I feel ill-equipped to convey how important I think this book is and will become. I’m going to put it up there with Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and Kindred by Octavia Butler.

Hmm, interesting, it wasn’t until after I wrote that list that I realized all three are books about slavery with a fantasy twist to them. Yep, they all belong to the same sub-genre, but they also share more than that. This book deserves to be on the same shelf as those (what I consider to be) classics. There is a depth and beauty to Mr. Coates’ writing. He speaks so many hard truths in this book that are emotionally trying to read, but it’s impossible to put down. He writes with a real clarity of self awareness and empathy. Delving delves into the complicated relationships between slave and owner, particularly when an owner is also a member of their immediate family. He writes unflinchingly about the torment inflicted on slaves, both physical and emotional, as well as the weight of freedom once it is achieved. The guilt, fear and a feeling of obligation to those left behind in torment. He writes from a man’s viewpoint but takes the time to illuminate the particular difficulties of being a woman at this time in history. It really is a remarkable, honest, breathtaking book. I know that it will be well received, and take its place among the great works of African American literature.

Video for this book: Oprah Winfrey talks Book Club pick with Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Water Dancer”

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the finest and most important public intellectuals in the country. His non-fiction writing is clear, original, tightly constructed, persuasive, and moving. He is a great thinker and a great essayist.

All of these talents are carried over into his first novel. The Water Dancer is a very fine book, set mostly in Virginia in the mid-19th century. It is less about slavery as an institution than it is about very specific people who happen to be enslaved. In the process of telling their story, he illuminates the cruelty of slavery, the dignity and humanity of enslaved Africans, and the corrosive effect on slave-owners.

But the theme of the book is the importance of memory, of stories, of family and community, as almost all of the characters struggle with memory and forgetting in a variety ways. Indeed, there is a touch of magical realism in the way "conductors" on the Underground Railroad use the power of memory to guide enslaved people to freedom.

I highly recommend the book.

I know my opinion will not be of the majority but I just could not finish the novel.

A debut fiction novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the water dancer, is filled with beautiful paragraphs but fell short on a plot. It took me pages and pages of dialog to gain an understanding of the the underlying story. Unfortunately I fell asleep and found myself re-reading too many times to finish or recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I really enjoyed this story. It was different from what I was expecting. The story at its core is about a group of slaves on the Lockless plantation, but it is so so much more than that. What I loved about this is that it focused more on the relationships between the slaves, and families. It's about how families were ripped apart, but traditions and stories kept them near. Hiram, our protagonist, has the ability to remember everything, except his mother. This story is his journey of remembering, and healing. Hiram is the son of a slave and the master. When his ability is discovered, his father has him moved to the main house where he is educated in the hopes that he will care for his half brother when he is older. They have an interesting relationship, and it affects Hiram in ways he doesn't realize until later. The growth that Hiram goes through is very well done. He ends up working with the Undergound, and the magical elements that were hinted at really come into play then. The author really balanced the realism with hints of magic very well. This is just a wonderfully layered story that is about families, and stories and the ways those things can shape who we are,

Hiram Walker was born into slavery, even though his father was the Virginia plantation owner. His mother was sold away and he continued to live on the property, his impressive memory being a trait that others want to maximize. He continues to live the life of the Tasked, until nearly drowning in a river. A mysterious power seems to have rescued him from death, and he is eventually caught up in the Underground and helping to free others from slavery. It's a difficult life, and Hiram wants to save those he cares about as well.

From the opening page, this story is as lyrically beautiful as it is brutal. This is a story of slavery, after all, even as the people of Virginia try to pretty up the terms: the Quality are the rich and propertied white folk, the Tasked are the slaves, and the Low are the poor whites that take out the frustrations of their social status on whatever slaves they can. The language really draws me in, adding to the color and rhythms of plantation life, and the subtle horrors of slavery are dealt with matter of factly: families are regularly broken up and sold off to enrich the Quality's coffers to make ends meet when tobacco crops don't yield as much as before, slaves are often beaten for no reason at all, people are treated in a dehumanized way simply because of the color of their skin, and in fact are not seen as people at all. Slaves are little better than functional furniture, but this also means that the Quality are effectively unable to care for themselves in any useful kind of way. It's a sick symbiosis that can't be maintained.

