The Water Dancer is the story of Hiram, a slave with a complicated status. He is the son of one of the “Tasked”, the slave Rose, and the master of a tobacco plantation, Howell, belonging to the “Quality”. Hiram narrates his journey as he escapes slavery and travels to the north with the help of the Underground.

The book is suffused with magical realism as Hi explores his powers of “conduction” and investigates his life story in order to unlock the one missing memory of his life: the fate of his mother, who was sold off by Howell in anger and thus separated from her son — like so many others who came before and after her.

This book has been such a literary sensation and it certainly is so very important, dealing with the horrific reality of slavery and all the horrors this entailed. I’m feeling slightly conflicted as the writing is beautiful and, like I said, the story and its telling, even in fictionalised form, so paramount. But I just didn’t love it as much as I hoped and even expected. I’m still giving it four stars but have to admit that that is in part motivated by the subject matter and not entirely by my love for the tale and its telling.

Great social commentators don’t necessarily make great novelists, no matter how powerful their writing and insight. Ta-Nehisi Coates is an accomplished writer and an important contemporary voice, but this is very much a debut novel - albeit a promising one.

It’s probably been said elsewhere, but Coates picks up where Toni Morrison left off. The emotional / psychological / spiritual ruin of slavery; the deep never-healing inner personal and familial wounds; the burden of loss, grief, hatred; the trauma of children, parents, partners ripped away to be sold off, never to be seen again. Morrison’s themes are his themes, and her raw material is his too.

Set on a failing tobacco plantation in pre-civil war Virginia, 'The water dancer' presents a fictionalised narrative that incorporates real events and individuals, namely the Underground Railroad, the secret network that enabled people to escape out of slavery to the free north. The story is built around the development of Hiram, the narrator, from traumatised motherless child, to silent dutiful house-slave, to daring outlaw, to… um, supernatural liberator.

The early chapters of Hiram’s childhood and youth are excellent and really moving - the writing is gorgeous, it’s emotionally resonant, and the decaying setting and hubristic tragedy of the land and human lives laid waste by avarice are drawn beautifully. This would have worked perfectly well as a straight tale of self-discovery, epiphany and escape, the hero emerging through trials to triumph over the odds. It’s a well-worn narrative but it’s stood the test of time for a reason.

But no. The author steers the novel wildly off course with an ill-advised plunge into magic realism. Rather than making a gruelling journey from south to north involving immense danger and hardship, escapees can be teleported to freedom via a mysterious psychic miasma. You wade into a river in Virginia, a spooky blue fog descends, spectral figures of ancestors and loved ones appear, and hey presto, you emerge a free man in Philadelphia. Hiram is an unexceptional character but he does have a photographic memory, and somehow (don’t ask me how) he discovers that this also allows him to conjure this wonderful phenomenon at will - which he learns from none other than Harriet Tubman. (And at this point I totally lost faith in the novel.)

I have two problems with this. In narrative terms it’s really weak. It’s like Pam Ewing’s dream in ‘Dallas’. Secondly, it seems somehow disrespectful to the real-life unknown unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad, who risked and indeed sacrificed their lives helping slaves escape. To me, Harriet Tubman simply magicking slaves to safety in the north is a baffling take. I don’t know. The author has obviously a far far deeper historical and personal understanding of the whole subject than me, so he must have had his reasons - but they’re a mystery to me. Either it should have been a pure magic realism novel, with all the colourful teleportations and mental super-powers the hero could muster, or straight historical fiction. I’d have voted for the latter, personally.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has built a strong reputation for his non-fiction work, particularly his award-winning “Between The World And Me” from 2015 which was written as a letter to his son encompassing feelings regarding being a black man in the United States, a twenty-first century slant on James Baldwin’s important “The Fire Next Time” (1963). This is his debut novel, a historical work, set in Virginia in the nineteenth century.

Hiram Walker is a slave.. Acknowledged by his master as his son he is spared work in the tobacco fields and used as a servant for his white half-brother Maynard.. Whilst returning the no-good heir from the racetrack Hiram has a vision which leads to a catastrophic accident which puts his future in doubt..

Events lead him to become linked to the Underground Railroad, a group of agents who worked to free slaves and bring them north. He meets and is inspired by Harriet Tubman, the real-life woman who rescued around 70 slaves on 13 dangerous missions. Coates here employs a little magic to explain Tubman’s success, magic which Hiram himself discovers he has the potential to utilise, the ability to jaunt through space..

