The Drowned Forest

by Angela Barry

In the discovery of a fossilized tree stump deep off the coast of Bermuda, Angela Barry finds a potent metaphor of long-term climate change against which to measure the alarms, resentments and hopes of future possibilities expressed by her characters as they respond to Bermuda’s emergence from colonial status. Modernity brings challenges to the old racial, cultural and religious hierarchies that have dominated the island.
Told through a group of characters brought together in shared responsibility for Genesis, a young Black adolescent girl on the verge of incarceration as a juvenile offender, and by Genesis herself, Barry explores a clashing of subcultures, each with the sense that their Bermuda is the one that possesses the island’s virtues. There is Nina, from the respectable Black middle-class, with her own prickly uncertainties and moral hang-ups; Lizzie, fighting for her own space in a Portuguese family railing against changing times; Tess, battling with guilt over her white privilege and her reluctance to lose its benefits; and Hugh, a young Welshman who has come to the island to find himself. Angela Barry weaves a rich and absorbing narrative in which these different perspectives – insider/outsider, youth/age, Black / white – are each given sympathetic space and a convincing sense of growth through the span of the novel. Above all, in the character of Genesis, Barry creates a dynamic and winning portrayal of the energies, hopes, conscience and vulnerabilities of youth. Beyond the human world with all its divisions, there are the little-known islands of Bermuda, for whose stunning beauties and sometimes urban ugliness Barry has a vividly descriptive eye.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published June 23, 2022

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good novel. I enjoyed reading this book It is the first book set in Bermuda that I've ever read, and now I'm eager to visit there and explore its history. Barry does well in telling the fragmented story of the teenage Genesis Smith, the main character and the hub in which three adult women, Nina, Tess, and Lizzie are the spokes. Those three all represent the cultural diversity of Bermuda: Nina, a Black woman, Tess, white and descendant of an old English family, and Lizzie, a fourth generation Bermudian of Portuguese descent. Through these adult women, Barry explores the tense history of race, class, and culture of Bermuda. Through Genesis, Barry highlights the legacy of Caribbean slavery that has causes many Black folk to remain underprivileged.

[lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, rtc

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is difficult to review for anyone unfamiliar with Bermuda, but I will do my best.

This story, set in 2003 Bermuda, is about a young Black girl, an older Black woman, a rich white woman, a Portuguese Bermudian woman, and a white expat man. Though there is a plot, the story is heavily dependent on the characters and their experiences. As a Portuguese Bermudian woman myself, it was a unique experience to see myself represented in such a way. Seeing Portuguese words and family structures in text that displayed my real-life experiences was borderline surreal, so I'm not sure I can separate that bias in my review. It was also really cool to see places and traditions that I understood and have lived in text, especially fiction. There were lots of hard discussions of race and privilege but this book still felt like home.

CW: grief, trauma, death, gun violence, racism

[Nadine Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful exploration of Bermuda’s colonial legacy unpacking class, race, privilege and education. The story is centered around Genesis who is in the govt care system and is facing the possibilities of going to jail.

Three women from different cultures come together to support Genesis and give her an opportunity to change the course of her life. Tess a rich white women who inherited her wealth from her colonial fore parents. Lizzie a Portuguese Catholic who has family issues and Nina a black middle class nurse in mourning for her dead husband. Each of these women has their own perspectives on on how to shape genesis life.
Genesis has her own perspective and is trying to find her own path her encounter with an old cedar root pulled from the ocean becomes the center of this fascinating women center novel. The author writes about the perils of ignoring our history and the climate crisis

[Nicole Bergen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The characters were all messy and complicated and I learned a lot about Bermuda through one remarkable and underestimated young woman.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that I picked up as a recommendation at the bookstore in Bermuda. In reading the story summary I was hesitant to read as it did not seem to be my kind of book and it really didn’t make sense. Great story and loved the Bermuda setting and history.