Hiram's power to transport himself in space is a heaping dash of magic added to this realistic portrait of the South and becomes a way for him to transport himself and then others. Aside from this skill, he's a very believable main character. He wants a life of his own, the ability to have a family and home that we take for granted. It was incredibly brave to return to the South and to the plantation of his birth, even if he felt that it was a necessary thing to do. The way he relates to other people and their struggles is both natural and inspiring. As much as he has his own feelings of anger and rage, he respects others' feelings as valid, and he respects their choices even when they don't dovetail with his. That is another strength that he has which truly gives him a dignity that is missing with so many other people involved in the slave trade.

While the ending isn't what I thought it would be, it fits as well. Hiram is far more aware of the impact he can have by the end of the novel, not just with Conduction but with the guidance he can give others. His growth is amazing to work through with him, and I feel that I have grown along with him. This is such a powerful novel to have read, and I feel very privileged indeed to have read it.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' first foray into fiction doesn't feel new at all, but rather a new way of telling the stories that he has been sharing in a his personal memoirs previously. For anyone familiar with his writing, this book has the same ethereal, intellectual, and immersive way of storytelling. It is hard to get into at first, but I find it impossible to derive any enjoyment out of reading stories of slavery. As the story transitions into talking about and following the actors of this fictionalized Underground Railroad, Coates' level of detail and description makes you feel instantly sucked into the story much like a spy novel or thriller. The components of magical realism -- specifically Conduction -- provide some distance to the horrible reality that this novel captures, while also allowing you to feel awed by the incredible work that was done to provide safety, freedom, and escape for Black people. With historical depth and a magical touch, it will take time to read this story, but will appeal to readers of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Washington Black, Shadow of the Wind, and Kindred, among others.

The pressure was on when Ta-Nehisi Coates announced he was releasing his first novel. Coates is best known as a writer of political and social essays on race and class in America and his two prior nonfiction books, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME and WE WERE EIGHT YEARS IN POWER have solidified his position as a great writer of our time. The question I asked going into this was, can his skills in essay writing translate to fiction? Many other writers write across both fiction and nonfiction, why not he?

I didn't have clear expectations of what I though Coates's first offering to fiction writing would be but I did not expect a slave narrative nor elements of magical realism. THE WATER DANCER tells the story of Hiram Walker, a young man born into slavery to a 'Tasking' mother and a 'Quality' father. Hiram has an extraordinary memory and when pushed to the limits of his life, this memory unlocks an even more amazing gift that is the key to not only his freedom but the freedom of everyone he loves.

Although very important, slave narratives are always difficult to read. Yet Coates excels in his skilfulness as a writer by not only expounding on the physical atrocities but by digging into the depth of the philosophy behind slavery and the way in which it dehumanised both the slave and the slave owner-albeit in drastically different ways. Those in captivity wear a mask to protect themselves from the slave owners and, in some cases, from each other. The owners wear a mask to disguise their own weaknesses and the part of them that rips families apart and is even able to sell their own children in the name of industry.

In the known manner that has won him all the accolades, Coates taps into the inner workings of the human psyche and the complex motives of those that fought to continue the abomination of slavery and those that fought to end it, all the while reminding the reader of the real people, lives and families that suffered for so long.

I will say, however, that I didn't warm to Hiram. I wasn't able to fully invest in his story. I know Hiram held all the power but I'm interested in Thena's story or even Sophia's. I also wasn't completely sold on the magical realism aspect. Especially with who Coates chose to make Hiram's mentor. I would have preferred a completely fictional character (hint, his mentor is a real historical person) as part of me felt that the magical aspect undermined the true dangers members of the underground railroad faced. But that's just me.

