The Deep is breathtaking. By the end, I was genuinely sobbing. Rivers Solomon crafts a story that is both heartbreaking and beautiful, following Yetu, a historian who carries the unbearable weight of her community’s past. A community that are decedents of the Black women thrown from slave ships during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Through stunning, lyrical prose, the novel explores historical trauma, genocide, racism, love, and the struggle between remembering the past and surviving the present. The story and prose flowed beautifully. 

This story is grief and resilience, pain and healing, history and hope. The Deep explores what it means to carry the past and whether it is possible to let go without losing yourself. It’s truly a masterpiece. I highly recommend the audiobook as well, read by Daveed Diggs.

5/5