[Rol-J Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angela Barry's The Drowned Forest is a story of redemption. It is a story of making amends in spite of the many differences, difficulties and dilemmas that we face. It is a story that focuses on the life of a young woman, Genesis, who has spent most of her life outside the orbit of family, community and island love, and who, as difficult as she may appear to be at times, has an innate sense of curiosity and innocence that only needs a strong and loving support system for it to flourish.
Barry infused many themes into this relatively short novel, and I feel that that was both advantageous and disadvantageous. In addressing topics of slavery, indentureship, colonialism, gentrification, racism, coming-of-age, sex and sexual abuse, crime, the dark side of tourism, geography and earth science, climate change, inter alia, Barry gave a solid picture of what life on Bermuda and for Bermudians might actually be like. However, in doing so, I felt that the author sold herself short because there was not, in my view, solid focus and development of the themes that dominated. In other words, the novel oscillated from theme to theme without definitively addressing those themes.
Another aspect of the novel that I found difficult was the dialogue. I believe that dialogue should add to a novel but in this case, I feel it took away from the novel because it was disjointed and the language and syntax just did not come over well. There were too many areas of triteness that I found, as early as pg. 12 with the mention of the stereotypical Black names, and while that might have been a reference to recent popular culture, I found it strange that it was included in the novel. It could have been left out.
This novel for me was much more than just a primer for the history and culture of Bermuda. It was a detailed account of it. Overall, this was a nice read and while some things took away from the experience of reading it, I still found it inherently beautiful, particularly around 50% in.

I recommend it for reading.
4/5

[Anthony Regisford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks Angela Barry for connecting Bermuda to the land and seascape of my Caribbean consciousness.

As Caribbean people we have shared experiences. This novel adroitly addresses the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, generational trauma, the search for belonging, the search for being, the quest for survival, forgiveness, guilt, redemption love and hope.
Very well done!

[Lala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bermuda Comes Alive

This story is interwoven with Bermuda's rich and often forgotten history, as we go on a journey with Genesis, a girl who would have been left behind. I enjoyed the rich and complex characters that represent Bermuda's population of Portuguese, black and white. It was an incredible journey.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and got a lot of new insight on Bermuda’s history! I bought this on vacation at the Bermuda Bookstore, I had hoped I’d find a book store and something local and this fit the bill. Well written and characters I mostly liked, I felt there were a few loose ends left but overall it was great. Want to read more Bermudian history and novels now!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading a book set in Bermuda.

[Emily]

Bermuda

[Leslie]

This was my selection for Bermuda. Not a bad read at all, but I do think it might have been for readers who have some background knowledge of Bermuda before reading.

[Rhiannon Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a little bit to get my head round the different pov style of writing. Had some interesting perspectives once you got into it. Interesting to read about Bermuda and its history.

[Paula David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is a woman centred, truth and reconciliation project. The story revolves around Genesis who, at 17 years old, is neither woman nor child, in trouble with the law, uncommunicative, intelligent, angry and alone. She is spared incarceration on condition that three Bermudian women will take charge of her. They are a volatile combination. Nina, a community nurse, shares Genesis’ resentment of the historical wrongs which have relegated black Bermudians to the bottom of the country’s social ladder. Lizzie, convinced that as a second generation Portuguese Bermudian she receives “no respect” because, as she perceives it, she is “not black and not quite white”; means to engineer her social elevation by catching a man who is unquestionably white. She aspires to a status akin to that of Tess, a wealthy white Bermudian, whose family has belonged to the country for as long as the families of the black people whom her ancestors once owned as chattels. The adult women will tangle between themselves and within themselves as much as they tangle with Genesis. If they are to help Genesis heal, they must first recognise that they too are in need of healing.

Part of Angela Barry’s genius is in her thoughtful portrayal of her protagonists as complex human beings - as exasperating as they are endearing. Her ability to communicate horror by omission and understatement is equally impressive. The author squarely confronts the ugliness of Bermuda’s history and the tragedy of the legacy it has left behind with an underlying conviction that redemption, though undoubtedly difficult, is possible. The novel suggests that redemption can be achieved if Bermudians have the will to tackle their problems unflinchingly but with respect and kindness. It insists that each Bermudian owes kindness and respect not only to her fellow citizens, but also to herself.

This is a deeply moving novel. It has left a profound impression on my consciousness.

My friends and I discuss the novel here https://youtu.be/wZLyJGm3yj4?si=CA6ah...

And speak with the author here https://youtu.be/y6ExbINw64E?si=rRygz...