of the later times it does this for no reason that I can tell, doing little to nothing in setting up the finale. Other times it’s to reveal snippets of the Zoti Aleyu’s history—stories that often fail to tell enough, revealing bits and pieces for the reader to interpret for themselves. Other events of importance are told in full: their birth as a species, for example. But too many details are left out or lost. The world runs by in a blur. The parts we are shown are lacking, incomplete, colorless. The Remembrances especially, though even the present is often left wanting, with the plot itself vague or unclear.

My biggest issue with the story is, well, the story. The Deep can’t ultimately figure out what it is. At first it doesn’t much matter, but at about the halfway point, a love story is introduced. And then the story splits. This throws off the pacing, the focus and the flow. From then on, I wasn’t sure where the plot would lead as this romance competes with the Aleyu’s history. Now, this can be a good thing, when done well, as it keeps the reader guessing. Sadly, this is not done well. And since the story never really decides what it is, what story it is telling, the ending was ultimately unsatisfying. Now, this may be due to the sheer number of authors involved in the writing of it—one trying to tell Yetu’s story while the others focus on that of the Aleyu. It is said that too many cooks spoil the broth. Too many authors may take a good idea but get carried away in the writing, all while losing sight of the story they set out to tell.

TL;DR

The Deep is an interesting and unique story with quite the premiss and an amazing lead. It is also unfocused, bland, with an unsatisfying conclusion and strange, often random flashbacks. Though it never decides which story it ultimately wants to tell, the two plots competing one another all the way to the end, it’s thought-provoking and new, something you’ve likely not seen before. Combined with a terrible, eye-opening history of the world (like, the actual world), it’s… I dunno. Can’t decide if it’s a must-read or something to skip. Dunno if I’d pay $10 for the unique vision bereft of a real resolution. I’ve read enough glowing reviews to offset my neutral one, so there’s a decent chance you’ll love it. But, I didn’t. So… your call.

The Deep is a beautiful, haunting, and stunning novella that was inspired by a song of the same name. That song was produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode "We Are In The Future" and received a Hugo Award nomination.

Yetu holds all the memories of the wajniru. That is her role as historian for her people. She feels overwhelmed with the weight of responsibility. During the annual ceremony that provides her a few days respite, Yetu fears she is being destroyed from within and tries to escape. As she recovers from her flight, she discovers the world her people left behind. It is in these interactions with others that she can begin to reclaim and own not only her past, but the future of her people.

Everything about this novella-- the world, the characters, the plot, and the pain is remarkable making it a must (re)read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher Saga Press for allowing me to receive this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Deep
by Rivers Solomon; Daveed Diggs; William Hutson; Jonathan Snipes

I just want to gush about this short novella so much!! The storytelling and power that comes through this are inspiring!! It is something that has its roots in a dark tragedic history that brings it to the forethought of today's world while also adding a beautiful fantastical story to history. I highly recommend this book firstly because of the writing and impact that it has but secondly, it is only 176 pages... You have time to pick this one up! So good!

5 Stars A+ <3

The Deep is a fantasy novel about the descendants of African slave women thrown overboard into the sea by slave owners. Pregnant women were thrown overboard for being "sick and disruptive cargo," but what would have happened if their babies adapted to the new environment and survived anyways? The zoti are the answer to this "what if." They are born from the bodies of women thrown overboard, but rather than having legs they have tails and can breathe underwater. They do not remember where they came from, as it is too painful for them to remember. Only Yetu is cursed with being the Historian. She is overcome by the pain of the History, of all the horrific memories of the first zoti and of the women thrown overboard. She barely remembers who she is, and she cannot rid herself of the History lest the rest of her people suffer as she does with the memories. But one day, she can't take it anymore, and flees to the surface. She leaves the rest of her people in the process of the Remembering, the yearly pain of the memories coming to the surface again, and she flees to discover herself outside of the painful memories of the ancestors.

I came into this novel expecting a hard-hitting dark fantasy book that mixed history with the secrets of the ocean in a beautiful way. What I read was a confusing story that jumped around in time, where I was never sure of who was speaking. Sometimes the POV only referred to the main character as "We", sometimes the POV was clearly from Yetu, and sometimes I could never tell who was speaking at all. I kept reading hoping that things would clear themselves up by the end of the story, but they didn't. The book was so short that I never truly felt any connection to Yetu or her people, and I couldn't figure out how the side characters were even important to the story at all.

