Yellow Raft in Blue Water (SparkNotes)
- Book Review,
by SparkNotes Editors
From Publishers Weekly
This spare generational novel presents Rayona, Christine and "Aunt" Ida, Native American mothers and daughters bonded by blood and secrets. PW found that this masterful debut, by a Dartmouth professor of Native American studies and the husband-collaborator of Louise Erdrich, "glows with compassion and integrity." Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Michael Dorris's first novel (Turtleback, 1987) comes to life in this fully voiced reading by Barbara Rosenblat. At 15, Rayona is left by her Native-American mother shortly after her African-American father walks out of their lives again, and this time probably forever. Rayona tries to tolerate life with her grandmother, known by all as Aunt Ida, but when the mission priest sexually harasses this tough but insightful young woman, she leaves the reservation and finds her way into a new life in a Montana state park. After a few weeks' idyll as a maintenance worker sheltered by former hippies, Rayona returns to her mother, Christine. The narrative switches to become an account of how Christine came to be the person Rayona has known. Aunt Ida raised Christine on the reservation, along with Christine's younger brother Lee. Lee's best friend, Dayton, plays a significant role in Christine's life right through the time of Rayona's return years later, but Lee dies as a youth in Vietnam. In the novel's final movement, Aunt Ida's brief but substantial story unfolds: Christine, it turns out, is her daughter only by secret adoption, an act with lifelong consequences undertaken to rescue another woman, Clara, from the shame of bearing the baby of Ida's father while he was married to Ida's mother. Rosenblat gives each of these women-ranging in age from youth through old age-a strength of voice that matches their strengths of character. The symbol of the philandering priest is unfortunately resonant now, but the novel's highly developed iconography of color and elemental forces continues to stand as a literature teacher's friend. Dorris' work lends itself particularly well to oral delivery, and this production is stellar.Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A powerful novel of three generations of American Indian women, each seeking her own identity while forever cognizant of family responsibilities, loyalty, and love. Rayona, half-Indian half-black daughter of Christine, reacts to feelings of rejection and abandonment by running away, not knowing that her mother had acted in a similar fashion some 15 years before. But family ties draw Rayona hometo the Montana reservationas they drew Christine, and as they had drawn Ida many years earlier. As the three recount their lives, often repeating incidents but adding new perspectives, a total picture emerges. The result is a beautifully passionate first novel reminiscent of Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and The Beet Queen , but a strong work which should be read and enjoyed for its own merits. Highly recommended. Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., CarbondaleCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Critics have described Michael Dorris's acclaimed debut as a braid: Each life is one strand interwoven to create a whole. To uphold that imagery, Barbara Rosenblat becomes three women in one for this production. She begins as Rayona, a teenager experiencing growing pains while dealing with her mother's illness. As Christine nears death, mother and daughter return to the reservation. With ease, Rosenblat switches from the higher, innocent voice of young Rayona to the gruffer, brassy voice of Christine, a woman who has always acted impulsively on her heart's desires. The final third of the book is Ida's story, the past that brings truth to the present. While her Native American inflection does not sound authentic, Rosenblat fittingly uses a deep, cold, snappish tone to convey the matriarchal character. Three strong women, one strong voice tells their story. M.M.O. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Review
“Earns admiration from first page to last...Suspenseful, constantly gripping, original in its characters and settings, and finally, profoundly moving.” —People
“The writing here is powerful and deeply evocative of scene and place. Michael Dorris has created a set of characters so real that they seem to acquire lives of their own, almost, off the printed page.” —Mademoiselle
“Dazzling.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Spellbinding.” —Los Angeles Times
“Memorable...Marvelous.” —The Washington Post Book World
“Vivid, intense...straight from the heart.” —Newsday (New York)
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The national bestseller A Yellow Raft In Blue Water is a fierce saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship.
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