This was a beautifully written story, weaving in so many pieces and details that brought it to life. I really enjoyed it, and even though parts of it were sad and hard to read, there was always an underlying message of hope. It did take me a while to get through - more because I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Definitely worth the read.

Thanks to #netgalley and Random House for a copy of this book.

There is no way I am going to be able to do justice to The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It not only is a gorgeous story of survival, family, and love but also a story that forces you to rethink everything you knew about slavery. With prose that makes you wish you had his skill with a pen, The Water Dancer haunts you long after you finish.

Some people might catalog The Water Dancer into a Magical Realism category simply because of Hiram's special powers, and you can make a good argument for it. However, given the origins of that power and the history behind it, to me, his power is one more element of his character and a reminder of the traditions of all the enslaved, something that most novels all-too-easily forget.

Another striking aspect of The Water Dancer is the verbiage used to describe the enslaved. Mr. Coates does use the term slaves every once in a while, but mostly when describing the relationship as it pertains to white people. When discussing himself or his family, Hiram mostly uses the word Tasked rather than slaves or the enslaved and The Task in lieu of slavery. It is a simple change but one that has huge ramifications for the way you see Hiram and his family. The usage of that one word forces you to recognize their family bonds as well as their humanity. It makes you recognize all of the Tasked as individual people on a level that is easy to ignore when someone uses the word slave. This is my first time experiencing such a profound shift in thinking about this time period and truly looking at it for what it was.

The Water Dancer is the perfect novel to usher you into a growing awareness of the insidiousness of white supremacy for anyone wanting to educate themselves and work towards becoming anti-racist. Mr. Coates' lessons are palatable, made even more so by his storytelling and the vibrancy of his characters. More than that, The Water Dancer is a damn good story about the Underground Railroad and the risks all participants faced as well as one that puts a personal spin on the trauma that comes with the separation of families that was the everyday life of the Tasked. The Water Dancer is one of the most human novels I have read in a very long time.

Beautifully written. And interesting story. The slavery episodes are harsh ... the magical realism is captivating. Overall, a moving story of slavery and the Underground Railroad.

A captivating tale illuminating the workings of the underground railroad. I loved how it all came together at the end and emphasized the power and importance of family, love, and memory.

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to draw in readers with relatable characters. The author provides an interesting and relatable read.

This is a well-crafted and well- written novel. It is a moving and engaging tale that keeps you invested in the narrator's story. The horrors of slavery are well documented but this is a new voice bringing a new perspective with vivid imagery and lovely prose. I highly recommend this novel.

THE WATER DANCER is hands-down the best book I have read in 2020. Coates' writing is lyrical and though magical realism runs through the novel, it is still completely believable. His description of the "tasked", the "low" and the "quality" describe the classes of people who occupied the slave plantations during the flagging tobacco trade in Virginia. Hiram is a magnificent protagonist - talented and strong, but not without his own foibles. As a slave trying to break free of the bondage of his owner/farmer, he comes to a new life, but not one that is easy even when he is no longer a slave. Coates is a remarkable author - I lived i this book and never wanted it to end, in spite of difficult it was to read at times (subject matter, not verbiage).

Amazing work, I really enjoyed this. So glad that Ta-Nehisi Coates has chosen to dive into fiction writing, especially with a subject matter like this one. Not really much else to say besides that.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' writing is beautiful and lyrical, and lends itself so wonderfully to this novel about Hiram Walker, a Tasked man on a Virginia plantation who eventually becomes a Conductor on the Underground. I am recommending this to everyone who will listen to me!

2 stars

Hiram Walker’s mother is a slave and his father is the plantation owner. Because his mother is a slave, he is also one. When his mother is sold away, Hiram’s memory of her is gone, but he’s given a mysterious power that years later saves his life when he almost drowns. With a renewed sense of life, Hiram plots his escape from the only home he’s ever known.

I think the author is a very good writer and I enjoyed Between the World and Me, but this book was a struggle for me. The book started promising, but moved way too slowly for my taste. It was hard for me to pick it up, and when I did, I was easily distracted and unable to concentrate. I am a voracious reader, so when that happens, I know something is missing with the book. I tried to read this book for weeks, but finally had to give up.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
SHARE THIS:

"I am here, telling this story, and not from the grave, not yet, but from the here and now, peering back into another time, when we were Tasked, and close to the earth, and close to a power that baffled the scholars and flummoxed the Quality, a power, like our music, like our dance, that they cannot grasp, because they cannot remember."

---

Fellow readers, I am really not sure where to begin with this beautiful debut novel by author Ta-Nehisi Coates. I chose to only read reviews for The Water Dancer once I finished reading the book myself, and was surprised by the wide range of opinions on this lyrical and imaginative story. Many reviews praise it for the way in which Coates stays true to his voice through the narration of Hiram Walker, "born into bondage" and "gifted with a mysterious power". However, other reviews felt that it would have been better written as a shorter piece of non-fiction. With those reviews, I vehemently disagree.

