Reading 2023: Memoirs all year long
March 30, 2023
A Book to remember!
My Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book: The Island of Forgetting
Author: Jasmine Sealy
Setting: Barbados
I absolutely loved this book! It reminded me why I enjoy reading narratives from the Caribbean because no matter the story, it always feels familiar.
This is a story told in 3 main parts, across the decades, by three different generations of people within the same family.
The book tells the story of Iapetus who witnesses a horrible family secret as it unfolds and is forever changed by it. We then meet his son Atlas, who grows up not knowing much about his father but bears the silent burden of his life, while being raised by his Uncle Cronus. We transition to Atlas’ daughter, Calypso who through her sexual awakening and emergence into adulthood also starts to bear some of that same burden passed down from her Grandfather. And finally we meet our last generational character, Nautilus, Calypso’s son who struggles with the world he was born into and the person he knows he is.
The ties that bind
Depending on where you sit, this book will read like a tale of a generational curse or just the results of poor choices unfolding in the lives of people in a family. Whatever your take, the prose is immaculate. The author has a particular skill with how she elegantly shares some of the most heart breaking episodes but makes them feel like a whisper.
We are able to clearly see the struggle in each character, between trying to do what is ‘right’ and honouring the loyalties of family vs doing what is right for themselves. Is it even possible?
My favourite character by far was Calypso. She was, in my mind, free! She was impulsive, reckless but always true to herself and in many way, she is the embodiment of the dream, almost fulfilled. Not perfect, just right and a perfect catalyst for healing.
Will you be reading this?
