The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

Published: 2020, Penguin Books

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Slavery, American Southern States, supernatural powers

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

Over the last year I have read several books that tackle the unimaginably difficult topic of slavery, and I have every respect for authors who give a voice to all those people who had no voice for the whole of their lives.  The Water Dancer carefully captures life for the slaves living on a huge plantation in Virginia, where the owner grows tobacco as a main crop, and has so many 'Tasked' working for him that their humble cabins form an entire street.  This is where we find young Hiram who is the son of the white estate owner and his enslaved mother has just been taken away to be sold.

Ta-Nehisi Coates then introduces an unexpected twist to the story of Hiram and that is the ability to perform 'Conduction' and transport his body out of danger when he is under great stress.  I have to confess that I struggled with a fantasy element resting in such an emotive subject, and I found myself unable to suspend belief and fully buy into the story-line because of that.  Despite my reservations this book was a New York Times Number One Bestseller and Oprah Winfrey said it was: 'One of the best books I have read in my entire life,'  So what do I know?

The concept of Conduction was introduced in the very first pages of the book, and I initially thought Hiram had a medical condition that caused him to pass out and suffer hallucinations.  The idea that there was an element of fantasy was so far from my mind that it took me several more chapters before the penny dropped and I realised that the book really did venture into the supernatural.

Hiram also has and eidetic memory and can recall events, words and pictures in minute detail and it is this skill that eventually draws the attention of his father, the master, who has him moved into the house to work as personal attendant to his half-brother Maynard.  Maynard is schooled by a private tutor but he is a lazy boy with little concentration and Hiram overhears enough of the lessons to show that he is better suited to learning.  Their father decides to have Hiram educated to a basic standard in order to assist Maynard in running the estate when the property becomes his as an inheritance.  

By the time Hiram has grown to a young man, he has a combination of skills that make him very interesting to an organisation known as The Underground that has agents working right across the south working to free tasked people from bondage.  The book continues with the story of how Hiram uses his knowledge and unusual powers to help others, but needless to say, his journey is not an easy one.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' writing is unquestionably good and he is able to evoke heartache and loss while still maintaining the internal strength of the characters.  He also uses the book to examine how the 'Virginia Quality', who owned the Tasked, could reconcile themselves to buying and selling people as a commodity.  Their consciences are protected by using 'Low White' staff to manage the Tasked as they are given responsibility for discipline and daily management.  Hiram's own father would have been content to leave him in the fields if he had not become aware of his ability to learn and provide a useful service.

This book is well worth reading and you may find yourself as spellbound as Oprah.