I started listening to The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehesi Coates, at the beginning of May. It's a hard listen, especially at the beginning. As I was starting to get into it, I told myself, "this isn't a book to be listening to during a pandemic". And now, here we are.
This is a novel about Hiram Walker. A slave on a Virginia plantation. It contains things you may expect from a book about slavery, but also some things you do not. It includes the Underground Railroad and a fictionalized version of Harriet Tubman. Mostly it is about how stories/memories transport us, especially strong ones, are capable of carrying us across time and distances.
Turns out I was wrong. NOW is the time for hard stories. Right now.
I have read two of your stack, not The Water Dancer yet. I agree we need it.
Posted by: jacki long | 06/10/2020 at 12:27 AM
My husband and I are currently reading his book Between the World and Me--written as a letter from a father to his son. Its about his life. It is eye opening in the fact that there are so many references to people that I'm sure African Americans recognize and I don't know who thy are.
Posted by: Janet G | 06/10/2020 at 06:28 AM
water dancer is, as you say, a book for now...
Posted by: Sharron Carleton | 06/10/2020 at 11:01 AM
Sharron: how I wish we could sit and talk, and you could tell me about more books for now...
Posted by: carol | 06/13/2020 at 05:30 PM