BY RIVERS SOLOMON, DAVEED DIGGS, WILLIAM HUTSON & JONATHON SNIPES
NARRATED BY DAVEED DIGGS
MY RATING➯ 3¾ STARS
❐ Overall Rating 3¾ | Narration 3½
❐ Novella Length
❐ Inspired from a song & more
❐ Fantasy inspired by history
❐ Water-breathing, merfolk-like beings
❐ LGBTQIA
PREFACE TO SYNOPSIS ➯ The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’s rap group clipping.
The idea behind this is intriguing, inspiring, awe-inducing even. The execution left me perplexed and distracted, I want to say that it should've had a female narrator...but I believe (and I could be wrong or confused) that the merfolk-like being is non-gender specific or binary. So, maybe if it had been voiced by someone who doesn't have such a deep masculine voice, it would have felt more right for this story and the character of Yetu in general. But, I don't know...I could be wrong.
The writing style is hard to follow with prose that feels like it's meant to distract more than to tell a story. It actually sort of felt like it was half story and half poetry; and it switched between the two often...and my attention along with it. I was totally there for the story and for Yetu...but poetry and/or poetic prose has never really been my thing.
Overall, The Deep is deep...down in the murky depths kind of deep and sometimes even a little too deep. Also, the cover is a work of art...absolutely stunning. There is a song that inspired the story by the same name, The Deep by clipping it is definitely not my style of music...I found it to be quite weird and it's mostly without music. I'll leave you with a few quotes that sum up this confusing but inspiring creation...to call it a story doesn't feel quite right...
“One can only go for so long without asking ‘who am I?’, ‘where do I come from?’, ‘what does all this mean?’, ‘what is being?’, ‘what came before me and what might come after?’. Without answers, there is only a hole. A hole where a history should be that takes the shape of an endless longing. We are cavities.”
“The deep will be our sibling, our parent, our relief from endless solitude. Down here, we are wrapped up. Down here, we can pretend the dark is the black embrace of another.”
and from the afterword...
“The audiobook that you are currently listening to and are likely upset that you listened to too quickly. Were you at double speed? I know you were.”
I listened at 1.75...so almost double.
❐ Libby Listen
❐ Length ➯ 4H 2M
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