Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Rating:
Summary: A seminal work
Review: "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" is one story, a single epoch, but told three times, each telling by one of the three women who shared it: the grandmother, Ida, the mother, Christine, and the daughter, Rayona. But, this book is not just about a single story seen through three different pairs of eyes. It's really a story of the forces that compel each of us to do the things we do, frequently against our own intuition or better judgement ---- and, all of them ring true. Dorris, the author, had incredible insight into human behavior when he wrote this book. Tragically, I understand that he ended his own life by suicide. Although this is fiction, it's a poignant revelation into the consequences of embracing cultural belief systems that have little basis in reality. Ruined or miserable lives are often the result. The daughter, Rayona, like many teenagers, trashes the moors of her elders and shows promise of breaking out of the cruel cycle that held her mother and grandmother captive to an miserable life. This book is a plea: it asks how we know for sure, what we think we know for sure. Granted, that's a bit heavy, but certainly worthwhile for anyone who wonders where happiness lies.

Rating:
Summary: Moving and Powerful
Review: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is a powerful novel that examines the relationship between a daugher, a mother, and a grandmother. Dorris starts the novel through the perspective of the daughter, Rayona, then to the mother, Christine, and finally to the grandmother, Ida, where it all began.

As you read A Yellow Raft In Blue Water you learn and feel the struggles of each woman. Often I found myself thinking, 'that's why' as I progressed through each woman's story and connecting the three. Dorris describes this journey as "...bonding and braiding the three strands of their shared past - and future."

Michael Dorris created a novel far more powerful than the struggle of the three women. He illustrated the need for family and how the connection to kin, no matter the circumstance and time lapse, is of great importance. He displayed that in time of need you always go back to the familiar...home.

This was a very moving and thought provoking novel to read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

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Summary: Red Road Redux
Review: an almost mystical return backwards in time and place in the most unique inter-generational trip ever ventured on in literature... while a Native American motif is present, it's merely a prop for the proposition this book raises which is that we cannot truly skinwalk with anyone, not even our parents... especially our parents it seems because we 'feel' too much ofourselves in them as our experiences are happening... read without pre-knowledge this is truly a mystery story of human experience

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Summary: Yellow Raft in Blue Water -- audio cassette version
Review: i dont know it doesnt seem like the book has enough closure at the end...

Rating:
Summary: If you like your characters flawed . . .
Review: I read this as an unabridged audio book and it's a good thing too because if I were reading this in its paperback format I do believe I would've put it down unfinished after the first few chapters. Admittedly, I'm easily bored these days but this story was just too slow paced and peopled with characters that are (more often than not) difficult to sympathize with for me to anxiously continue turning its pages with any sort of enthusiasm. However, being trapped as I am in my vehicle for long stretches of time I'm content to listen to most anything if it distracts me from the tedium of driving and thus I finished every CD until I reached the bitter end.

The story is told from the point of view of its three main characters starting with fifteen year old Rayona and working backwards through events which are told by her mother Christine and finally by Christine's mother "Aunt" Ida. This technique makes one sit back and say "ahhh, so that somewhat explains why "so and so" was such an unlikable witch earlier in the book" but it also makes for tough reading because it's difficult to sympathize with Christine and "Aunt" Ida for long stretches of the novel. Once we learn their motivations for certain actions they often turn out to be the ones who made poor choices resulting in their current miserable situations.

The novel begins when Rayona is unceremoniously abandoned by her mother Christine at "Aunt" Ida's home on an Indian reservation who (if this possible) is even less caring and nurturing than selfish Christine. Christine hitches a ride and doesn't look back leaving Rayona to deal with grumpy Ida who takes her in but leaves her to fend for herself. Rayona, friendless, lonely and finding it difficult to fit in becomes a "project" to the local preacher who hovers over her in a somewhat creepy way (if'n you ask me). This is only a small snapshot of what appears to be a long stretch of instability in Rayona's young life. Rayona tells the story for roughly 1/3 of the book and, in my eyes, was the most sympathetic of the three and showed a lot of guts for a kid on her own.

The focus then switches to her mom Christine who shows us a bit of her past. We experience the ups and downs of her wild days as a single gal living on her own after she's escaped the confines of life on the reservation. Her secret heartache is revealed and we relive her love affair with Rayona's faithless father. Still, despite all of her pain she always remained a selfish "me, me, me" type of person who I couldn't warm up to and a lot of her troubles were of her own making, in my opinion. Next up the story switches to Ida, whose past I found the most interesting. She fills in many gaps and her past answers a lot of questions that cropped up while I was reading Rayona & Christine's point of view. Again, though, in the end Ida is too brusque and difficult to warm up to despite the painful choice thrust upon her as a youngster.

Overall this story manages to be both depressing and compassionate but the bleakness left me in a very melancholy mood when I finished. Two of the three characters love deeply but show it in all the wrong ways and I fear the third may follow their footsteps with such guidance. . .


Rating:
Summary: Layered accounts save YR from pure mediocrity
Review: I read this book along with my son for his summer reading in Honors English. It is the three braided stories of a mom, her daughter and her own mother told from their own points of view.

The characters were not terribly sympathetic since each was self-centered, unlike, for example, Stephen in Gail Tsukiyama's book Samurai's Garden. Each character seemingly could ascertain their choices, but often made selfish ones and paid the consequent price. No tragedy of gender or ethnicity and few genuine complications due principally to being a native american, black or a woman.

