The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
When I learned that Ta-Nehisi Coates was publishing his first fiction novel, I preordered it before it’s release.
I am a fan of his very important and powerful nonfiction work…his perspective and knowledge really opened my eyes and educated me.
I couldn’t wait to see what he created in fiction…I had a feeling it would be amazing…and I was not disappointed.
Here is the summary:
“From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.
“This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Nearly every paragraph is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished world and steeped in its own vivid vocabulary.”—Entertainment Weekly
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 idealistic 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.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.”
I feel like I overuse the word “powerful” to describe all of his writings…but honestly that is the number one adjective that fits EVERY FLIPPIN’ TIME.
This story was haunting, heartbreaking yet also magical and mystical.
While the physical toil of slavery was horrendous and traumatic in so so many ways, he decides to focus more on the emotional toil (although the physical trauma is addressed as well because it is a part of the real history that can not be left out)
This story describes the atrocity of family members being stolen and sold…
of memories lost and buried away…
of longing and love.. .
what truly defines a family and what binds them to each other.
Mr Coates has a beautiful way with words…the way he writes is in a way that can make you angry, sad, and hopeful all in one sentence.
It was so interesting to see how he blended real history with fantasy, weaving breath taking magic and even romance with adventure into such a horrific time.
I thought this book was absolutely phenomenal.
I recommend reading this interview to hear from him more in depth about his book development: