This was an absolutely incredible and gutwrenching memoir of Tara Roberts’ journey of self and historical discovery that will stick with me for a very very long time.
I finished this book a while ago and just have not written a review because I honestly don’t feel capable of putting into words what this book has accomplished and the mark it has left on me as a reader, as an American, and as a human being.
Tara takes the reader on her journey to becoming an underwater archeologist discovering and documenting sunken slave ships. Along the way, she shares her own struggles with identity and belonging in a country with a history of violence and abuse against her ancestors, and the near total untraceability of that ancestry beyond the last 150 years.
This story is so much more than that though. Tara has given memory to thousands of voices and lives who were just erased, forgotten, disappeared, and revealed not only the victims, but the people and places they were ripped away from, and their harrowing journey through the nightmarish passage from their homeland across the Atlantic, and into slavery, or in many cases, to the depths of the ocean.
I have yet to read a book that acknowledges the death toll and extent of human suffering and exploitation that Tara uncovers in this masterpiece, and I have read several now that have left deep trenches in my soul. Nothing compared to this one.
This is a story of truth, vulnerability, and healing. Two months after reading this, I am still thinking about it, aching over it, and pondering it.
I cannot recommend this book enough. I listened to it on audiobook. It was narrated by the author and she did a beautiful job.
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