One thing that confused me the most in this story was Yetu's multiple (?) love interests. I could not tell whose POV the story was supposed to be being told from at the time, but Yetu was with a male side character, and then she was talking to and seemed to be romantically interested in a female character Oori. I am not completely sure if it was even Yetu with the male character, as that occurred during a POV switch where the only pronoun being used was "we." But it made the story confusing to read as it seemed like Yetu was with both this male character and the female character at the same time, just going back and forth between the two. This is simply one example of something that didn't add up within the story.

I also couldn't understand why the other zoti didn't understand why Yetu was in such pain being the Historian. She was cursed with the Rememberings constantly, and she had to lead them through their own Rememberings as well, so why didn't they understand her pain. They were clearly in pain during the Rememberings, so why was it so difficult for them to understand that this was how she felt all the time?

The only part that I did like about this book was the dark fantasy aspect. I was horrified by the description of the zoti helping the newborn zoti out of the bodies of their dead mothers, but I loved how it was described and how the instant connection was made from this horrific real world to the underwater fantasy one. I also did enjoy reading some of the flashbacks of history, even though I felt like they could have been expanded on.

If this book had been longer and focused on Yetu's story alone, I believe I would have really enjoyed it. If the book had been this length and been a collection of short stories from the Rememberings without trying to connect the main plot of Yetu, I believe I would have enjoyed that as well. But as this story was written, it feels more like a hodge-podge of information than a coherent tale, and I could not recommend it.

I received an advance copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.

"Forgetting was not the same as healing."

The Deep is an interesting novella, inspired by a song of the same name by the hip hop group clipping. (Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Snipes, and William Hutson.)

The premise is such an interesting one, bringing a sense of hope in the face of tragedy and injustice. Some of the fantasy elements, particularly Yetu's role as the historian, make for some really interesting psychological exploration. What are the trade-offs when it comes to remembering generational trauma or letting it be lost to history?

The story holds a lot of food for thought, but the development of these themes can feel a bit thin, an the pace of the story can feel a bit slow at times, especially considering the relatively short length. I suspect a lot of readers will be left feeling a bit ambivalent towards the novella, as I did. It never quite feels like it lives up to its full potential, but I absolutely don't regret reading it, and the story will be one that stays with me for a long time.

Solomon turned an award winning song into quite an interesting novel. He creates a world where the offspring of pregnant African slaves thrown overboard adapt to life underwater as mermaids calling themselves Wanjiru. They have to come to terms with their own existence and how they came into the world. This is a thought-provoking, engaging, contemporary novel that will insight many discussions to come.

It was beautifully written almost lyrical. This is the type of story that makes you think about what would you do in that situation. I enjoyed reading this and would purchase this for my collection.

**3.5-stars**
What the heck did I just read?
This novella is so unique. The feeling.
Gah! I can't even describe it.
When I first finished this book, I was blown away but also didn't really understand what I had read. Overtime, the initial feeling of overwhelming joy has petered out.
In fact, I remember very little about this. Considering the fact that I completed it just 4-days ago, seems a bit of an issue to me.
While I respect the beautiful nature of this story, the question remains, what was this? Whilst reading, I was overwhelmed with feelings that I was being told some wise and ancient lore, unfortunately I think the true meaning of it sailed well over my head.
I do appreciate the creation of this story and I would even read it again someday, it's just a hard one to grasp. Absolutely moving though, even if you don't fully understand why it is slowly ripping your heart out of your chest.
In short, I would need to read this again before I can provide more thoughts. Something I would most definitely be willing to do. Thank you so much to the publisher, Saga Press, for sending me a copy to read and review. I truly appreciate the opportunity!

The afterword states that the plan was to do a “telephone game” version of a book. So you have quite a few voices each telling one piece of the origins of a merpeople inhabiting an ocean world. The base of the tale is that the wajinru came into being when pregnant captives were flung off slave ships during the middle passage from Africa to the Americas. The mothers of course perished but the babies were born alive already knowing how to breathe in water (because of the womb) and the ocean blessing them with fins and scales.

