The Deep

By: Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes

Narrated by: Daveed Diggs

The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society - and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song "The Deep" from Daveed Diggs' rap group, Clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people - water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners - who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one - the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities - and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past - and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity - and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode "We Are in the Future", The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

©2019 Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Narrator Daveed Diggs brings his unique voice to Rivers Solomon's collaborative novella, The Deep, inspired by a song of the same name, written by Diggs's band, Clipping. Diggs explores his multilayered world through the voice of Yetu, the historian of an ocean-dwelling people called the Wajinru, descended from pregnant African women thrown overboard during the transatlantic slave trade." (AudioFile Magazine)

Deep

great perception of the amazing sea people, the ancestral memories and traumas, thought provoking context

I Cried.

Was it a little hard to follow and confusing at some points? Sure.

But was it worth it? Absolutely. As a black woman, I would recommend this book to any person who's ever struggled with the agony that comes with being a descendant of trauma. I'd give it to the grandchild of a holocaust survivor. Or to any Native American who still holds grief from a genocide they've never lived through. There's something about this book that is so 'human' and gutting in the best way that it had me in tears by the end. I've never seen such a profound way to look at memories and grief. 5 stars.

Love Daveed Diggs but not for this book

I know the book is based off Clipping, a song Daveed Diggs wrote......However, this is a female centered book with few male leads. With that in mind, his masculine voice seems like a strange choice for narration. A black female voice would have transformed this performance from uncomfortable mansplaining to an original scifi story filled with black girl magic! I would recommend to read The Deep via hard copy or ebook.

Everything Deep Must Come To Surface

The Deep is a journey of poetic discoveries for the African slave women who were thrown overboard during the trans Atlantic voyage. Solomon’s work is a uniquely aquatic sea world fantasy, where the existence of the last Black mermaid has to count for something. Yetu, is able to survive in the deep, even while bleeding out among sharks. By remembering the importance of her heritage and struggle of her discarded people, it provides her a meaningful purpose for existing. In this novella fantasy, Yetu must fight to stay alive, after being wounded, for the sake of a history that can’t be forgotten. I’d recommend this short narrative to fantasy and poetry lovers.

Engaging cause for reflection

This is a great story that digs into the labor of carrying past trauma yet the beauty of connection. I will be listening to this again and again and I am confident that new insights will emerge each time.

interesting story

it was a good story, but the reading was monotone and kinda flat. And I don't understand how the love story fit... did they run out of material? still, I liked the concept of the rest of the story

Great read!

I thought it was a great story and performance but the end credits took it to the next level! I loved how the story unfolded just as much as the creativity that it took to bring it to life!

Loved it, wish it was longer

Loved the intersection of fantasy and historical fact. Loved the lyricism. Loved the concept of the collaboration a,I get various types of artists. Wanted more.

But I want more!

I enjoyed everything about this piece. The way the narratives wove together. The distinctive voices and emotions in the performance. The ways it all navigated through stories of neurodivergence and gender expansiveness. The insightful afterword. Even my longing for more is the good kind of longing - The piece feels whole and complete as it is, it just went by so quickly.
Fortunately, I can listen to it on repeat (not unlike a musical soundtrack or my favorite episode of the new Fraggle Rock)

A different imagining

Loved this book. And the narrator was so right about my experience in the end. This story is touching, evocative, and innovative. Not your normal “mermaid” book. Even the way the characters are describe and describe themselves is unusual - as in new and better! I wish it was longer. :)