Wednesday, August 12, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow


A Song Below Water is the second novel from author Bethany C Morrow and her Young Adult Debut.  Morrow's debut novel, 2018's "Mem" (which I reviewed here), was a short but fascinating look at personhood and memory, and so I would've been interested to see her next novel no matter the context.  That her next novel would be a book featuring a pair of black teens dealing with discrimination, police and other violence going unpunished, and protests about the value of their identities simply only made it more impossible for me NOT to pick up this book.

And A Song Below Water does not disappoint - it's a YA novel featuring a pair of high school age black teens, each with fantastical connections (one is a Siren, the other is....something), trying to find a way to be themselves....despite the world seeming to want to crush them for their very own identities.  It's a world which is very much like ours despite the existence of fantastical creatures - some hated, some tolerated, and some liked (gee, what does that sound like) - and it makes the book's events, which include protests over identity, police cruelty, and more, feel incredibly real, especially in today's world.  Add in the tremendous pair of main characters and their sisterly bond, and it's not just a YA book for the moment, but one that is great for any moment.  Yeah I liked this one.

Trigger Warning for an Off Page Past Suicide Attempt.

-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
In a world in which supernatural creatures are very real parts of society, some such near-human creatures are beloved - like the Eloko with the bells in their voices.  But the same is not true of Sirens, who have the power to compel and attract others with their voices, not least because all Sirens (unlike Eloko) are Black Women.  Sirens are feared and collared - with magical collars that suppress their voices - and their identities, achievements and lives are discredited by the general American public.

And so, Tavia, a high school age black girl - and secret Siren - lives in fear - afraid to let her voice out for fear she might lose control and terrified that someone might find out anyway.  After an incident at age 11, her family packed up and moved to Portland, where a Black supernatural support structure exists to try and help Tavia be herself, but Tavia can't help but still be afraid, especially with her fearful and overly controlling father reacting harshly to any siren who gets outed in the news.

The only positive in Tavia's life is her adopted sister Effie.  Effie's mother worked as the mermaid at a Ren Faire, and Effie has loved trying to follow in her footsteps - loving the feel of a mermaid tail on her skin and moving through the water.  But Effie herself has a tragic past - including an incident with Sprites in the park which made her famous - where the four children she was playing with found themselves turned to stone.  And Effie is haunted by memories of her mother, the mystery of who her father is, and skin that seems to flake off - not to mention nightmares of the stone children, which she just wishes she could get past.

Effie and Tavia, two girls with pasts forcing them to hide their identities, keep each other sane by caring for one another.  But when a black girl's murder by her boyfriend is excused by the accusation she was a siren and a popular youtuber starts a protest in favor of Siren's rights, the two find themselves unable to hide any longer.....despite a world that isn't any friendlier to what they may truly be......
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A Song Below Water features an America that is built very much like our own, even with the supernatural added in.  So you have discrimination against people of color, especially Black people, inherent in the system and taught about in a way that suggests that it is largely over, even when it's not.  You have a specific group of people feared and discriminated against - and treated like they're not even human - in Sirens such that one can get away with murdering one of them without penalty (think the fight over BLM and our current world), whereas other groups of similar people, because they can also be white, manage to be celebrated instead.

It's a rough world to be in, as evidenced by the life of Tavia - who just wants to be able to be herself without fear, but finds that opposed seemingly at every turn.  Her father wants her to be safe but is utterly smothering with his fear, and while Tavia seemingly has a support group of other supernatural beings, not all of them are genuinely supportive, with one doing her absolute best to try and disrespect the urgency of her plight and putting the blame back on Tavia for her own jealousy and spitefulness.  The parallels to this of the real world (where some people of color act in opposition to and antagonize those who fight for equal rights) are very real, and like Black people in the real world, Tavia can't simply get away from it all - because the world will not let her.

And so the story follows both Tavia and Effie as they attempt to navigate this world and deal with their inability to express their own identities.  I've explained Tavia's fears above, but Effie's are only of a different kind - her past's incident that resulted in the deaths (by petrification) of several children is never far from her mind and Effie just wants to be able to get past it and to live in the world she likes best - the imaginary one of the Ren Faire, which her mom introduced to her.  And yet, that world isn't the real one, which she cannot help but realize (especially with her sisterly bond to Tavia), and that past of hers won't go away....because it's more tied to her than she realizes.  It's not much of a spoiler to say Effie isn't quite human either because the reader will figure that out fairly quickly, although what she turns out to be IS a spoiler.  But her uncertainty drives her struggles, as the foundation for her identity is wrapped in something known be playacting, which naturally kids at school are very willing to mock her for.

But what's really the most enjoyable thing about A Song Below Water, even as its protagonists struggle with the inability to express themselves due to racist constraints on their identities, the results of protests seemingly in support of those identities, and interactions with people of other supernatural identities (ala other people of color in our world), is the sisterly bond between Tavia and Effie.  The two genuinely care about each other, taking turns embracing, talking and otherwise aiding the other when they are in distress, and repeatedly put aside their own issues to support the other in times of need.  It's a relationship that is a truly lovely thing in a story that is very distressing in how real it seems, and it carries this novel from beginning to end and makes it work so tremendously well.

So yeah, A Song Below Water works really well overall.  I have some minor issues with its ending, which is a strong place to leave things but almost feels a bit too neat, especially given what happened previously in the novel.*  At the same time, it doesn't pretend things are quite happily ever after, so it still mainly works, and the plot itself is excellent.  So yeah, I'll be back for whatever Morrow puts out next, for sure.

*Spoiler in ROT13: Gnivn'f pryroevgl vqby, n lbhghore anzrq Pnzvyyn, bhgf urefrys nf n Fvera naq yrnqf jung vf rffragvnyyl n Fvera Yvirf Znggre cebgrfg....naq gur cbyvpr fuhg vg qbja naq pbyyne ure.  Naq lrg gur raq bs gur abiry srngherf Gnivn bhggvat urefrys nf n Fvera gb fnir gur yvirf bs gur crgevsvrq puvyqera, naq juvyr V pna ohl gung tvivat ure fbzr tbbqjvyy, V svaq vg uneq gb frr gur fbpvrgl jurer cbyvpr qb gung gb nabgure cebzvarag Fvera - ntnva yvxr Oynpx crbcyr va bhe jbeyq - naq yrggvat ure or nf zhpu nf gurl frrz gb or ng gur raq urer.
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