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calarco 's review for:
The Water Dancer
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The fact that Ta-Nehisi Coates is a brilliant author is a pretty universally established sentiment, so there was an understandably large amount of hype surrounding this debut novel. That said, I was quite pleased when [b:The Water Dancer|43982054|The Water Dancer|Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549993860l/43982054._SY75_.jpg|68378686] turned out to be a great read, one where Coates translates his thoughtful prose into a meaningful and memorable story.
Centered in a fictionalized version of the Antebellum era United States, as with southern plantations of the 1800s, this story follows the events of slave owners (aka: the Quality) and the enslaved (aka: the Tasked). We see this familiar (and unfamiliar) world through the eyes of young Hiram Walker, the son of a white plantation owner and a Tasked black mother who is sold away when he was very young and who he struggles to remember. Hiram’s experience is unique in a number of ways, given his relationship with his owner, his intellectual aptitude that is shocking for people given his station, and his developing ability of conduction (the magical teleportation through waterways) that begins to take root.
I have seen people refer to this book as an entry into the cannon of magical realism, but for me I would argue that this is a work of genre fantasy that happens to take place in a vaguely realistic historical setting. Hiram’s powers of conduction are a key plot point, and his story reads like a super hero origin story. Magical realism subtly shapes historical events of the disenfranchised, but there is nothing subtle about conduction. It’s a power that is named, it’s nurtured, and it’s weaponized to fight against an oppressor. It is also through this type of fantasy genre that Coates is able to dissect the evils of slavery in a different and unique way.
“For it is not simply by slavery that you are captured, but by a kind of fraud, which paints its executors as guardians at the gate, staving off African savagery, when it is they themselves who are savages, who are Mordred, who are the Dragon, in Camelot’s clothes. And at that moment of revelation, of understanding, running is not a thought, not even as a dream, but a need, no different than the need to flee a burning house.”
I doubt specifying the genre is important to most who want to read this book, but I do think it’s important for shaping expectation. Overall, this was a great read that had me on the edge of my seat, so if Ta-Nehisi Coates decides to continue writing novels, I am here for it.
Centered in a fictionalized version of the Antebellum era United States, as with southern plantations of the 1800s, this story follows the events of slave owners (aka: the Quality) and the enslaved (aka: the Tasked). We see this familiar (and unfamiliar) world through the eyes of young Hiram Walker, the son of a white plantation owner and a Tasked black mother who is sold away when he was very young and who he struggles to remember. Hiram’s experience is unique in a number of ways, given his relationship with his owner, his intellectual aptitude that is shocking for people given his station, and his developing ability of conduction (the magical teleportation through waterways) that begins to take root.
I have seen people refer to this book as an entry into the cannon of magical realism, but for me I would argue that this is a work of genre fantasy that happens to take place in a vaguely realistic historical setting. Hiram’s powers of conduction are a key plot point, and his story reads like a super hero origin story. Magical realism subtly shapes historical events of the disenfranchised, but there is nothing subtle about conduction. It’s a power that is named, it’s nurtured, and it’s weaponized to fight against an oppressor. It is also through this type of fantasy genre that Coates is able to dissect the evils of slavery in a different and unique way.
“For it is not simply by slavery that you are captured, but by a kind of fraud, which paints its executors as guardians at the gate, staving off African savagery, when it is they themselves who are savages, who are Mordred, who are the Dragon, in Camelot’s clothes. And at that moment of revelation, of understanding, running is not a thought, not even as a dream, but a need, no different than the need to flee a burning house.”
I doubt specifying the genre is important to most who want to read this book, but I do think it’s important for shaping expectation. Overall, this was a great read that had me on the edge of my seat, so if Ta-Nehisi Coates decides to continue writing novels, I am here for it.