The Water Dancer
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Release Date: 2019-09-24
- Genre: Black Literature
Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.
“This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist.”—San Francisco Chronicle
IN DEVELOPMENT AS A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Adapted by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Kamilah Forbes, directed by Nia DaCosta, and produced by MGM, Plan B, and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films
NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • Vanity Fair • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Paste • Town & Country • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.
So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.
This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.
Praise for The Water Dancer
“Ta-Nehisi Coates is the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race with his 2015 memoir, Between the World and Me. So naturally his debut novel comes with slightly unrealistic expectations—and then proceeds to exceed them. The Water Dancer . . . is a work of both staggering imagination and rich historical significance. . . . What’s most powerful is the way Coates enlists his notions of the fantastic, as well as his fluid prose, to probe a wound that never seems to heal. . . . Timeless and instantly canon-worthy.”—Rolling Stone
Reviews
Finally I read this book
5By baerrueche23I love this book I love Tai such a great writer and philosopher the good is so so so good please readWater not ice
5By books4everyoneDancing with water. Not dancing with wolves.Enjoyed this story
5By ShinePresident__Took my time to read and process. Brilliant writing and story telling!A good book
5By hpelhHighly recommend!!
5By dtest666!!Awesome
5By WORC2000Great insight into the world as it was.Loved it
5By NeusaMonteiroIt was a great reading experience and captivating.Loved it on so many levels!
5By Rob B L ClarkGreat Book to say the least!!!The Water Dancer
5By patranocoA beautifully written and poignant story.Stunning narrative
5By Tianac1699Eloquently written, captivating, and truly rivetingWater Dancer.
4By YayaNetskiInteresting cast of characters. Kind of an epic type book of Southern life of days gone by. The lives of slaves and masters. Those who tried to change the system , those who fought to maintain it and what it did to them.Fascinating
5By Suse40This is a fictional account of the works of the Underground Railroad, and adds fascinating elements of mystery and conjuring to the lives of slaves and those who run to freedom. This book also lays out some of the true cost of chattel slavery—the separation of families and the utter destruction of community.Literary excellence!
5By lexus6504This is perhaps the most intellectually stimulating books I have ever read. It sends you into a world seldom explored, the feelings of the slave. The heartbreak, despair, helplessness and hope are felt throughout this book. It gives feeling to the plight of the slaves instead of the master.Perfect Title.
5By DebTrumpExcellent book. The writer was amazing in the words he used to write this book. I’m so glad I had a chance to read it. It helped me to see what the tasked people went through.Incredibly descriptive narrative
5By keithwhite_I loved the attention to detail. I did not want to read another slave narrative but this was transcendent.Memory is Fond
5By JohntrellWow. Written wonderfully by the author and exemplifying the power of memory to various avenues of freedom.Poignant and moving
5By IAYogiEloquently written and moving, taking me to the experiences and history of Black slaves in America. Should be required reading.Dancing
4By dslider54Good story teller who builds the characters in great detail based on their life experiencesRubbish.
1By Cheef.Put this book down and don’t pick it up again. Waste of money.