Overall, I was really happy with this book and I'm excited for more novels from Coates.

To summarize my feelings about this book, I'll just simply state that I was not a fan of it. I love Coates but this was just not for me. It was long and drawn out. There was a build up of tension in the plot all for a lackluster ending. I'm also not a fan of historical fiction when it involves black people suffering (we did that already :( ). The only exciting part for me was when they first attempted to run away and was turned in by Georgie. Didn't see that coming at all!!!

After reading this, I have no doubt it will help to cement Ta-Nehisi Coates’s reputation as someone with very sound and well-constructed thoughts about the black experience in America. The Water Dancer is a powerful and evocative story, that somehow manages to be starkly realistic and boldy imaginative.

In there are moments of great insight in this book and elements of an interesting and boldly imagined plot as well. It’s not a perfect book though, and at times, the two aspects of the book seem to be fighting against each other. As a result, the quality of writing, the pacing of the story and the tone of the narrative can become a little uneven. If you read this, you will almost definitely get something out of it, but it’s a story that will take some effort to get through.

If you’re a fan of Coates or highly interested in this topic, I heartily recommend this book, and I think you will enjoy it. For everyone else, I’d recommend reading the first couple chapters to get a feel for whether his writing style suits you. I’ll also note that this is definitely much more literary fiction than fantasy, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re primarily interested in the fantasy aspects of the story.

As a book club pick, I’d say that it’s a good book for groups that don’t mind slightly tougher novels. The Water Dancer is not the most accessible book out there, but it is certainly a worthwhile read with interesting points of discussion.

Hiram was born a slave. When he survives a near-death experience, he becomes hyper-focused on freedom. He finds himself linked up with the Underground, a covert movement working to free slaves and bring them north. Hiram never forgets the people he left behind and is willing to do whatever it takes to free them as well.

On first glance, THE WATER DANCER appears to be a standard runaway slave narrative. However, rather than focusing on the physical pain of slavery, this book is a study of the mental pain - particularly the pain of being separated, over and over, from family and loved ones.

I did find it to be a bit slow moving. Hiram is usually kept in the dark about the Underground's plans until the moment they are executed, which means the reader is as well, so in effect a lot of the action takes place off the page. On the other hand, the imagery and mechanics of the magical realism elements were just incredible - images I’ve never encountered before in any book.

I also found the underlying discussion of people's motives for doing abolitionist work, particularly for Corinne and the other white women, quite interesting.

This is a book that will test you.

On multiple levels.


While I am a huge fan of Ta-Nehisi Coates—and have read most of his works—I was tempted walk away from this novel on a few occasions.


The prose was, as expected,
marvelous, but the pacing left a lot to be desired—particularly in the early half of the book where character and setting are being introduced—and my interest waned so much I decided to put the book aside for a few days rather than abandon it altogether.


I’m so happy I did because this turned out to be a fascinating story!


Hiram Walker is born into slavery.


His mother was sold away, when he was a young boy, and he’s left with no memory of her.


Later, as a young man, Hiram has an accident in which he nearly drowns. However, in nearly losing his life he discovers he has a special gift: one that could not only free him from the enslaved life he’s come to know but could also be the key to something far greater than he may be ready to comprehend.


The story itself is written beautifully and Coates wanted, possibly needed, to take his time in telling it.


At times I felt he took too much time, as previously mentioned, and the book drags a bit early on, but you come to appreciate the level of detail as the story progresses; the insight it allows into the characters turns out to be invaluable later.

.
There were plenty of strong, female, characters within this book—which I loved—and Harriett will certainly be mentioned by many, as will Thena and Corrine, as reviews begin to surface—but Sophia struck the loudest chord for me.


She was a woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to make it clear.


Hiram’s feelings towards her, notwithstanding, Sophia remained as independent as they come and her presence dominated the story, even when she was not its direct focus.

