Angie Powers’s Reviews > The Water Dancer > Status Update

Coates' writing is so rich! One of my favorite moments of the book is when the narrator, a formerly enslaved man, shares a paradoxical observation about the "purity" of white enslavers: "[The enslaved] do not bear the weight of pretending pure . . . {Enslavers] are blinded by [their own kind of muck that] they fancy it pure. Ain't no pure . . . Ain't no clean" (Coates 193). There's so much to unpack here!

Quindaro was alluded to in the book. I knew it was connected to the underground railroad but I did a little more research and was surprised at how important this KCK "railroad stop" was to transporting humans to freedom.

In this weekend's book club discussion, Mrs. Van Kuiken pointed out a poignant juxtaposition in which the author contrasts the relative uselessness of the masters and productivity of the "Tasked." Coates writes, "Masters could not bring water to boil, harness a horse, nor strap their own drawers without us . . . Sloth was literal death for us, while for them it was the whole ambition of their lives" (Coates 35).

This paradox got me shook: "But freedom, true freedom, is a master, too, you see--one more dogged, more constant, tan any ragged slave driver..."

This chapter has both completely explained what is happening in this book AND completely left my head spinning.

Bless you, Coates.

Things are finally starting to come together for me in this book! The role of dreams and the tradition of the call and response in this culture is brining a lot of texture to this fictional story. I am still pretty darn sure that there's some magical realism happening too, but thinking about what I have learned about different cultures' histories has helped me.

Part ll begins with the narrator, in some ways, beginning his experience as an enslaved person without the protection of his owner/father. It is uuuugly and the writing captures the inhumanity. I am wondering if he will see the Water Dancer soon or if she will reappear at the end.

I am still obsessed with the author's style of this book! And... good news... it is starting to make sense!

This is the second time I've started this book, and I am intrigued by the gorgeous writing. The descriptions are vivid and sensory. What I'm having a hard time with is separating the timelines / what's really happening. The book has some magical realism for lack of a better description, and I'm here for it...but I know I am missing some pieces.