I think most kids will leave this book with negative stereotypes about native americans, blacks, middle-aged Catholic priests and poor people reinforced rather than appreciating the perplexing complexity of ordinary life.

More interesting is the scandal of Michael Dorris' own life in which he reportedly committed suicide just before being criminally indicted by the Hennepin County attorney's office on sexually abusing his own biological daughters. He failed to have his son, Sava, convicted of attempted felony theft from him, while others remarked that the Dorris' push for prosecution was his attempt to silence or discredit his children's stories of repeated sexual abuse.

There is good evidence Dorris cared more about his image and position as founder of the Native American Studies program at Dartmouth and as a literary voice for his quarter-blooded Medoc background than in honesty about his own life's experiences, as reflected in his work.

I recommend N. Scott Momaday, Maya Angelou, Ralph Ellison or Elie Weisel instead.

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Summary: Debut of the Dorris and Erdrich team
Review: Michael Dorris (now deceased) and his novelist wife, Louise Erdrich, are famous for their several books featuring Native Americans as the protagonist. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is the story of an Indian mother, daughter, and granddaughter torn by disturbing secrets yet bound by love. The varying perspectives allow us to see each woman's point of view. The voice of Rayona, the mixed-race teenager, is particularly engaging, especially in her nearly epic journey to visit her weirdo mother in the hospital.
Once you've gotten your feet wet on this husband/wife writing team, I suspect you'll want to read everything they've written, as I did. And if you have an opportunity to hear Louise Erdrich speak, take advantage of it; she's wise, articulate, and gifted - a real winner with audiences.

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Summary: A Delightful End to a Long Journey
Review: Ok, here's the thing (and it's a trend I've noticed among all Dorris's reviews, you need to have faith that the read will be worth the time spent. It took me a couple months of looking at it in my bookshelf before I got around to reading, and even then I found the language easy and the plot somewhat entertaining. The thing you will notice is that its quite a long read and the book, broke into 3 sections, will most likely scare you away when you find tedium in some of the passages. I stuck with it (out of respect for Erdrich's choice of husband) and found that the last two sections really sold my interest into the story, as all the loopholes are backfilled and twists in plot are revealed. My first cynical impressions at the beginning were all destroyed and I found the characters more sympathetic and relatable. Give the book a chance, it was a wonderful finish, and it was nice to read fiction that taught me something valuable.

Rating:
Summary: Yellow Raft in Blue Water -- audio cassette version
Review: This book is in 3 parts -- each told from a view point of a a different generation from the same family. This story is very poignant, for teenagers, mothers and grandmothers who often are too wound up in the present to appreciate the past. Each person's narrative gives a new perspective on why the character acts the way she does. It lends an uncommon depth to the story. I never thought that Ida's harshness could be justified but after hearing her version of the story, I understand her view. It is a melancholy story with illness, death and despair. But it is worth the time.

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Summary: uggggg
Review: Yellow Raft in Blue Water is a novel written by Michael Dorris. He does not just tell a story of a young girl and her family. He emphasizes the need for strong family relationships. He also emphasizes the love that children need from their parents and other relatives. This story is interesting, touching and exciting.
Michael Dorris' Yellow Raft in Blue Water is a heart-warming tale of a young girl, her mother and grandmother and the problems each one of them has faced. The story begins with a focus on Rayona, a fifteen-year-old girl who is abandoned by all of the people she loves and has to live for herself. After her mother leaves her Rayona lives with her grandmother known as "Aunt Ida". Rayona feels very alone and confides in the one person who shows any sympathy for her. Father Tom in the only person who she is close to. Father Tom eventually leaves Rayona on her own thinking she is going back to her hometown of Seattle. He only does this because he knows that Rayona feels like she is alone on the reservation. "And you won't feel so alone, so out of place..."(63). Father Tom believes that Rayona will make it one her own just as her mother did when she was younger.
A third of the way through the story changes focus to Rayona's mother, Christine. In this part of the story we get to see how Christine became the person she is. Christine is a party girl. She always went out in the middle of the night to party with friends. Because of this she was in the hospital a lot. Rayona was always there to support her mother but Christine could not support her. The end of the story finishes with focus on the grandmother, who is known as Aunt Ida. In this part of the story we learn that Christine is not Ida's real child. That Ida only took her in to cover up the fact that her husband had gotten another woman pregnant. This part of the story ties the three women together because it shows that everyone has problems and that is why people are the way they are.
Some of the main points of this story are race, age, gender and class. Dorris does and excellent job of describing each of these points in his story. Each section has a little bit of each main point but they all work together to show a common ground. Being half Indian himself Dorris can relate to the struggles that his characters face. Like when other characters judge Rayona because of the color of her skin instead of what she is really like. It may be hard for the reader to understand what the characters are feeling but they can better understand it because Dorris describes the emotion in such detail.
Dorris gets his main points through to the reader very well. All the major ideas are laid out clearly. The book talks about all of the ideas it intends to like racial differences and age differences. It emphasizes on each point in different parts of the story so that the reader can fully understand and absorb what is being said before moving on. Dorris also uses many different literary elements to support his points. Like imagery, diction (word choices), and tone.
Michael Dorris does and excellent job telling this story. It is very creative and captures the reader. It is a story for all ages and genders and should be read by everyone. This book talks about very important issues that everyone should know a little about. By reading Yellow Raft in Blue Water the reader can better understand major social issues and can have a great time reading a really great story.