Thanks to the timing of library loans, I’m going to probably only read a couple of books by Black authors this Black History Month, but since one of them is The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I feel pretty good about it. This is not only a great book by a living Black author, but it’s directly about Black history, so it’s incredibly topical for this month.
(also, I read like, 4 books by Black authors last month, so it’s just like I was pre-gaming for this month.)
The Water Dancer takes place in Virginia prior to the Civil War, and is the first-person narrative of a young enslaved man named Hiram (called “Hi” by almost everyone). It starts with Hiram experiencing a magical encounter that leaves him and his white half-brother dumped in a raging river; Hi survives, his brother does not.
What follows is a somewhat slow-paced and introspective story of a man growing into himself while trying to discover whether he can understand and harness this magic and use it to free himself and other enslaved people.
Ultimately, this felt like a coming-of-age story to me. For most of the book, Hi is around nineteen, and because we are in his head, we get to watch him grow and mature into an adult. Yes, the ultimate goal of the book is freedom for Hi, his loved ones, and as many other people as can be helped along the way, but this isn’t an action-packed book full of daring escapes. There’s a few of those, but really it’s a lot of Hi becoming the man he needs to be in order to better help himself and others.
The magic is almost incidental. It’s pretty cool and ends up serving a role in the story, but aside from a few people having this one magical power, the book feels pretty grounded in historical reality, putting it in the magical realism realm of fantasy.
Speaking of historical reality, this is a story about slavery, which means it’s not an easy read. But unlike some novels I’ve read set during this time in history, it doesn’t linger on whippings or other physical abuse; it’s not a particularly gory or violent book and is more concerned with the mental and emotional toll of being enslaved. While this book was published and marketed as adult fiction, because Hi is a young man and because it doesn’t contain a lot of intense, graphic content, I could see this being a very good title to share with teens who read at an adult level and would like to read more fiction that examines the experience of enslaved people.
Over all, the book was well-written. I particularly enjoyed reading it after having listened to The Message last month, as I could almost hear some scenes read in Coates’ voice. I did find that it suffered from a bit of lag in the middle like so many books, and like any real late-teens-early-twenties man, there were times when I found Hi to be a frustrating character (listen to what women are telling you!), but these are pretty minor complaints in an otherwise excellent book.
CWs and TWs: Slavery, including the separation of families; violence; mentions of (but no on-page depictions of) sexual assault/rape; strong language including racial slurs; racism, obviously; death.
Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Sno-Isle Libraries.
Reading Challenge Prompts
World of Whimm: Takes Place in the Past. This book’s historic setting is intrinsic to its story and makes it an ideal read for Black History Month.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 4 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 6 of 25, no bingos.
Book Riot: 6 of 25.
Physical TBR: 1 of 12.
Brick & Mortar: 13 of 25, 0 bingos*.
*I’ve completed several of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!
World of Whimm: 7 of 24, no bingos.