Possibilities, such possibilities for all kinds of wondrous narrative. Not to be because there are no defined characters, except for Yetu who is a historian burdened with remembering all of the pain of her people, no plot, and disrupted pacing. Heavy on magical realism and abstract symbolism, I wasn’t able to grasp a genuine world or a consistent timeline. I know the importance of what they were trying to do but it just didn’t come together. When Rivers Solomon takes over, and you can feel the strength of her writing when she does, it takes off. Too bad that she couldn’t have taken the collective’s ideas to create one cohesive, powerful book.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Saga Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1534439863

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD




Yetu is the historian for the wajniru, underwater beings created when slave traders threw pregnant African women overboard into the Atlantic Ocean. Although the women drowned, their children, born in the deep of the ocean, were transformed and have founded their own underwater society. As historian, Yetu carries the memories of all the trauma the mothers of the wajniru and the succeeding generations alone, to protect the others, and has done so for sixteen years, suffering tremendously from taking the burden alone. Once a year, she gets a three day respite from the memories when the wajniru hold a Rememberance ceremony. At that time, she carefully lets the memories wash back into the entire population so they can feel it collectively. The experience is physically as well as emotionally traumatic-- author Rivers Solomon describes it as a seizure-- but all the wajniru go through it together, and once they have absorbed the memories and can take no more, Yetu takes them back. Carrying all the history, violence, and trauma of her people has emotionally, mentally, and physically damaged and weakened Yetu, and since she has been carrying these memories since she was a teenager, they have overwhelmed her ability to establish her own identity. This time, after giving the wajinru's memories back to them, Yetu decides to escape so she does not have to take on their pain again and can have an opportunity to discover who she really is. 

Swimming to the surface of the ocean, away from her kind, Yetu is injured and washed into a tide pool. Thanks to nearby humans, and especially the prickly Oori, she begins to heal. An awkward friendship develops between Oori and Yetu, out of discussions about the ocean, family, and the past. Oori, the last of her people, does not know her history, and the fact that Yetu gave hers up is upsetting to her and causes Yetu to rethink whether she can really develop an identity without any knowledge of her history. It becomes clear to her that the increasingly stormy weather is probably due to the wajinru's group anguish and that she must return to them to retrieve their history. 

This story powerfully brings the point home about the physical, mental, and emotional effects of generational trauma that many Black people still experience, even generations after the end of slavery. The situation that created the wajinru is also not the only negative impact the "two-legs" have on them, even down in the deep of the ocean, as drilling for oil not only has a negative impact on the environment but causes the violent deaths of enough of the wajinru that they rise up to wash it away in a tidal wave.  The Deep is not fast paced, as for much of it Yetu is trapped in a tide pool, but it is a story that can be felt deep in the gut. 

The Deep is the third iteration of storytelling based on the premise of an aquatic people born from drowned pregnant African women kidnapped to be enslaved(although each version can stand on its own).  A musical duo called Drexciya first imagined it, and their music created a mythology for an underwater utopia born from this terrible oppression. The hip-hop group clipping then wrote their own musical version, "The Deep", a haunting song about underwater beings who rise as a collective against the "two-legs" after they begin drilling for oil, leading to dramatic climate change and destruction of the oceans, that won a Hugo Award for best dramatic performance. This novella takes the repeated line "y'all remember" from clipping's song and focuses on the effects of history and collective memory that follow the uprising, While I'm not familiar with Drexciya, both clipping's song and Solomon's novella tell powerful, complementary stories about the violence and horror caused by white supremacy and enviromental destruction. Recommended. 


I received this as a complimentary ARC from Saga Press through NetGalley

A combination of folklore and fantasy brewed alongside a healthy dose of “What If…”, "The Deep" is a tale of the water-breathing descendants of African women who were tossed overboard during the slave trade travels and adapted to survive. Interestingly, "The Deep", by Rivers Solomon, is a large survival metaphor of the endurance all Africans underwent during the devastations of slavery.

Solomon’s narrative is confusing at times, yet also beautifully dream like.

