Book Review: The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy

 

ABOUT:

How does memory become myth? How do lies become family lore? How do we escape the trauma of the past when the truth has been forgotten?

Barbados, 1962. Lost soul Iapetus roams the island, scared and alone, driven mad after witnessing his father’s death at the hands of his mother and his older brother, Cronus. Just before Iapetus is lost forever, he has a son, but the baby is not enough to save him from himself—or his family’s secrets.

Seventeen years later, Iapetus’s son, the stoic Atlas, lives in a loveless house, under the care of his uncle, Cronus, and in the shadow of his charismatic cousin Z. Knowing little about the tragic circumstances of his father’s life, Atlas must choose between his desire to flee the island and his loyalty to the uncle who raised him.

Time passes. Atlas’s daughter, Calypso, is a beautiful and willful teenager who is desperate to avoid being trapped in a life of drudgery at her uncle Z’s hotel. When she falls dangerously in love with a visiting real estate developer, she finds herself entangled in her uncle’s shady dealings, a pawn in the games of the powerful men around her.

It is now 2019. Calypso’s son, Nautilus, is on a path of self-destruction as he grapples with his fatherless condition, his mixed-race identity and his complicated feelings of attraction towards his best friend, Daniel. Then one night, after making an impulsive decision, Nautilus finds himself exiled to Canada.

The Island of Forgetting is an intimate saga spanning four generations of one family who run a beachfront hotel. Loosely inspired by Greek mythology, this is a novel about the echo of deep—and sometimes tragic—love and the ways a family’s past can haunt its future.

My thoughts 

I am going to sound a bit cliché' here but this book was very very good. It is definitely one of the best books I have read in 2022. I stumbled upon this book at my library on Libby Overdrive and began without any prior knowledge what it was about, all I know it was set in Barbados. Much to my surprise it was a family saga that spoke to generational secrets and unsolved conflicts. (My kind of story).

Beginning in the 1960s we learn of Lapetus, who was driven mad due to unresolved childhood trauma, caused in part by his parents and his brother Cronus. Cronus, became later on the holder of family secrets and the patriarch. 

We then meet Lapetus and Cronus' sons Z and Atlas. Atlas was a very interesting character indeed, a typical Caribbean man of sorts, desirous to leave for a better life but held back because of a feeling of family responsibility and obligation. His was a story of a spirit broken.

His daughter Calypso , though was the most interesting of the book. I think that she was so misunderstood and looking for love. Her story was heartbreaking because at a very young age especially with her relationship with the very older Odie, spoke to a young lady begging for help and never getting it from her parents, Uncle Z or anyone else. 

Many girls can relate to Cali I think because sometimes families see sexual abuse or grooming happening and do nothing. I was so angry coming to the end with the conversation that she had with her father Atlas about "the delegate" (you will have to read the book to find out) but after reflection I understood why Atlas did not react.

The issue of the acceptance of the LGBTQ community in the Caribbean was well depicted in the book through the experience of Nautilus (Calypso's son). Nautilus was another family member who struggled to find his way and even though he was driven out of the island to Toronto, he was still very very lost even more so. 

Generational curses are real. I have always believed that and this is why I loved this story so much. I highly recommend this book.