The Water Dancer: A Novel

This book is beautifully written. It's historical and whimsical. One of my favorites!"

UPDATE: I finished the book and it was transformative. It's like reading the perfect poem, or listening to a beautiful song; but it's neither a poem, nor a song. I don't know, I'm not eloquent enough to fully express myself. But, I'm not a huge fan of poetry, and this book to me, is what meaningful poetry is supposed to be. There are parts of the book that are hard to read, mostly a section about a quarter or a third into the book. But it's a...read more

I really wanted to like this book so badly as the story behind it is right up my alley, but for some reason I really struggled with this one. It was definitely an interesting story line but in the end it wasn’t for me.

I found the book disturbingly haunting while beautifully written. Coates uses his craft as a writer to tell a mystical tale incorporating historical facts into a story full of love and mutual respect, while simultaneously “conducting” the feelings of those Tasked a slave into the reader or listener. Historic figures, including Harriet Tubman; Peter and William Still’s story; references to the Amistad rebellion; and The Underground Railroad are ma...read more

“𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗. 𝙱𝚒𝚐 𝚍𝚞𝚖𝚋 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚜. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎.” “𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚘𝚠?” 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍. “𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚞𝚙 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖?” 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍. “𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐.” The Water Dancer was the last book of the year for #ReadItAndWeepBookclub & wow what a perfect way to end it. To say this book changed ...read more