That narrative, with one fin exclusively swimming in the tides of fantasy with all its fantastically unpronounceable names, focuses on Yetu, a historian for an undersea community that calls itself Wajinru. Yetu is a dreamer and prefers to live more in a shamanistic dreamlike state rather than deal with the current, ahem, current. This is where Solomon’s talent is the strongest. The word play floats and bubbles along. The dialogue, unfortunately, becomes a sinking anchor at times as the lyrical nature cedes to mere genre-speak. An interlude remembering – even foreshadowing – war with those nasty surface dwellers, which is meant to build as an integral action-piece, also drowns into a mono drumbeat whose rhythm is never solidly established.

Solomon works at building a beautiful society and a caring character, one that can be read as an imaginary tale or as a sad allegory. When Yetu flees from her home in an impulse of surrendering all responsibilities, however, the lore begins to drift. Yetu’s plight becomes well documented but the equally-compelling Wajinru are mostly lost in the wake.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press / Simon and Schuster for the award of a preview copy.

The Deep is kind of unique in that it is a book inspired by a song: "The Deep" by clipping..  I've included it below in case you'd like to take a listen.  The Deep is about Yetu, who belongs to a race of creatures that live beneath the surface of the sea, the Wajinru.  They are descendants of pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard by slave owners.

The pain of the Wajinru people goes so deep, they cannot bear to remember these events more than once a year, at an event they call The Remembering.  In the mean time, the memories are held by one single Wajinru, the Historian.  For now, that historian is Yetu.

But Yetu is overwhelmed by these memories.  They are drowning her, killing her, even with how painful they are.  Sometimes she becomes so lost in these memories she cannot eat, she cannot sleep.  She wishes she were dead.  Yetu is determined to get rid of the memories.

The writing is beautiful.  The way the world beneath the surface of the sea is described is perfectly haunting, the cold currents, the whale song, the way the light pierces the surface.  It's everything I would hope for in a book that is set in the sea.

I also loved the world building and history of the Wajinru people.  How they learned language, how they rescued their kin from the water, how they explored the sea and passed along their memories.  Although this novella is relatively short, there is a lot to digest.

At it's core, it's a story about memory and history.  How important it is to carry on those memories, to not forget about where you come from.  How memories outlive us and persist beyond time, how an entire culture can be erased with no one to remember it.

Despite it's dark premise, The Deep was a story full of hope.  People uniting, overcoming a painful history together, sharing the burden.  I read The Deep in just a day, and I'd recommend the story to anyone interested in the premise.

The Deep released on November 5, 2019 and can be found on GoodReads or ordered on Amazon. Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the eARC provided in exchange for review.

Excerpted to the relevant portion from full article linked below:

Yetu, on the other hand, is a more likeable, hopeful protagonist. Burdened with not only the memories of her people, but also a sensitivity to the presence of others that makes her prefer solitude, Yetu isn’t sure she’ll be able to survive the next Remembering. During the ritual, she passes all the memories back to the other wajinru, so that they can all take part in their history, so that they know who they are. Without the Remembering, the wajinru begin to forget themselves; in their day to day lives, they easily dismiss past transgressions, forgetting them almost immediately after they happen. But if they forget easily, they also crave knowledge of who they are, something restored to them only in the Remembering. For a few blissful days, Yetu will be free of the other memories, existing only as herself. But taking back the memories will kill her, she is certain, and so Yetu flees, leaving her people in the throes of memory.

Although the act may seem selfish, it’s clear to the reader that it’s an act of self-preservation. When she lands in a shallow pond at the surface, at the mercy of the surface dwellers (who care for her as she heals), it takes developing a real friendship for Yetu to begin to view her own people in a kinder fashion. Yetu wants to believe that the wajinru will be able to handle the memories and the pain; ultimately, when the storms rising from the sea make it clear that they cannot, she fulfills her duty, hoping that one day she will find a better way, a new path forward where there is no separation between the historian and the wajinru. The solution presented at the end of the story is a surprise, and the deep understanding the others develop for the pain of history—and the importance of holding onto it for themselves—allows Yetu and the wajinru together to reinvent themselves.

