[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Carol P Marsh-Lockett (Royal Gazette) critiques Angela Barry’s The Drowned Forest. Listed here are excerpts:
Written in lucid and silken prose, Bermudian creator Angela Barry’s The Drowned Forest is, within the phrases of Jacob Ross, the affiliate editor of fiction at Peepal Tree Press, a foundational textual content.
Within the Anglophone Americas, it takes its place within the custom of George Lamming’s Within the Fortress of My Pores and skin within the Caribbean and Edward P Jones’ The Identified World within the African American custom. Every novel reaches again right into a previous. Every interrogates the roots of a nationwide historical past with a purpose to study and, maybe, clarify the phenomenon of the current. As such the concept of the current being rooted up to now because the novel’s dominant theme, was impressed, based on Barry, by Teddy Tucker’s underwater discovery of a fossilised trunk of a cedar tree with its roots embedded within the Bermuda seamount. Certainly, the previous is at all times current and prologue.
In its focus solely on Bermuda within the twenty first century, The Drowned Forest represents a shift in emphasis from the African diaspora in her earlier fiction, Endangered Species, a group of quick tales, and Gorée: Level of Departure. Such a shift not solely renders The Drowned Forest a present to Bermuda but in addition continues to emphasize that Bermuda in all of its complexities is far more than a mere vacationer paradise. The novel doesn’t shrink from the issues of Bermudian life reminiscent of social break down and the actual issues with Bermudian youth which informs the kernel of the plot.
The story, nevertheless, is far bigger than its apparent concentrate on a troubled youth. For that reason, a easy linear plot construction wouldn’t have adequately captured the significance of the novel as a purveyor of each a uniquely Bermudian story and one which has bigger international implications for all societies grounded in colonialism and within the hospitality business. [. . .]
The success of Barry’s use of viewpoint is inextricably sure by the effectiveness of her characterisations. The novel’s characters are very human and recognisable. They’re well-defined, well-rounded, and given to each strengths and weaknesses. Barry, nevertheless, portrays all of them with tenderness and care, taking the time to indicate the reader that every has a again narrative that he or she, like Bermuda itself, should face with a purpose to start to maneuver right into a wholesome future. The characters should probe inside themselves deep seminal questions of non-public identification and goal. Whereas the feminine “guardians”, Nina, Lizzie, and Tess, primarily charged with the care and rehabilitation of Genesis, should wrestle with these issues, they’ll discover the uncomfortable solutions and are available to phrases with their very own pasts and particular person identities via their real dedication to their wholesome progress and improvement. The identical can be true of Hugh as he faces his Welsh origins and his place in Bermuda as an expatriate.
Whereas the novel lays naked many factors of despair within the political, financial, and psychosocial dynamic of Bermudian life and historical past, Barry as storyteller doesn’t abandon the reader in these moments. The novel additionally comprises moments of humour in addition to great references to meals, flora, fauna, and distinctive cultural moments reminiscent of Gombey dancing through the Boxing Day celebration and Cup Match. We additionally see a excessive worth positioned on faith and spirituality in addition to ancestral reminiscence as keys to therapeutic. [. . .]
For full overview, see https://www.royalgazette.com/arts-entertainment/life-style/article/20221101/barrys-drowned-forest-a-must-read
Additionally see earlier posts https://repeatingislands.com/2022/07/25/new-book-the-drowned-forest and https://repeatingislands.com/2022/08/22/book-review-the-drowned-forest