The story of freedom is both an American story and a universally human one. In this novel, Coates reminds us that personal loyalties to family sometimes transcend the desire for freedom. Using the motif of finding one’s own free way, he describes the story of Hiram Walker, an enslaved person who was educated due to his superb memory, only to become intermixed with the Underground Railroad. Along the way, he discovers the backcountry of Virginia along with the freedoms of Philadelphia. Finally, he learns the secrets of his family as he learns to found his own.
Coates is masterful in presenting us with a story where everything comes together in the final chapters. As noted in the endnote, the story is inspired by the historical narrative about William and Peter Still and their family. The story is organized into three parts, and each part functions as its own mini-story with its own intrigue and climax. This tapestry is woven together so that the reader anxiously awaits the inevitable unfolding at the last page.
The protagonist lives in a world of the Quality, Low-Whites, and the Tasked – appropriate labels for classes in an oppressive state. He has superb powers of memory but cannot reckon his own family’s history. Thus, in a way, this book functions as a coming-of-age story where Walker must understand his unique place in the world, whatever that means and wherever that leads. His life story also functions as a testament to the power of love to overcome difficult barriers.
This book’s popularity acknowledges the weight that the American history of slavery has held recently. With a few twists of narrative, it presents that culture ethos of a dying state based on slavery, of a free society, and of the Underground Railroad seeking universal emancipation. Harriet Tubman even makes an appearance! Those interested in understanding how America came to its present state will find these pages welcoming. It rightly sweeps the characters’ stories up into the longing for freedom and becomes not merely a story of race but instead a story of liberation. Readers in the marketplace have celebrated this book, and rightly so.
The Water Dancer: A Novel
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Copyright (c) 2019
One World
ISBN13 9780399590610
Page Count: 403
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
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