I wasn’t sure about this - feeling it undermined the true life heroine’s contribution but looking at the life of Harriet Tubman afterwards she did seem to experience visions probably caused by an overseer throwing a heavy weight at her head when a child so Coates is using an imaginative next step in using these visions to assist her with her rescues. Also, despite any misgivings the section where Hiram accompanies her on a mission was one of my favourite parts of the novel.  What also is done very well is emphasising the importance of story and their history for the black characters (both aspects often present in the very best Black American literature) and also conveying the sense of loss in their lives here at a time when the good times are drawing to a close for the white plantation owners meaning the slaves are no longer the asset for them they once were, which brings its own particular set of problems. .

Comparisons do have to be made, however, to the multi-award winning 2016 best-selling novel by Colson Whitehead “The Underground Railroad” which similarly uses imagination to provide a creative slant on this rescue network.  That is one of my favourite novels in recent years and whereas I was very impressed by Coates’ debut the Whitehead novel has the edge.

The Water Dancer was published in hardback in the UK by Hamish Hamilton in February 2020. The Penguin paperback is due on 19th November. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the review copy.

An interesting voice throughout the novel - the emergence of Hiram's persona from the narrative is impressive. A cast of malti-faceted characters throughout, full of nuance and realism among the magic surrounding them. A story both of hope and despair, navigating through the horrors of slavery to arrive to its truth.

The Water Dancer is a truly captivating and stunning read. I flew through it and was so grateful it had been added back to NetGalley. I'll be buying it for everyone for Christmas.

A powerful story that deals unflinchingly with slavery. Original and compelling with characters I really cared about. Top notch and well recommended!

An epic journey from the slave trade through the Underground and more, The Water Dancer offers a powerful story told through the voice of Hiram. Born into the Virginia plantations, his mother sold off when he was young. Hiram grows up on the Street, a community of those born into the 'Task', before his white father whisks him away to live in the manor overseeing the town. Hiram is highly intelligent with a photographic memory from a young age, and when he falls for a local girl from the Street he's determined to escape the hard life they've been born into. But running away is easier said than done and his actions take him on a powerful journey from one type of prison to another before he finds his own kind of freedom.

With a stunning cover, lyrical and evocative prose and a sprinkling of magical realism, this book is definitely something special. But I have mixed feelings about it. I almost feel inadequate to review this novel because it tackles a lot of deeply complex issues I know very little about. On some level reading this now was definitely an attempt to diversify my reading, and the author does an incredible job of exploring the harrowing history of America, the pain of slavery and separation. Whilst of course one novel can only skim the surface of this history, it does provide some shocking and eye-opening moments wrapped up in poetic, powerful writing. But, as a novel, this book didn't entirely work for me.

For me, it's a story split into thirds. I loved the opening parts of this book; the loss of Hiram's mother, the relationships he builds with others on the Street and the juxtaposition between life on the Street and in the manor was touching, horrifying and fascinating in equal measure. Hiram lives on the outskirts of the white world, living in the manor and serving his white master but hidden away in underground tunnels to sleep.

"Slavery is everyday longing, is being born into a world of forbidden victuals and tantalising untouchables - the land around, the clothes you hem, the biscuits you bake. You bury the longing, because you know where it must lead."

But as the story progresses and Hiram moves away, more and more characters are introduced along with the magical realism element of 'conduction' - a way some members of the Underground are able to travel instantly and therefore transport people to freedom. Whilst I love a touch of magical realism a story, for me here it felt a little disjointed and just didn't really add anything. I actually found myself skipping over some of the scenes with magical 'Moses', and I felt she and a number of other characters in this part of the novel were under-developed and difficult to relate to. It's a shame because I really really wanted to love everything about this novel, magical realism and all, but I found myself muddling through the middle of the story - so much so I had to take a break from the book and start something else for a while.

However, the author does come good in the final third as Hiram comes full circle and returns home, there's some beautiful scenes as he reconnects with people from his youth and we see how much he's grown. There's lots to love about this; it's a meticulously researched, evocative exploration of slavery and freedom. Whilst I did struggle with the writing at times and feel perhaps some parts could have been cut, I don't regret reading this - it is an important and powerful story and resonates strongly now more than ever.

