Michael Dorris (1945–1997)

Another fine multi-generational, multi-cultural, multiple viewpoint saga from Michael Dorris. This one takes us back to Ireland to meet the formidable Rose Mannion, the matriarch of an immigrant line whose descendants eventually include a Black man who marries a Native American woman and produces Rayona, a young woman who is now one of my favorite female characters of all time. We met Rayona's mother, father and grandmother in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. Now we learn of the complex lives show more and relationships of several amazing, if not always admirable, women on her father's side, both black and white. Totally absorbing, superbly crafted, unpredictable and unforgettable. show less

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water brings us the lives of three Indian women, a daughter, a mother and a grandmother, in their respective first person narrative voices. We meet Rayona first; she is fifteen years old, and her life is not easy. She and her mother live in Seattle, but Mom is often "sick" and in the hospital. We are not told (as Rayona is not told) what is wrong with her. Rayona's father is a black man who moves in and out of her life, contributing very little to it other than the show more effects of his DNA on her appearance. When Rayona's mother Christine decides they must return to the reservation to live with HER mother, no reason is given for that either. In Christine's section of the novel, we hear her tell her story, going back to her own teen years. We learn of her bond with her younger brother Lee and his best friend, Dayton; and of the dynamic attraction that drew her to Elgin Taylor and brought her Rayona. Finally, we hear from Christine's mother, who has always insisted that her children call her "Aunt Ida", because she was not married when they were born and therefore isn't entitled to be called "Mother". As each section unfolds, we learn things that the previous narrator did not tell us, because she did not KNOW. Secrets are at the heart of each woman's life; sometimes they are revealed to the characters, but more often only we, the readers are let in on all the truths, all the motivations, all the heartbreaks. This is an incredible novel, and I highly recommend it. show less

Three women connected as mothers and daughters but each with tremendous burdens to bear and pass along. Although the stories are not beautiful, the writing in this book is exceptionally beautiful -- simple, direct, vivid, and tender. The author definitely knows how to bring the reader into the shoes of the characters. At times as I was reading, I could simply forget where I was and was astonished when I looked up to find myself in my own living room.

If you are at all interested in family show more relationships, this is a book to explore. It is a testament of how the slightest things can become so forceful in our own lives and then silently creep into the lives of our children. show less

The Broken Cord is both a personal account of the author's adoption of a boy with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and a synopsis of research on FAS through 1987, when the book was published. I found the personal, familial parts of the story to be both poignant and inspiring. As a parent and as an educator, I could understand the conflicting desires to see only the best in your child and to acknowledge them as they are. The inclusion of the son's own attempt at autobiography was heartbreaking in its show more conflicting innocent warmth and tired repetition.

Both as a parent and a social anthropologist, Dorris researched FAS for years, and he includes much of it in the midst of his family story. The facts are shocking and seemingly well-documented, despite the rather anecdotal recitation of his research. The message is clear and Dorris recites it often: there is NO safe amount of alcohol that a woman can imbibe during pregnancy. Unfortunately, I found it hard to always know when Dorris was making the switch between the anecdotal and the scientific. Perhaps that in itself is part of the problem--can we separate cultural norms and the familial from the scientific? Reading the book, I was by turns despairing and militant. FAS is completely preventable, why isn't it? show less