A Yellow Raft in Blue Water: A Novel | 
| Author: Michael Dorris
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Sales Rank: 9576
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0312421850
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312421854
ASIN: 0312421850
Publication Date: March 5, 2003
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Condition: Paperback book in very good condition; pages have some highlighting and underlining notes written in margins cover minor shelf wear
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Product Description
Michael Dorris has crafted 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. Starting in the present day and moving backward, the novel is told in the voices of the three women: fifteen-year-old part-black Rayona; her American Indian mother, Christine, consumed by tenderness and resentment toward those she loves; and the fierce and mysterious Ida, mother and grandmother whose haunting secrets, betrayals, and dreams echo through the years, braiding together the strands of the shared past.
Download Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
 Exceptionally well written and memorable June 11, 2008
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 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.
Great Story February 4, 2008
I first read this book in high school, over 10 years ago, when I saw it in a pile of used books at a library book sale. Tattered and worn, I didn't know what to expect from it, but I picked it up because of the cover. It was a gem that hooked me early on and kept me on the edge of my seat. It's not a thriller, but merely a well crafted story about people, relationships, and real life emotions and motivations.
The first section, told from the daughter Rayona's pov, is the best part of the novel. Dorris loses a little steam as he gets into Christina and, particularly, Aunt Ida's section, but the story still captivates. Starting out so well, though, set the bar pretty high and that Dorris couldn't keep it up isn't surprising, just a little disappointing.
After all these years, I kept this book on my bookshelf, always associating pleasant memories to it every time I'd glance at it. A testament to a great book is how it stays with you, and this novel has always stayed with me -- the images of Montana, the atmosphere of a summer in a confused girl's life, etc... I decided to re-read it last year and I loved it all over again.
Three strong women January 18, 2008
Rayona, 15, biracial, resourceful, sits by the hospital bed of her Indian mother Christine in the opening of this book. She is a girl used to conflict; her father, who is black, is rarely around, and she has seen a multitude of her mother's boyfriends come and go as Christine searches endlessly for someone who can bring peace to her life. Christine is dying, though Rayona doesn't know this yet; and at some point, Christine reaches the conclusion that she would rather die at home, on the reservation, than in Seattle - even though she harbours no really good memories of the reservation either. She escapes from the hospital, bundles Rayona and whatever else she owns in an ancient Volare, and heads home.
On the reservation, Christine - for reasons that are made clear further along - abandons her daughter to the care of her mother - a formidable, large woman whom everyone calls Aunt Ida - and Christine hightails it to the home of a childhood friend. Rayona, friendless, ostracized by her reservation schoolmates for being an outsider - and not full Indian - takes the offer from the reservation priest to go to a retreat just to get away from the tension in her new surroundings, and because of an incident along the way, opts to fend for herself.
This story is told backwards - starting with Rayona's story, segueing into Christine's story, and ending at the beginning, with Aunt Ida. At the start, none of the adults present a sympathetic aspect; it's clear from the beginning that Christine is, and always has been, an angry, hungry person, looking for happiness. Her abandonment of her daughter seems heartless, and abandoning her to Aunt Ida seems particularly cruel; Ida has no apparent softness to her anywhere. As the book evolves, however, you gain a respect for all three generations, and you realize that though Christine is clearly on her way out, she's facing it squarely and without fear, and that the choices she made are the right ones for all three of them.
Aunt Ida was particularly interesting, and her segment of the story was my favourite. At the end, hers is the most poignant tale; a woman without resources, making a sacrifice no one should ever be asked to make, and coming out of it finally with her dignity intact.
"A Yellow Raft In Blue Water" was one of those books that worked on me after I had finished it, and I felt a sense of loss upon coming to the final word. These characters feel real; strongly written, compassionately portrayed, Michael Dorris did an exemplary job of reaching inside the thoughts and feelings of three women and putting into words what each was going through in a way that is wonderful; a commendable work of art.
I still think about this book. January 8, 2008
I read this book over ten years as a freshman in high school. It touched me so much that when I am in a certain mood I think about the characters. They are great characters very deep, well thought out and relateable. I think this book is great book for women of all walks of life from teen years and up.
A rare American novel November 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the greatest tragedies regarding this book is that it has become required reading in many English classes. What a shame. Please don't mistake my intention here; one should come to this novel in a wholly voluntary way, with an open heart toward the telling of a good story. Dorris is, certainly, one of America's finest storytellers. This novel is rich with imagery and infused with the colors of Native American life. But it is essentially a novel about people and relationships undefined by race or color. It is a story of heartbreak and redemption, told by a man who knew personally of these things. As a feminist writer, I came to this book with a bias; I resented his presumption that he could tell a woman's story--several women's stories--from a woman's point of view. It taught me a lesson about my own prejudice, and brought me to a place of greater tolerance. Dorris draws together the fabric of three separate lives in this novel... and creates the warm quilt of a shared family history. Those who come to this novel of their own volition will not be disappointed.
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