While Yetu and the others have no forgiveness for the two-legged villains who threw their original mothers into the sea, or who threaten their world with climate change and an unquenchable thirst for oil, Yetu realizes that there are individuals who are worth learning about and understanding, whether wajinru or two-legged. And it’s her growth and connection to others that maker her so easy to empathize with, and so easy to follow into the bright surface or the depths of the ocean.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

The Deep is a novella based on the idea that the babies of African slave women drowned on the ocean crossing, developed the ability to live underwater and formed their own community. There was a lot that I loved about this story and I do think it is worth picking up, even if all of the elements didn't quite come together as cohesively as I would have liked. A friend of mine said that this either should have been shorter or longer, and I tend to agree. That said, much of it is compelling and beautiful, with exploration of themes like collective memory and pain, gender and sexuality, and the complications of parent-child relationships.

Yetu is the Historian for her people, holding their painful memories within her body and only sharing them once a year. But the Remembrances are slowly killing her and one year, she decides to run away after releasing the memories to her people. The novella follows her story and what happens, including a variety of flashbacks to different times. I felt deeply for Yetu and loved the slow-burn romance she ends up developing. The world is inventive and visceral, based on a powerful reframing of horrific acts of violence.

This is also a solidly queer book offering a beautiful approach to conceptualizing gender and sexuality. Rivers Solomon is gender non-binary and they weave that identity into the story. Yetu's people have developed so that gender identification is a choice and everyone has both "male" and "female" genitals. It's an interesting point of discussion in the text, questions of evolutionary realism aside, and offers a different vision of how this could be approached.

There was a lot of this that I loved, but the different flashbacks did not always come together with the rest of the plot and there were points in the story that dragged, despite its brevity. I think this could have been stronger if it was either shortened to only include Yetu's perspective, or lengthened to allow for better integration of other perspectives and timelines. Either way, I'm glad I read it. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A stirring and beautiful novel with so many levels. First, just lyrical and beautiful as a story. Second, deeply profound. What if a utopian world where the we is all important began due to a truly appalling event? Pregnant women tossed overboard from slave ships by the thousands whose babies were born and survived in the sea. Third, is our history what saves us or binds us as we entry yo find who we truly are. Pick up this book and be prepared to be forced to think and be moved. And in case you don't usually, read the afterword this time and then find and listen to the sing which came before the novel

I didn't know what to expect when I downloaded this title. What does it mean to write about black mermaids, and to engage with the history of slavery, and of people who were transported from their homes, and lost their original histories? I hadn't heard the eponymous song by Clipping and Daveed Diggs, so I went into Solomon's book only knowing the historical side of the concept, not the song. I wondered whether I would "get" the book without knowing the song.

I needn't have worried. Though I know the song now (and it's fab), Solomon's take on the concept of black mermaids stands on its own easily. Solomon takes the brutal murders of African women as the jumping point for a story that explores people's relationship with their history. How does our history shape who we are -- whether for good, or for bad? How does the burden of history shape us, as opposed to the lack of history? In The Deep, we meet two primary characters whose relationship to their people's history is sharply contrasting -- and they wrestle to understand: is there a right way to be connected to your history? is there a wrong way? Is history ever possible to escape? If these sound like very solemn questions that are more suited to a course on history and critical theory than a novel, then you might worry about whether you'll appreciate this book. But you shouldn't be, because Solomon is incredibly adept at engaging with these questions through the characters of Yetu and Oori, and through the fantasy tropes associated with mermaids. Don't hesitate -- just dive in.

This book seeped into my soul and took hold
Unsurprisingly, as the song did the same the first time I heard it.
This book is small, dense, and so so beautiful.

When I saw Daveed Diggs mentioned as one of the authors, I knew I had to read The Deep. The author takes a tragic story and a phenomenal song into the world of Yetu and her people. Daveed’s group, clipping., created the song of the same name on which this book’s premise is based.

The premise takes place during the time of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and focuses on the cruel treatment of pregnant African women who were thrown overboard at sea. Rivers Solomon took that terrible truth from history, mixed in the premise of a new race from the lyrics of clipping’s song, and wrote a story of hope and love with Yetu and the other wajinru as the featured characters. There is so much to love about this book, even without going into more details.