now is the time for hard stories

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. 

Comments

[jacki long]

I have read two of your stack, not The Water Dancer yet. I agree we need it.

[Janet G]

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.

[Sharron Carleton]

water dancer is, as you say, a book for now...

[carol]

Sharron: how I wish we could sit and talk, and you could tell me about more books for now...