Library Checkout Reviews: The Deep (& Thoughts On Depicting African Enslaved Trauma)

Pros: World of mermaids is interesting, taking a part of African diaspora trauma and creating a story from that, message about remembering, message about how remembering effects people differently, representing that pain/trauma that comes from the tragedies from the slave trade across the African diaspora, all the characters are black, lgbqt representation, even as I am thinking there is probably more to explore that I am missing

Cons: Wears its message on its sleeve, telling me the message instead of exploring/ruminating on it, ended just when it was beginning like it needed more to round the entire story off, repetitive, did it explore enough memory & African diaspora & slavery

It turns me off that I know the message from page one and it almost seemed like that is all the story had to say (another book made me feel this way).

Thoughts

Might be good to read in school- short and deals with different topics/issues in a fantasy setting

I wonder how much of the story progression is based on the song and original concept? Was there things about these original works that limited where the story The Deep went?

“Forgetting was not the same as healing.”

The Deep

-The Deep, Rivers Solomon

What does memory mean for a people who have lost so much? There is this big amount of lost, there are things that will more than likely never be recovered.

Many people have compared this to The Giver (I thought about it too) the interesting thing is for black people across the diaspora who ancestors lived through slavery it takes on a special meaning. Black people are told actively to forget. They are pushed to erase their history because it is shameful and depressing/heavy.

It is important to have a message about memory in a genre that many people want to distance themselves from the pain of the ancestors. They want to be able to have the fantastical “freedom” of worlds that white (and non-black*) people have. On one hand I want that too – to have fantastical escapism. Nonetheless, I do not want our ancestors and our history to be forgotten.

There is a push to go before slavery happened and there are problems that stem from this (us displaced from slavery inputting our dreams onto Africa where people still reside).

I feel all these feelings are stopping us from exploring many things in our history through fantasy. I want us to own our history not run from it.

(image from amazon)

*do not want to push the idea that nonblack/nonwhite people do not have trauma in their histories. There is a larger conversation I think about how some peoples histories are seen as more respectable or fitting of the tenants of historical fantasy

Other Black Reviewers Reviews…

237: Shark’s Edge

Synopsis

Every great dream begins with a dreamer…

Sebastian Shark is on the verge of realizing his dream. The Edge—the most luxurious Los Angeles skyscraper ever conceived—will be his legacy, an icon to dominate LA’s skyline just as Shark dominates its boardrooms.

Self-made businesswoman Abbigail Gibson is on a trajectory toward massive success, but to get there, she must navigate the egos of her demanding clients—particularly the driven and obstinate Shark, who possesses the special talent of aggravating and arousing her within the same breath.

They are a collision of chemistry, but is their potent attraction toward each other worth losing sight of their ultimate goals? Taking a bite of passion has never carried more risk—or promised sweeter reward.

Fate has other ideas, however, as Sebastian is targeted by unknown enemies and Abbi is caught in the fray. Will the danger draw them closer or drive them apart?

The Good

There was more frankness in how it addressed the sexual stuff than I have been exposed to

-condoms, consent, domination

The Subplot (and the character who came with it)

The Bad

The couple has zero chemistry: sex/lust =love is probably one of my top five if not my number one romance pet peeve. I’m a romance built, slow burn type of romance reader. I think that the couple being into each other from day one was not something I enjoyed.

This weird innocent vs pure vibe: I did not like that the story downed the  girl character who was not considered pure since the story really emphasized the allure of purity of Abagail

Barely a subplot: Why was the subplot only picked up way late in this book? We spent way too much time with the main characters looking at the fact I mentioned earlier (no chemistry, not fun).

The couple are not allowed to be apart. (should this go under no subplot?). Every chapter is basically them together. Then again I do not know if I found the characters fun by themselves either.

This should have been a standalone book- I think that some of the problems tI felt in the story is because the characters story was continued into a series.

