Rating: 
Summary: An enthralling tale of three generations
Review: I purchased Yellow Raft in Blue Water about a year ago but had kept it in my to-be-read pile until one of my on-line book clubs selected it this month. Once I started it, I wondered what had taken me so long! Michael Dorris wrote a beautiful, plain spoken tale of three women. The grandmother, Aunt Ida, the mother, Christine, and the daughter, Rayona, share with us the stories of their lives and the secrets they hide from each other. Rayona is a typical teenager, dealing with her mixed ethnicity and the usual angst, when her mother takes her away from home and literally dumps her on the side of the road of Aunt Ida's home on the Montana reservation. Christine moves in with an old family friend, and Aunt Ida deals with all of them the best way she knows how. And then the story goes deeper. Christine shares her growing up years, how she met Rayona's father and how she ultimately became ill. And then Aunt Ida tells more than you'd ever expect, something that ties all three of the stories together. I thought Dorris did a great job with the first two-thirds of the book. I was disappointed at the end, wondering what happened next and if Aunt Ida ever shared the truth with Christine and Rayona. I'm looking forward to reading Cloud Chamber next.
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling story
Review: In A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris tells the story of three generations of women in an American-Indian family. Rayona, only fifteen years old, is left by her mother (on the Indian Reservation) to live with her distant grandmother, "Aunt" Ida. Rayona has to deal with her grandmother and try to learn to fit in. Christine, Rayona's mother, finds out that she has cancer and has to come to grips with her own mortality, as well as the death of her beloved brother, Lee, many years ago that she has never gotten over. Aunt Ida reflects on her life raising Christine and Lee, and the secrets that she has been keeping all her life. Dorris gives us each of these three characters' viewpoints separately. Because he does this, we end up making assumptions about a character, then find out the reasons for that character's actions later. Structuring the book this way, giving us all three viewpoints instead of just one, allows us to understand each character and also see how incorrect assumptions can be. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is touching and well-written. Dorris keeps us interested in the story, and leaves us wanting more. I highly recommend this novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Family Story
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.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading in High School
Review: Michael Dorris weaves a tale of how three women have chosen their paths which affects their present and future going back into the past lives of Christina and Ida. The two women have secrets of their own that have affected each of them and how they treat their offspring.
I read this book in my senior year of high school thinking that it would be another boring read. Instead, I found myself immersed into the book wondering how each female has led her own life. Rayona doesn't know why she is going back home and Christina doesn't know what she has done to make her mother Ida feel inferior to her. We don't know why Ida dotes on her late son Lee. The reader has to be fully absorbed into the book to understand each woman's story.
We can't undue what has happened in our past but we can learn from it to make it a better future.
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: Not So Hot
Review: While this book may have an interesting plot. the braiding becomes really annoying. It is too repetitive and has nothing to do with the book. Aside from the fact that Indians braid.
Rating:
Summary: its ok
Review: i dont know it doesnt seem like the book has enough closure at the end...
Rating: 
Summary: uggggg
Review: hello peoples. this book sux. i h8ed it soooooooooooooooooooo much. i like had to reed it 4 school and it rilly rilly sucked alot. i coudnt even unnerstan what the hall it was even about cuz the guy that write it just kep talkin about stuff i couldnt even unnerstan. so if U dont wanna waste all kinds of time dont really this book cuz its a waste of time. read R L styne instead, his bookz kick a#$.
Rating:
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: 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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