Customer Reviews

Bahama Saga: The Epic Story of the Bahama Islands

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Peter Barratt's Bahama Saga: The Epic Story of the Bahama Islands lives up to its title. The epic is a sensuous sweep of Bahamian history, a vivid result of his love affair with the Islands. From the first chapter, when humans set foot in the Americas, to the last chapter, when the flag of Independence lifts into the Bahamian sky, Barratt's epic is richly textured with historical detail and human motivation.
"Saga" is a wonderful cross-genre, a blurring of distinctions between genres as with opera and straight play. Barratt's cast of fictional personalities plays against the backdrop of exciting episodes in Bahamian history complete with their choruses of fated Lucayans, lustful Spaniards, adventurous Bermudians, bold pirates, enslaved Africans, exiled Loyalists, thirsty rum-runners, sun-worshipping tourists.
The book is structured in two parts. In Part I, the Lucayans discover and colonize the Bahamas; Columbus and the Conquistadors re-discover and de-populate the Bahamas. Part II follows the major waves of re-colonization by the Eleutheran Adventurers, African Slaves and American Loyalists; the book closes with chapters on Emancipation and the political/economic development of the Bahamas.
The author uses an informal voice, even for the historical narration. In true "saga" fashion, asides and digressions abound to enlighten and amuse. In much the style of classic epics or 18th century English novels, Barratt's historical and fictional narratives mix and mingle as he traces two families of different races down through the centuries until they merge at the end.
Barratt creates the story of Tsgot, the first explorer to discover the Bahama Islands. Tsgot's ancestors were the Asians who crossed the land bridge to discover and settle the continents of North and South America and later the major islands of the Caribbean. Once colonization of the Bahamas began and trade was established, other Lucayan adventurers set out in their dugout canoes to explore more islands. In his depiction of this Lucayan odyssey, Barratt evokes magical images with sumptuous descriptions of the pristine islands and a thesaurus of colors to paint the water. As he introduces each island discovered, he forecasts the role those islands will play to future visitors as the centuries move on. One island, Grand Bahama, is significant in that today The Lucayan National Park, founded by the author, preserves a 40-acre portion of the "golden isle" first enjoyed by the Lucayans as their canoes rode the "crystal clear waters" of the "fast-moving creek ... arched over with vegetation," which was for them and for us "a magical journey."

While the author's enthusiasm for the history of the Bahamas is clear, and he seems to have done his research, the poor writing and apparent lack of editing renders the reading experience almost excruciating. Wading through grammatical blunders and awkward language (and even repeated sentences and paragraphs - seriously!), I found the compulsion to edit the work overpowered my ability to attend to the narrative.

The ineffective attempt to blend fact and fiction is also incredibly distracting. I kept finding myself wondering which is which, rather than simply going along for the experience. I held out for 65 pages before encountering a sex scene so jarring in its awkwardness that I felt the urge to join a convent. That was the last time I picked the book up.

I felt pretty duped by spending a sum of money on this book, and in sharing my frustration with a colleague, she mentioned that Amazon now sells self-published books. I now feel like an idiot for not noticing the title of the publisher, "1st Books Library," whose website calls out for unpublished authors to send their manuscripts. Apparently those manuscripts are sent straight to press, evading the scrutiny of any of those pesky interfering editors. Note to self: check out the publisher next time.

A saga that fully deserves the label `epic'. In retelling the two thousand year story of The Bahamas and its people, Grand Bahamian maven Peter Barratt imaginatively fills in the gaps where the historical record is silent or unclear. For the modern period he heightens the narrative by presenting real-life characters in thinly veiled disguise. If this astute mixture of fact and fiction is what the public wants, Bahama Saga could well become a best seller of the stature of Robert Wilder's, Wind from the Carolinas.