The Meh

Domination: there is a thin line between rapey and domination. The story tried to make that distinction. I think it failed in some parts and succeeded in others.

I won Shark’s Edge from bookishfirst

Slay Readalong: Chapters 12-17 (Finale) 🎮

Slay Readalong: Chapter 1&2 🎮

Slay Readalong: Chapters 3-6 🎮

Slay Readalong: Chapters 7-11 🎮

image from goodreads

Chapter 12-17

Side Missions aka the one off point of view chapters (I wish I would have thought of this sooner but earlier there was not a thought in my head that their chapters kinda really don’t matter): I knew these side point of views we not going to connect to mean something big thing. I think they are just present to show how the game is positively impacting people and that a variety of people play the game (also to show the expansive African diaspora).

Claire aka Cicada: So her mom sadly dies and we learn she has not talked to her father even though he lives close by her.

Harper the blameless: Its weird that Harper is more and more blameless for how she is racist as the story goes on. Somehow Wyatt is the only one who said harmful things. Like she said almost the same things as he did about Slay… *thinking emoji* I feel Claire mattered more in the earlier drafts of this novel

There is space to talk about having white friends but I feel this novel did not really do that. I don’t know how I feel about them redeeming Harper and Wyatt.

image from amazon (let me say this would have been the perfect image when I was commenting on how Kiera is made to seem like the one who is always right in the story, alas another missed opportunity)

Kiera the player: she was getting on my nerves about this not telling anybody thing. Like her face is plastered on the internet and she has a broken arm like people are going to definitely notice.

🎮 Also, Malcolm literally says he is antifeminist what is it going to take for you to take to see him. I think the story handled it pretty well basically there is all this engrained in black women to fix and be there for black men. Nothing is wrong with black people being there for each other but the issue comes when people are abusive or not good. That is the scary part we are so afraid of putting someone through the horrible system that we don’t deal with horrible abuse.

🎮 They did not drag her about how she dismisses Steph.

Malcolm aka the hotep:  They did not give the epic drag I wanted but many good things were said. Not to ignore the fact that Malcolm doxxed and threatened her to the entire world. Yes, Kiera ignores him (and basically everyone else) throughout the novel.

🎮 It truly shocked me when it was revealed he was the villain.

🎮 People are going to be mad that a black guy was made the villain especially when black dudes are rarely getting the chance to be love interests. So the chance that we finally get to see a black dude love interest he turns out to do everything Malcolm did. Personally, I feel that the type of man Malcolm is needs to be represented. I did think black people could be toxic to the game too- trolls, coons, new blacks could all feel a way about the game and try to sabotage it.

🎮 I think that the good side of Malcolm exists but like Harper and Wyatt the bad/negative side exists too. There is something to be said about privilege and how all of them have it over black women so that privilege can be leverage especially  with white women and black men to protect them from accountability.

“I know it’s unfair, and I know he’s bound to get a raw deal, but there must be consequences, even in an unfair system.”

-said by Steph

Anubis card- I like the idea of the Anubis card being inacted. Is it weird how Anubis death was handled? It almost feels like its more about Kiera reaction to his death than its about his family or him. I don’t know.

When she said something to her parents about them not embracing all sides of being black, yep agree good message.

Kitchen sink, checklist= The Hate U Give may have had this problem too.

I do get putting your all into a story as a writer because there probably is this feeling that you may never get another shot. The problem is that it feels like there was a lot of underdevelopedness  because the story had so much put into it. Every single chapter we are reading about a new issue in the black community. I think that Malcolm could have been explored more, his family, his background history. At this point Harper and Wyatt were irrelevant and only existed as redherring (wyatt).

Message at the ending about the possibility of Steph and Kiera not immediately (possibly ever) going to college was nice to see. I’m seeing a lot of person of color young adult novels pushing the college thing hard and I feel a way about that.

Did someone already say Skai Jackson should play Kiera when this book gets a movie?