Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.
The Review
The Deep is a novella based on a song, based on another song about enslaved pregnant African women who were thrown off of slave ships to drown. The question, what could have become of the of the unborn? I'll admit, it was the "merfolk" idea that drew me in. I am hopelessly obsessed with all things mermaid. But this isn't one of those sappy, long haired and lovely tail fin kind of merfolk. These are badasses who use electricity, can create tidal waves and who have sharp teeth that can and have easily ripped out two-legs' throats. Basically, they are the coolest aquatic people ever to have been written about, ever. Don't let that fool you though.
More than anything, this is a story about heritage, history, individual vs. society, trauma, vengeance, healing and self-discovery and transformation. Yetu is the Historian for her people; she carries the complete history and memories of the whole of her people and ancestors. She alone knows about the past, both the dark and the light. She is plagued by the trauma of so many, lives it daily, is consumed by the unhealed wounds that only she is privy to. Once annually her people gather to remember and Yetu has a few days empty of the memories and the trauma. It's interesting to think about what impact our ancestry plays, how much of the self would exist without the many before and how justice often only creates more damage. It's about coming together, how we cannot heal alone, cannot survive empty of a history. We all have a beginning but with community and connection, we are eternal. Less serious sidenote: OH MY GOSH, I LOVE WHALES SO FREAKING MUCH.
I am giving this amazing book five stars. (The song by clipping. also gets five stars. It's been playing on repeat all day.) Honestly, everyone should read this. I mean everyone.
