Rating: 
Summary: Michael Dorris's book, Cloud Chamber, was thrilling and evoc
Review: I thought Cloud Chamber was an extremely good book. It was exciting, and it contained characters that actually had real life problems that most people can relate to. It dealt with trials and tribulations of love, and it also dealt with geographical racism. It spoke about black life in the south, and indian life in the northwest. This book kept you on the edge of your seat because it was filled with unexpected twists and turns. Cloud Chamber truly captivated me, and I feel this book is well worth anyone's time that it takes reading it. I was introduced to this book through a literature course, and I am truly happy I have got to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: how life imitates art
Review: In mid-February, at the prodding of my mother, I went to hear Michael Dorris read from his latest book, Cloud Chamber, at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. I had not read A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, nor was I particularly interested in going that evening, but I did. The passages he read that night were vigorous and touching. As he read I could not help but caught up in his spirials of description. His is a powerful prose. After the question and answer period I waited patiently in line for him to sign the book I had just purchased. He was soft spoken and kind, genuinely pleased that my mother and I had come to hear him speak. Not too long thereafter, before I had started reading Cloud Chamber, Michael Dorris killed himself and ugly stories about child molestation began to appear in the back pages of the newspaper. Whether or not any of those allegations are true, we'll never know, and unfortuantely the character of a fine writer has been tarnished. All of this leads me to comment on a chapter in the book (which I am still reading) that seems to me a cry for help. In "I Am A Father", Robert McGarry has returned home, having been "found" by his wife and children in a hospital in Cincinnati. To me Robert's words are Dorris's plea for help. He has his own depression with McGarry's consumption, perhaps to rid himself of demons as he prepared for his own suicide. "Unlike my unmoored life, my probable fatality was conventional, easily explained and accepted, normal. It provided a decent if abrupt ending to what would naturally become a story much repeated over the years by Marcella and Edna. Perhaps it would even constitute a sufficient balance of justice for the woman herself. My life for some reason was an affront to her, an insult. My death would be an appropriate apology."
Michael Dorris signed my book with the inscription, "Good Fortune." Ironic and sad. It is frightening how alone we all really are.
Rating:
Summary: Give it a chance.
Review: It is very difficult to speak in different voices. After all, you are but one person. Some writers can do it, and do it brilliantly (like Barbara Kingsolver in The Poisonwood Bible). Michael Dorris did not manage to clearly separate the voices of all of his characters. Maybe it is because there were so many. There are two clear camps in this book: the strong-willed woman and the patsy man. It would be conceivable that all the women had a similar voice, and that all the men had a similar voice. However, I found that the tone was very similar for all characters, men and women alike. The story, as a whole, is very entertaining, and definitively a complement of A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (which by the way is better written, in my opinion). A few more comments: Why didn't Marcella and Edna ever figure out that their mother had been in love with their uncle? After all, there were plenty of clues. I was confused with the age of the girls. On page 117, Edna says, "Years ago, before Papa got sick, I had visited the Ursuline convent in Samaria, Kentucky, on a seventh-grade outing..." That would make her 12 years old. Then, on page 118, she continues: "The summer of 1930, the seventh year after Papa died, I was nineteen and Marcella was two years younger". That would also make her 12 years old when her father died (19 - 7 = 12). But there is a contradiction, because she cannot be 12 " before Papa got sick..." and 12 when her father died. Why didn't an editor pick up on this? I also did not like Marcella's conversation with her son in pages 203 and up. She confesses to living her life as a whole act. The Marcella they all see, that's not who she really is. She only plays the part of the ditty, happy-go-lucky sister. This is unbelievable. This is something that you would expect to see in a spy movie, where someone lives undercover among regular people who have no idea. But not a dear lady in Kentucky, come on.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly disappointing must-read companion to AYRIBW
Review: It is very difficult to speak in different voices. After all, you are but one person. Some writers can do it, and do it brilliantly (like Barbara Kingsolver in The Poisonwood Bible). Michael Dorris did not manage to clearly separate the voices of all of his characters. Maybe it is because there were so many. There are two clear camps in this book: the strong-willed woman and the patsy man. It would be conceivable that all the women had a similar voice, and that all the men had a similar voice. However, I found that the tone was very similar for all characters, men and women alike. The story, as a whole, is very entertaining, and definitively a complement of A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (which by the way is better written, in my opinion). A few more comments: Why didn't Marcella and Edna ever figure out that their mother had been in love with their uncle? After all, there were plenty of clues. I was confused with the age of the girls. On page 117, Edna says, "Years ago, before Papa got sick, I had visited the Ursuline convent in Samaria, Kentucky, on a seventh-grade outing..." That would make her 12 years old. Then, on page 118, she continues: "The summer of 1930, the seventh year after Papa died, I was nineteen and Marcella was two years younger". That would also make her 12 years old when her father died (19 - 7 = 12). But there is a contradiction, because she cannot be 12 " before Papa got sick..." and 12 when her father died. Why didn't an editor pick up on this? I also did not like Marcella's conversation with her son in pages 203 and up. She confesses to living her life as a whole act. The Marcella they all see, that's not who she really is. She only plays the part of the ditty, happy-go-lucky sister. This is unbelievable. This is something that you would expect to see in a spy movie, where someone lives undercover among regular people who have no idea. But not a dear lady in Kentucky, come on.