Her influence, while in many ways subtle, was clearly the driving force in Hiram’s development.


Honestly, Coates made sure each of the women Hiram encountered left an indelible impression—and they were able to do so with their intellect.

As a woman, I appreciated him using his female characters in such a positive way; so often, in books like this, the women are used as erotic props: relegated to positions of a sexual nature or one of patriarchal ownership for whatever man has been tasked with the job of “getting things done”.


It’s a boring trope but one Coates easily could’ve chosen to use.


The fact that he didn’t made this an infinitely more layered and interesting story to because even though the protagonist is male, you understand his success is connected to the strong women around him.

I enjoyed reading that dynamic.

There is a fair amount of magical realism as well but, at the end of the day, this is a story about the effect slavery had/has on the generations of men, women, and children who were forced to endure it, and how the few who did find a measure of “freedom” struggled to ever truly be “free”.


The stories of those they left behind or who chose death, rather than suffer the barbarism of enslavement, are every bit as important; Coates gives a voice to many of those individuals as well.

A truly amazing work by this talented author.

Thank you to Netgalley, One World, and Random House for this Advanced eGalley. Opinion is my own and was not influenced.
View all my reviews

The Water Dancer reads partly like historical fiction and partly like a magical tale. The mesh between those two genres is interesting and thought-provoking. I love alternate histories, and this one is certainly an interesting spin on that.

The Water Dancer is about slavery in the South and what life is like for the Tasked (slaves) living under the ownership of the Quality (the masters). Hiram is determined to find a way to be free. When he discovers the Underground, he discovers a powerful new world and the opportunity to free not only himself but also many more, if he can figure out the mystery of Conduction.

I found this book to be fascinating, but also a bit slow and tedious to read. The writing style is very descriptive, which leads to many beautiful and poignant passages. But I kept wanting to get to the action and had to force myself to slow down my reading pace and savor the journey.

As far as the magical elements of this story, I found them both interesting and confusing. I love the idea of taking actual historical events and adding a magical spin to help us see them in a new light. But I never fully understood how the magic worked in this story, and that left me feeling confused and frustrated at times.

This book is imaginative and probing, and as the latest Oprah’s book club pick, I am sure that it will be a hot new release. I think it is a book that is worth your time, but approach this story with patience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Water Dancer reads like a classic — weighty, important, immersive. It’s also incredibly creative. What Coates does with Harriet Tubman as a human legend and with the language of the underground railroad is unlike anything I’ve ever read before.

The story is told from the first-person perspective of Hiram, although you can tell he’s speaking from the future, looking back on these parts of his life and telling the story of what happened. He is a slave on a Virginia tobacco plantation. The story begins from a point of action — Hiram’s horse and cart fall into the river and he nearly drowns — and then spins back to his childhood, just after his mother was sold. Something strange happens to him in both instances — the story’s element of magical realism.

Later in his life, Hiram joins “the Underground” and begins learning the art of “conduction.” He journeys back and forth, up and down the coast, finding his purpose, clarifying his own values, and making his mark on the world — big and small.

It’s not an easy life that he narrates for us, but it’s incredibly introspective. That’s what really sets this story apart from others I’ve read on the topic / era — this is about the systems, yes, but it’s even more about the people inside them (good and bad) and the sort of gray lines that exist when it comes to interpersonal relationships.

I thought the story moved a little slowly, which is why this wasn’t a 5-star book for me. But it really did feel like a classic — you know, how they aren’t always the most engaging books, but they are engaging enough, and they are also the most important books. That’s how this one felt to me.

I remain most impressed by Coates’s use of magical realism — when it’s done right, magical realism calls attention to a real-world thing, rather than to itself. It’s not the point of the story; it helps you see the point more clearly. This is what he’s done so masterfully here. And it’s fantastic.

Coates is a beautiful writer who has written yet another powerful book. I will be recommending this to everyone.

Thank you to @netgalley and @oneworldbooks for an advance readers copy of The Water Dancer.

