And so, for 2021, I am going to make a concerted effort to read down these shelves, often starting from the ones that have been there the longest, which may explain the future blog entries that review very old books. It will be an interesting experiment and task, for sure. But with no book clubs to attend (at least not until we are all vaccinated) or when libraries and repositories open for research, I may be able to make some progress.
Here's to a great reading year in 2021!
One of the featured books from the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series for 2020-2011, The Water Dancer proved an interesting, albeit at times difficult read. In some respects it is reminiscent of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, but so different at the same time.
Set in Virginia in pre-Civil War days, Coates tells the story of Hiram Walker, son of the white owner of the Lockless Plantation. Hiram is one of the "Tasked" (euphemistically the slaves) to the "Quality," the white privileged owners. Gifted with the force of "Conduction," the protagonist of the novel uses it to also aid other Tasked as he becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The first episode of this mysterious gift, which transports a person across a body of water finds him saving himself from drowning in a carriage accident, which also happens to kill his half biological brother, Maynard Walker.
Hiram decides that it is time to escape the bonds of the Tasked and so, with Sophia, for whom he has deep feelings, he devises a plan. They will leave the warrens and Thena, a surrogate mother to Hiram, and find their way to freedom. Although it was a brave attempt, he is thwarted by George, a man whom he trusted and they are captured and imprisoned by slave catchers. The scenes of his imprisonment show the harsh reality of slavery and convey one of the main themes of the book - abuse and cruelty. Thanks to Corrine Quinn, another wealthy plantation owner and operative on the Underground Railroad, Hiram is freed and brought into the fold to help people. He has an aptitude of being able to produce papers for those traveling on the railroad, which is developed by Isaiah Fields (Micajah Bland) who becomes his tutor. In time Hiram arrives in Philadelphia and becomes an operative there to help slaves to freedom.
It is there that he meets Moses, a leader to guide people from slavery. Her real name is Harriet and Coates, not too subtly suggests that she is Harriet Tubman and the two conduct many successful rescues. Among others whom he meets are Raymond and Otha White, operatives in Philadelphia. He then learns that Bland has taken on a mission to rescue Otha's wife and children in Alabama. In that mission he is brutally murdered, which touches Hiram deeply. Concurrently, Hiram's conduction experiences elucidate his past, his relationship with his mother and grandmother and spur him to return to Virginia to rescue Sophia and Thena.
The Water Dancer brings the brutality of slavery to a horrific light through a myriad of characters. Each has a special connection to Hiram and his past and future. As in his interview in the virtual lecture, Coates cannot stress enough the fact that slavery is vile and immoral. He contends that in today's world, not much has changed with the brutality that the dismissal of the value of human life still is rampant. Equally important in the novel is the theme of memory and how it plays into the formation of one's identity and is enhanced by the conduction.
Coates has a command of prose and at times can almost be lyrical. For me, the magic realism so dominant in the novel was problematic. It is my problem, not the author's as I struggle with most books in which it is a device. It was an interesting book and one that I am glad I was spurred to read. More importantly, I am glad that I was given the opportunity to hear the author speak about it.