The Water Dancer is a sweeping novel about family, memory and what it truly means to be free. Although it's true that the lessons taught through Hiram's story could have been told through Coates' well-established non-fiction lens; with the power of oral storytelling at its core, these lessons will stay with me in a way that a non-fiction version never would have. Coates has taken the old adage that "to know where you're going, you have to know where you've come from" and turned it into a well-researched piece of history infused with the magic of a people not willing to forget or be forgotten.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this advanced reader copy, Fraser Valley Regional Library for supplementing me with a hard copy, and most importantly, thank you to Ta-Nehisi Coates for gifting the world with your thought-provoking and lyrical prose.

"The Water Dancer" a historical fiction novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates was a powerful story of slavery in Virginia on a tobacco plantation. While the gory details of abuses by slave owners was omitted, the horrifying accounts of splitting up families, husband and wife, removing children from parents, and then the desperate flight to the North in search of freedom all made for a thrilling read.

Coates follows the story of Hiram Walker, a favored slave, son of "quality," a white plantation owner, and a female slave. As a young boy, his talent for remembering things earns him a place in the house, and an education to help his brother, Maynard, who is being groomed to take over the plantation when his father passes. Hiram's grandmother, a first generation slave from Africa, is known for "conducting" 48 fellow African slaves away from the plantation and onto a boat back to Africa.

As time goes by, Hiram's urge to flee intensifies and he learns about his mother and his past in a new light that makes him an ideal "conductor" on the Underground Railroad alongside "Moses," aka Harriet Tubman.

The historical background and compelling story both make this an excellent read.

I received this eBook free of charge from Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

Coates is a fabulous storyteller that takes us to another world, another time. This is another look at slavery exploring issues of race. Coates has a true gift with words and each one should be savored.

“The Water Dancer” took me a little while to get into. The beginning was especially a bit slow. I struggled through this book and put it down more than once. Overall, I felt that this book was interesting, but I had a hard time really connecting with the characters.

This book was everything I expected and more. I can't articulate how moving and powerful it was and I can easily see why this was an Oprah book club pick and why it has received so much buzz. It was absolutely incredible.

The magical realism of this novel appealed to me in the description, but sadly did not resonate with me regarding the story. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters despite Coates rich descriptions and character development.

I struggled through this book, but it was worth struggling through. There were many times I thought about quitting this book. It did not grab my interest, not until about two-thirds of the way through with the introduction of Moses. If I had not purchased this as a Book of the Month book and wanted to complete it for my reading challenge, I confess I would have quit this book.

Coates' words are lyrical and his style does mirror his nonfiction writing. However, I do not believe it translated well into fiction in this book. Coates, as always, has excellent and deep thoughts - ones that strike and wound and uplift and inform all at once. This book has a message as powerful as his nonfiction, even if I didn't truly enjoy this reading experience.The author relies primarily on dialogue to tell this story, and so, the images it provokes are only half-formed. The description lacks the detail I am used to in a strong narrative. The characters are also little formed beyond the words of their mouths. To an extent this even felt true of Hiram Walker, the main character. We don't get much of their lives or thoughts, and so, they tend to blend together. For a novel that attempts to be character driven, this is a significant weakness.

The magical realism in this story didn't make much sense to me or feel like a true fit for the story until about two thirds of the way through, which made the story a slog to read. I would roll my eyes every time it came up before it felt superfluous and barely formed. Finally it made sense later on, but not soon enough for me to have continued with interest on my own accord. It was integral to the story and explained how our memories form us and our future generations. When these memories are stolen, we are stolen and our children to come are also stolen in some formative way.

This book as a lesson for all of us, and it's not just that slavery was painful and bad. There are hundreds of books that do that. Instead, this fantastical narrative begs us to not repeat this. It doesn't mention our chaos and entrapment of those at the border, the enslavement of prisoners, or even how so many are trapped in impoverished lives by those who profit on their poverty. It doesn't need to. It challenges us on these things by reminding us of the power of our past and the power of our future if we can embrace our past without turning away from its darkest moments.

A wonderful story that follows Hiram as he is taken from his mother as a baby, escapes from slavery when he is older and fights his way to freedom. He discovers the special power that he has acquired from his mother and how he is determined to return and help the family he had to leave behind.

“Knowing something is a far measure from truly seeing it” is a quote from The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates debut novel. I felt the absolute truth of that quote when I recently read this book. Unlike many Americans of today, I had the privilege and requirement of studying US History in both high school and college. I knew a little about slavery. I knew facts and statistics. Water Dancer guided me to “seeing it.”
Young Hiram Walker tools as a kitchen slave in the Virginia tobacco plantation of his father and half brother. His parents have been sold off, so Hiram is on his own. Luckily he focuses on Thera, a mean hard shell of a woman.Thera had 5 children. But they were all sold off. Thera has no way to stop it. Here Coates focuses on the effects of slavery on the family and on the human spirit. How much are thy to endure. It’s what he calls “the Morloch man of slavery.” Look it up. Read the definitions. Mull it over. You will look at slavery and how deeply it impacted the Tashed (Coates term for the slaves on Lochless plantation) and what it has left on us.
Young Hiram longs to be free. As he matures he develops his gifts of memory and magical realism. This leads Hiram to accept running as a means of resistance. He encounters Harriet Tubman and becomes a guide for the Underground Railroad. Hiram now has his role in life.
As I have said I loved this book for its insight into the impact of slavery. I also love the book for the quality of the writing. I came away with deeper feelings and many quotations that I will treasure.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #netgalley #thewaterdancer

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.