Synopsis: “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.”

Review: Let me just praise Ta-Nehisi Coates for his ability to write and make you feel so many emotions. His writing is just so beautiful, painful, thought provoking, powerful. I reread sentences just because he was speaking so much truth! His writing hits you to your core. The reason I am giving this 3.75 stars is because it took me until about 37% of the book to figure out what his special power was. I was still confused. I think the marketing of this book made me think it was a super special power and that part just fell flat for me.

I would still highly recommend this book because man the writing is seriously so descriptive and just so beautiful. I just found myself in awe at times with the beauty of his writing.

READ THIS BOOK. I know it is getting so much hype, especially because it was announced as an Oprah’s book club pick. But please know that all of the hype is well-deserved.

Hiram Walker is a young man who was born into slavery. He has a remarkable memory of everything he’s ever seen. He has one blind spot: he cannot remember anything involving his mother, who was sold away when he was a child. Soon after Hiram mysteriously survives a near-death crash into a river, he sets out to escape slavery and bring freedom to those he holds dear to him.

This is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, and it was truly wonderful. I am continually impressed by his writing. Throughout this beautiful piece of literature are strong themes of class (with the interesting categorizations of the Quality, the low whites, and the Tasked), memories, ambition, family, manipulation, betrayal, and the heartbreaking consumption of slavery. There were so many gut punches about the deep layers of racism and slavery. It also reveals how a personal battle for freedom may differ from a righteous but distanced perspective of someone who has not experienced these struggles themselves.

This is a retrospective first-person narrative, so Hiram’s narration is introspective and occasionally includes commentary about how his perspectives have changed over the years. Adding this element to the book helped me connect more to the narrator, since it emphasized that younger Hiram’s choices were influenced by his relative emotional detachment and more limited life experiences.

This book would make a great book club or literature class discussion. I’m sure it will be frequently compared to The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Both are nuanced narratives about slavery, but I would call this more magical realism historical fiction than alternate history. Either way, I loved both books, and I’m sure you would like this if you liked The Underground Railroad.

Wow this book was powerful. I love Coates’ non-fiction work but his first novel was beyond excellent! The story he wove was beautiful and heart breaking and so wonderfully written.

I've never read emotions and feelings better described than here. No matter how many novels have been written about slavery, this one expresses the personal impact on individuals and families better than any other. Our memories define us and to a great extent, direct the course of our lives: who we love, what we do and why we do it are a direct result. The language is unique and powerful, the descriptions are vivid and the characters are so alive that the reader is drawn into their world and their struggles. This has to be on every "best of 2019" book list.

Thanks to NetGalley and OneWorld/Random House for the ARC to read and review.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has presented his unique perspective on the brutality of slavery in the mid-1800s. The Water Dancer is told from the POV of Hiram (Hi) Walker, the son of a plantation owner and a black slave. Through his mother’s family, there is the possibility that Hi has inherited some unique magical abilities that can be traced back to his grandmother, Santi Bess, about whom it is told that she

executed the largest escape of tasking folk [i.e., slaves] – forty-eight souls - ever recorded in the annals of
Elm County. And it was not simply that they had escaped but where they’d been said to escape to . .

The Underground [Railroad] wants to know if Hi will also be able to effect similar escapes. As Hi explores his heritage and tries to remember his mother (who was sold when he was nine-years-old), he is also trying to find his place among the Tasked and among the Quality.

This is a highly creative telling, starting with a quote from abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “My part has been to tell the story of the slave. The story of the master never wanted for narrators.” And in The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates does just that . . . he tells the story of the slave in a most creative, extraordinary fashion. This is an engrossing and gripping novel, well worth reading.

I’m in the minority here so read other people’s reviews.
Up to around 35% I just loved this book.. then it went off into another direction and moved so very slow.. I kept going till 50% and could not bring myself to keep going.
I’m giving it three stars because of the part that I loved!


Thank you to Netgalley and One World for the opportunity to read this!