This is the third of our book club books and I only have thirteen pages to the end. Spoiler alert: I am not sure I will get the answers to all my questions in the last thirteen pages, I think most probably not and that makes me wonder whether I am missing something in the way I am reading the book or in the way I understand it. I have been struggling from the very start to follow the narrative, I had to re-read paragraphs and check back pages for names and events. It took me maybe half the book to recognise the supernatural part as ‘real’. But that is where I think the problem may be with me rather than the text…

It is fascinating and terrifying to be immersed into the world of the Tasked, to look through their eyes and read and feel through their minds. The world that the story has opened to me is a world I thought I was aware of having existed, and on some level I was, however, the amount of ‘new’ perspectives, layers, levels and depths has been enriching.

In spite of Hiram being the main character as well as the narrator I have never warmed up to him or felt like I knew him. The story is his, he is the voice, he shares his thoughts with us and yet he stays distant and feels reticent and inaccessible. Is this all due to his inability to retrieve the memories of his mother? Is it because he is missing a piece of himself that he comes across as lacking in the all-roundedness for a reader to connect with? Or is it the burden of the Task that prevents him from being the kind of character I need to connect with?

I have more questions than answers and I am more than looking forward to discussing it with my fellow book clubbers as I am sure they will offer insights and interpretations that I am unable to reach.

Notwithstanding all of my struggles and failures it is a book that will suck you in and you will read on almost breathless waiting for the resolutions. It will offer unexpected twists and turns and, to me at least, more and more questions.

UPDATE:

Ten days ago our third long-distance book club meeting went ahead discussing The Water Dancer and, as expected, I learnt a lot.

Regarding my struggle with Hiram’s coldness, I was reminded of the fact that he may not have allowed himself to love warmly and openly as a result of the loss of his mother for fear of losing whoever he chose to love next. He also managed to learn and grow, especially in relation to Sophia and her “condition” of equality and freedom for their mutual relationship.

We were also asking ourselves in what way were we, as readers (and white readers at that), supposed to relate to a character of a slave. What are we to take out of the story and can we be more than observers and receivers of the information?

We agreed that the supernatural conduction was symbolic of freedom that is not just physical and that it also helped to keep the stories of the tasked alive while embodying their wish to magically escape. In this context, the real life character of Harriet Tubman served as a connection between the supernatural and the real.

We also dwelt on Coates’ choice to talk about the slaves as the “tasked” perceiving it as an escapism and noting how m any things are indirect, nothing is talked about.

The book had us all searching for more information on the Underground Railroad, African American myths and legends, Harriet Tubman memorials and Coates’ interviews discussing the book. So, The Water Dancer has certainly served as a door for further education.