I had heard only wonderful things about The Water Dancer so i was excited to receive a copy in exchange for an honest review and I have to say it did not disappoint! Coates paints a historical picture of Virginia from the first person perspective of Hiram, a young boy born into slavery, and follows his life with a lyricism and originality that builds throughout the novel. I could discuss this novel at length (and will with anyone who has already read this) but I don't want to teeter on the lines of spoilers so I will just say this... Even if, like myself, you aren't usually a big fan of historical fiction, give this story a chance to enchant you. You won't regret it!

'The Water Dancer' is the first work of fiction by American author and journalist, Ta-Nehisi Coates. There has been a huge amount of discussion about this work in the media, with Oprah describing it as, "One of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. I haven't felt this way since I first read Beloved" and "Timeless and instantly canon-worthy" by Rolling Stone magazine. As a result, it was with a growing sense of curiosity that I opened my copy a few days again.
The book tells a the story of young Hiram Walker, who was "born into bondage" and had forgotten all of his memories of his mother after she was sold. Yet along with this terrible loss, Hiram also gained an unusual gift - .a gift that will later help to save his life. And so we are introduced into Hiram's life as a slave and his constant battle from the plantations to the wars to save his family.
There is a strong element of magic realism to the novel and while intriguing this does not take from the utter brutal cruelty of the slave world that surrounds Hiram. The language is richly descriptive and Ta-Nehisi Coates does not shy away at any point from the reality of the past. The story is utterly heartbreaking but none the less has a huge impact and it is an important tale to tell.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American author and journalist who is perhaps best known for his non-fiction. His book Between The World And Me explores America's racial history in the form of a letter to his teenage son and won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 2015.

The Water Dancer is his first work of fiction. Published in 2019 it was described by Oprah Winfrey as 'One of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. I haven't felt this way since I first read Beloved . . .' . Wow - talk about setting high expectations!

The book's opening is intriguing:

"And I could only have seen her there on the stone bridge, a dancer wreathed in ghostly blue, because that was the way they would have taken her back when I was young, back when the Virginia earth was still red as brick and red with life, and though there were other bridges spanning the river Goose, they would have bound her and brought her across this one, because this was the bridge that fed into the turnpike that twisted its way through the green hills and down the valley before bending in one direction, and that direction was south.

Looking back at it now, I know what it means. When I first read it, I wasn't at all sure. I found the first part of the novel to be pretty baffling. But the writing is so very beautiful that I was keen to read on - it is one of those books where you can simply enjoy the language and the overall reading experience, always expecting that comprehension will dawn at some point."

The 'I' here is main character Hiram. He is immediately someone you want to spend more time with. His story, past and present, is a key part of the book's pull:

"I was a strange child. I talked before I walked, though I never talked much, because more than anything, I watched and remembered. I would hear others speak, but I did not so much hear them as see them, their words taking form before me as pictures, chains of colors, lines, textures, and shapes that I could store inside of me. And it was my gift to, at a moment’s beckoning, retrieve the images and translate them back into the exact words with which they had been conjured."

But perhaps the main reason why I found myself continually drawn back to these pages was the unexpected and unusual combination of Coates' beautiful language and magical realism contrasted with the story's core issue: the horrific brutality of slavery.

I have seen many reviews of this book which criticise Coates' choice here; these readers found his style too whimsical for such a serious subject.  But I have also heard other reviewers saying that this approach helped them to stick with the narrative and cope with the brutal realities which which it deals.

I must admit I found it took a bit of getting used to. It was worth the effort though, because once I was in the flow of the story, I found it to be completely readable and absorbing. I felt that the novel's magical realism provided a very effective means of focusing on the characters as individuals, and not simply as symbolic representatives of the wider history of slavery. The savage cruelty of slavery is ever-present and never diminished by this approach. Indeed, I think it makes the story all the more powerful as the reader travels with those characters, breathlessly experiencing the highs and lows of their journey, and thus becoming increasingly invested in finding answers to the novel's various mysteries and questions.

This is a novel which combine all the best elements of storytelling. It is not an easy read, but that is because it is not in any way obvious or cliché. Coates has created something unique and special and I hope that someone has picked up the screen rights - it would make an amazing Cloud Atlas-esque film. Meanwhile, I am already looking forward to reading it again. :)



With grateful thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

This was hard going for me, I enjoyed parts of it but other parts I didn't. The writing style is very poetic and beautiful though and really something you can delve into and really absorb and almost enter the world it presents. Good book if you want a really good literary read.

