Ta-Nehisi Coates is well known for his nonfiction works. I read and very much enjoyed Between the World and Me, which I reviewed on Amazon in 2016. He has also written his memoir, The Beautiful Struggle, and another nonfiction work, Eight Years in Power. Coates’ comic book endeavors are less well known. I recently found out that he has worked on a Black Panther comic book for Marvel Comics.
The Water Dancer is a New York Times best seller and was number one in the Hardcover Fiction and the Print and E-book Fiction categories when it was first published in September 2019. Oprah Winfrey selected it for her Oprah’s Book Club on Apple TV. According to Wikipedia, Oprah has said that The Water Dancer is one of the best 5 books she has ever read. I was excited to find out that Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt are now producing a film version of The Water Dancer.
Originally, I listened to The Water Dancer on Audible. Sometimes a poor narrator can ruin a book, but this was definitely not the case here. Joe Morton is an exceptional narrator. I was so captivated by the story and the skillful and powerful narration that I ended up buying both the Kindle version and the hardback. The hardback is to keep and treasure, for this is a book that I would cherish and hand down to my children and grandchildren.
The Water Dance is historical fiction with a strong mystical and magical thread. It is the story of the enslavement of a people and the struggle for freedom from the yoke of slavery. The main protagonist is Hiram Walker, who was born into slavery on the Lockless plantation in Virginia. When he was 9 years old, his mother was sold, and he was so devastated that he lost all memory of her. Although his mother was a slave, he knew he was the son of the plantation owner, Nathaniel Walker. When his father invites him to the main house to work as a servant instead of leaving him to toil in the fields, he is at first delighted. He pictures a bright future. However, that future is not realistic and is certainly not the future Hiram envisioned. He is still a slave and has to serve the whites’ agenda. He is one of the Tasked, not one of the Quality, who are all white.
Note that Ta-Nehisi Coates uses the terms ‘Tasked’ and 'Quality' instead of ‘Master’ and ‘Slave’. What is revealing here is that the 'Slave' is dependent on his 'Master'. On the other hand, the 'Quality' are dependent on the 'Tasked' (slaves). Coates maintains that the 'Tasked' support the 'Quality', for the Tasked do the work and keep the plantation operating smoothly. The 'Quality' are dependent on the 'Tasked' to take care of them and are pretty much helpless without them.
Hiram is called to entertain the Quality at parties, for he is exceptionally bright and is gifted with a photographic memory. His gifts make him a hit with the card playing whites. He is the boy wonder, but he is also a slave and is taught to know his place. As one of the Tasked, he has been told to watch over the all-White Maynard, his irresponsible, degenerate half-brother. Maynard frequently commands Hiram to take him to town to drink and visit prostitutes. On the drive home one dark night, the carriage overturns and throws Hiram and Maynard into the Goose River. Hiram is struggling in the water, when he hears Maynard call out for help. Maynard had never had the discipline to learn to swim, although Hiram had tried hard to teach him. The night of this carriage accident Maynard disappears under the water and is pulled away by the current. Hiram is unable to save him. As Hiram sinks into the deep water and fights for his life, he sees a blue light and images of what he thinks must be his mother dancing in the water with a jar upon her head. Miraculously, he soon finds himself onshore and safe. This is Hiram’s first experience with the power of conduction.
Now what is conduction? It is a tapping of energy with a strong memory of place or person, an intention to transport oneself or others to another physical place. We all have had times when we dream of being in another place. We can visualize it vividly. In our dreams and sometimes even when we are awake, our yearnings take us there in our imagination. Ta-Nehisi Coates takes this a step further to a surrealistic traveling to another physical location. It is a journey that takes very little time at all, but requires a tremendous outpouring of energy from the conductor. In The Water Dance, there is always a blue light that appears and the presence of water for conduction to occur. All of this is surreal, of course, but Ta-Nehisi Coates uses this power of conduction effectively for his story. When Hiram remembers his mother vividly, when he deepens his memory of time and place, his powers of conduction increase, and he uses this power to transport slaves to freedom. Hiram partners at times with the master of conduction, Harriet Tubman. He works for the Underground Railroad and the freedom of his people.
There are many 4 star reviews out there. However, without a moment’s hesitation, I gave this book a 5 star rating. I have read criticisms of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ so-called narrative gaps that lead to confusion for the reader. Have we forgotten that many of our contemporary well-respected and often prize-winning authors go back and forth in time to follow the protagonist’s memories of events? Yes, many other authors do this, and certainly Ta-Nehisi Coates uses the power of memory as a strong theme. There are also those reviewers who object to the surrealistic aspect of the book. Some even say the less magical parts deserve the most attention. These people are only concerned with the narrative (who did what etc.) I believe they are missing what makes this novel so magnificent. Much of the writing is really poetry in prose form. Poetry takes us beyond the words to heights of emotion that touch our souls. Ta-Nehisi Coates achieves this depth in his novel. The Water Dancer is incredibly powerful and evocative; it is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
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Review: The Water Dancer is a must-read
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Bookclub Read!!! Made for a great discussion.
I hosted our first bookclub meeting of the year (Jan 2020) before the world shifted with its ridiculousness and it created an INTERESTING discussion session!!! Although fictional, there were multiple real life relatable experiences.... especially as an African American female.
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