Rating:
Summary: Read after Yellow Raft!~
Review: It's more developed than Yellow Raft...you will understand Elgin's character more; the characterization is awesome...in depth, three dimensional characters are intertwined in a twisted, complicated plot that grows through the generations of Rose Mannion.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: MIchael Dorris is a wonderful writer. Cloud Chamber is a wonderful book. A must read for those who loved Yellow Raft on Blue Water. Did Dorris know Rayona's paternal geneology when he wrote Yellow Raft on Blue Water
Rating: 
Summary: For the intellectually landlocked; spiritually vapid
Review: Michael Dorris' novel Cloud Chamber offers interesting possibilities. It traces the history of a family through 5 generations with each chapter written from a 1st person view of one of the family members. It is an interesting construct. However, what occurs is a fragmentation in which questions arise as to events which are seemingly skimmed over and then barely mentioned chapters later. The result is a fragmented conglomeration. The characters chat endlessly about their problems and perceptions of others in what begins to resemble a 20th century Henry James novel with the way they take themselves so seriously. None of them consider a spiritual path for problem solving, leaving religion little more than a relic of cultural influence. Perhaps that absence makes the author's real life suicide plausible. The biggest plot twist occurs when Elgin finds out the truth about his father's death, but any interesting possibilities are squandered as Elgin refuses to talk about it with other family members and moves away. In the end, this is a book about rather uninteresting people who take themselves so seriously and would rather suffer problems than find solutions. This could have been written in the late 1800's and been out of print and forgotten about by now
Rating:
Summary: A Family Tapestry
Review: This novel begins in the late 19th century and follows an Irish "family" from Ireland to the United States. It involves five generations and and the people are very real. Some you can't help but extremely dislike but they are all such an integral part of the development of this family's history. The story progresses in turn by the memories of a single character in each chapter. It is like an old tapestry. At the beginning of it's creation you may not see much that you enjoy, but your need to see the final product pushes you to continue to watch it evolve. The life experiences of this family include betrayal, murder, forbidden love, rejection, forgiveness, faith, and finally an open acceptance of what makes a family a family. At the beginning of this story I felt it was very dark and sad but the writing was so eloquent that it wouldn't let me go. By the end of the book I was so moved, the story was so beautiful,so full of heart and soul, that I realized this was a wonderful novel and could not wait to share it with family and friends. I look forward to reading Yellow Raft in Blue Water. If you do enjoy this book you will also enjoy Plainsong by Kent Haruf!
Rating:
Summary: A Family Tapestry
Review: This novel begins in the late 19th century and follows an Irish "family" from Ireland to the United States. It involves five generations and and the people are very real. Some you can't help but extremely dislike but they are all such an integral part of the development of this family's history. The story progresses in turn by the memories of a single character in each chapter. It is like an old tapestry. At the beginning of it's creation you may not see much that you enjoy, but your need to see the final product pushes you to continue to watch it evolve. The life experiences of this family include betrayal, murder, forbidden love, rejection, forgiveness, faith, and finally an open acceptance of what makes a family a family. At the beginning of this story I felt it was very dark and sad but the writing was so eloquent that it wouldn't let me go. By the end of the book I was so moved, the story was so beautiful,so full of heart and soul, that I realized this was a wonderful novel and could not wait to share it with family and friends. I look forward to reading Yellow Raft in Blue Water. If you do enjoy this book you will also enjoy Plainsong by Kent Haruf!
Rating:
Summary: Some questions answered, some forever left...
Review: When I read "Yellow Raft on Blue Water," I was riveted. I was amazed that a man could capture the spirit of a 16 year old, mixed race girl so seemingly effortlessly, and also so well. Coming away from the novel, my only questions were centered around Rayona's father, Elgin. It seemed to me that if there were reasons for Christine's bizarre behavior, there ought to be some for Elgin's as well. My favorite part of reading "Cloud Chamber" and discovering the roots of Elgin's insecurities. I could feel myself relaxing in my anger for his neglect of his daughter as I read of his own neglect and pain. Elgin remains a mystery to me, but at least some questions were answered. The other characters in the novel ranged from amusing and frustrating, Marcella, to downright infuriating, Rose. However, my all- around favorite remains Rayona, the brave young heroine who inspired me as a neglected misfit in "Yellow Raft." I was struck by the sub! tle change wrought in Rayona's relationship with her maternal grandmother, which seems somewhat less adverserial in "Cloud Chamber." Overall, I find Dorris' sequel somewhat less satisfying than the first installment, but still well worth the read. I mourn for the loss of a talented writer, one I have emulated since first reading about his Rayona.
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