Tina Barry’s I Tell Henrietta, a collaboration with artist Kristin Flynn, is a riveting miscellany of poetry, prose, and art that defies traditional genre boundaries. This imaginative collection reads like a novella, weaving together fragments of a life story that feels deeply personal yet universally resonant. Barry’s work, infused with Flynn’s evocative artwork, takes readers on an emotional journey that spans the narrator’s lifetime, from the raw pain of a childhood without a father figure to the bittersweet reflections of adult-and motherhood.
The book is structured into seven distinct parts plus a prologue and epilogue, each dedicated to a particular theme and accompanied by Flynn’s arresting art. Barry begins by exploring the absence and longing for a father figure, a void that echoes throughout the book. In the opening titled, “I Mention the Deer,” Barry launches readers into a gut-wrenching exploration of a child’s broken heart. Barry’s young voice brims with imagination and close observations as the narrator tries to make sense of a world post-divorce that leaves her living with her mother who struggles to keep afloat. Describing her mother’s chinchilla coat, Barry’s words linger, haunting the reader long after turning the page: “When the seams frayed, she cut the fur from its dying host, hung it in the back of the closet.”
In the section titled “The Jittering Night,” we follow the narrator as she attempts to fill the hollowness in her heart by snooping around other people’s houses. While babysitting, the narrator seeks to understand “how a man and a woman lived together.” Barry’s keen eye for imagery and symbolism brings the text to life, allowing readers to experience the narrator’s emotions and carry her burden. In one particularly poignant passage, Barry writes, “Death robbed my father of subtlety. And it was never enough to sense his presence—no whiff of cigar smoke or tinkling piano tunes. No, I had to feel him shifting around in my torso, making a chair of my ribs.” Such visceral imagery permeates the collection, cutting deep and leaving a lasting impression.
As the reader progresses through the book, they witness the narrator’s journey from a grieving child to a young adult exploring life and love. In “Zeus, Again,” the narrator treads through relationships with a sense of wariness, always cognizant of the shadow her absent father left on her heart. The juxtaposition of recurring images of water and winged creatures throughout the collection, illustrate the narrator’s desire to soar rather than drown in her grief.
Later, the tone shifts to one of reflection and transformation. In “The Upside of Loss,” Barry writes, “Now what rolls beneath my words/is the first lake I swam in,/the terror of its dark water,” ending with “how its cool fingers circled my neck/but never let me drown.” This evolution from fear to resilience invites readers to pause and reflect on their own experiences and emotions.
One of the most poignant moments comes when the narrator observes the bathing of her mother in a nursing home: “The aid had pulled a rolling table with soap and a big basin of water close by and washed my mother’s body, once wide as hawk’s wings, now a deflated balloon.” This intimate scene precedes the section where the narrator becomes a mother herself, creating a powerful circle of life narrative. Throughout I Tell Henrietta, Barry never loses touch with the childlike imagination that colors her observations with vibrant hues. Flynn’s emblematic visual storytelling adds another layer of complexity, enriching the reader’s experience.
I Tell Henrietta feels like a personal diary that Barry has graciously chosen to share, revealing her deepest vulnerabilities. It’s a collection that crosses the boundaries of memoir and fiction with sprinklings of magical realism told to an imaginary character named Henrietta. Barry invites readers to witness a life unfold through these stirring vignettes, poems, and micro-stories, each one a carefully crafted window into the human experience of loss, love, and growth.
This genre-defying work will undoubtedly strike a chord with those who appreciate intimate, emotionally charged narratives and the interplay between visual art and the written word. Tina Barry and Kristin Flynn have created something to be savored: a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit, reminding us of the transformative power of art in helping us navigate life’s most challenging moments.
Book Order Link: https://aimhigher.org/books/p/tina-barry-i-tell-henrietta
Britta Stromeyer is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, SF Writer’s Grotto, & PEN. Her writing appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Necessary Fiction, On the Seawall, Marin Independent Journal, & elsewhere. She was a finalist for the Bellingham Review Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction. She is the author of award-winning children’s books. Britta holds an MFA from Dominican University, CA, an M.A. from American University, & a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University. www.brittastromeyer.com