“The Drowned Forest” – Repeating Islands


[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Annie Hayter (Large Situation) opinions Angela Barry’s The Drowned Forest (Peepal Tree Press). See earlier put up New E-book: The Drowned Forest.

[. . .] Angela Barry’s novel The Drowned Forest is a robust exploration of Bermuda’s colonial legacy, deftly unpacking strata of sophistication, race, privilege and schooling as they encircle the lives of characters dwelling on the island. The story is mediated by a number of views, centring round Genesis, a Black teenage woman, who has been by the care system and faces the prospect of incarceration after defending herself from a bully. 

Numerous figures from completely different cultures on the island come collectively to forestall this taking place: philanthropist Tess, a white girl who has inherited hideous wealth (and guilt) from her colonial forefathers; Lizzie, a snazzily dressed insurer, discovering a house away from her Portuguese Catholic household; and Nina, a Black middle-class nurse in mourning, who’s intent on making certain that her cost retains on the straight and slender. As they collaboratively try to deal with Genesis, every girl seems hell-bent on shaping her to suit into their very own definition of what a good younger girl must be. 

Genesis presents perceptive, witty observations about her guardians’ foibles; her voice rings clarion-like all through the narrative, evoking the ache of adolescent longing. Contending with the stress of all the ladies’s expectations, Genesis tries to seek out her personal path by the wilderness of rising up. She discovers how every character is dealing with the inescapable grasp of Bermuda’s previous upon their present actuality. Her encounter with an historic cedar root, unearthed from the ocean, turns into the embodiment of this fact. On this titular image of The Drowned Forest, Barry alerts the perils of ignoring our historical past – and the local weather disaster. She reminds us that our previous is rooted in our current. [. . .] For full article, see https://www.bigissue.com/tradition/books/book-reviews-still-born-by-guadalupe-nettel-and-the-drowned-forest-by-angela-barry



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