I first came across the author when I read an article of his about being a stay-at-home dad, and the particular challenges of being a black father. It was thoughtful and witty enough that I tracked down more writing by him and started following his blog on The Atlantic. In his writing you could see the seeds of this book as he researched widely, and worked at increasing his knowledge in many areas – he took up the challenge of learning French as an adult which is not an easy task. He could recommend ″Out of the House of Bondage″ by Thavolia Glymph, an exploration of the cruelty of white slave mistresses. And at the same time comprehend the intense friendships that grew between Southern girls at school, who knew that they would be parted by distance and probably death in childbrth after the end of their education. His book has the benefit of his learning, but doesn′t flaunt it. The background of soil depletion and loss of income for Virginia plantations is present, but does not appear in chunks of exposition, instead its affect on the population informs us of the situation.
One of the strongest themes in his book is that of family, Hiram′s relationship with his absent mother is a driving force behind his actions, even though he remembers little about her. His white father changes the course of his life by his choices, even as his treatment of his white son forms a man that is not able to be a son or a brother. There is Hiram′s found family of Thena who reluctantly becomes a foster mother to him, unwilling to expend too much love when she knows how costly that can be. And Sophia who he loves. In another story this might have been a simple love where they have a deep love for each other and he comes back to rescue her. And although that is part of the story, what is more important is that he learns and accepts that she is her own person, an important step in an environment where people are regarded as property.
As a book about slavery, there is mention of the physical punishments that are meted out, but what I felt was emphasised in the book was the mental torture of losing family and friends. The not knowing what has become of children, spouses and even acquaintances. When Hiram comes back to the plantation house after a time away, the emptiness of the slave quarters compared to the previous busyness was somehow particularly poignant. Nearly all the people he knew – gone, and with no way of finding out anything about their fates.
The fantastical element of ″conduction″ was not an element that bothered me, but in writing this review I am considering why it was used. It would be possible to write this story completely within the realms of possibility and still be a powerful story, ″Conduction″ and the use of myths seems to me to be a way of capturing the hope of those enslaved. It would have seemed a miracle to be able to walk free, to cross the river to the Promised Land, and I think the fantasty element captures that feeling in a way where Christian language would be too clichéd and easily passed over by a modern reader.

This is a rich, rewarding book that is well worth reading, and which I will be looking to re-read in the future.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

One of the most important books of 2020 and the 20s. A real privilege to read. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a very skilful writer; poetic, captivating, and enlightening. It is a very humanising tale of a very dehumanising situation. It takes a lot of talent to write a novel like this that is not only good but a true zeitgeist. Hopefully the publishing community and media get behind this novel so readers are aware of its existence and talent. It would also be ideal for a TV series.

As for the comments around Corrine and her role, I think there is an element of projection onto her from those readers. Hi is the real hero, with Harriet. I would like a Harriet sequel/prequel.

This is the story of Hiram Walker. He grows up as a member of the Tasked but is always aware that his father is the landlord of the property on which he works. Through a series of events, some of which are very harrowing, he leaves and becomes a member of the Underground Railroad. This story is told with beautiful prose and is, at times, almost mystical. It is an important story and I am glad I read it. It is, however, slow moving in sections and there were times I struggled to remain completely engaged in the story.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first forage into fiction and you would never know. He write with such magic in his words that the scenes and characters are painted beautifully for you. This story follows out lead protagonist Hiram throughout his life, and we follow along during his heartbreaks. The thing this novel hits best is how slavery impacted not only the person involved but the family around them, how on a daily basis family and friends would be ripped apart as one or other was sold and then everyone else was to carry on life without them as if nothing happened. I also liked seeing what slavery did to those white families employing them, I haven’t seen this in a book as of yet (due to my own fault possibly with the books I have been reading) but it was interesting to see them not come out unscathed and to prove they couldn’t do much without the help of the slaves in which they had acquired and when they were gone there world and grounds fell around them as they had no true skill or power without them.

I would have given this 5 stars but I found the magical realism aspect a bit hard too follow. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but at times I found myself wondering what it was for, and it always stayed at an odd middle place of never being fully explained to me.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it!!

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. Blew my expectations out of the water; will be recommending to everyone I know.