A YELLOW RAFT IN BLUE WATER

A YELLOW RAFT IN BLUE WATER
By Michael Dorris
1987, Warner Books
ISBN0-446-38787-8
372 pages

I loved this book. First, it is a well written story- actually, three stories. Second, it defies what seems (to me) to be the growing norm in literary art, which is stories that are frank in their observation of the awfulness of the human condition, but which make no attempt at finding redemption. This book does the first, and avoids the second.

This book came to me via the local library’s annual book discussion series. The idea is that a few dozen read a book, and then attend a public forum led by a scholar provided by the state library board. Unfortunately, I was ill and missed the discussion.

The book is the story of three generations of women, told first person. What amazed me is that the author achieved a level of authenticity many would deem impossible for a man. Of course, being a man myself, it may only seem that Dorris found an authentic female voice to write the stories. But when I raised this subject with a woman in my church that also read the book, she agreed.

The first story is told by the third generation, a 15 year-old girl, Rayona. Her particular burdens are three: her father has basically abandoned her, she is mixed race (African American father, Native American mother), and she is in constant tension with her mother. In this case, the mother seems not “unreasonable,” but irresponsible. Telling the story herself, she finds a teenaged picture of her mom. She studies it intensely, and then concludes that “Mom is still mom and I am still me.” (p. 36) Rayona’s particular burdens of poor self-esteem begin to find redemption and resolution when she enters a rodeo, is thrown of a bronco, and leaps back on.

The second story is the mother, Christine. Christine and her younger brother were raised without a father- they never even knew who he was. And their mother is never addressed as “Mom,” but instead, as “Aunt Ida”. They take this to mean that she is ashamed of them. Christine’s particular burdens begin when she is disillusioned with the church as a teenager (the world fails to come to its predicted end), a brother killed in Vietnam (she had almost forced hi into enlisting), a lifelong battle with her mother, a husband who abandons her, and a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Christine also suffers from self-esteem problems, though not in the same form as Rayona’s. More so than the other characters. Rayona always seems to be defending herself- to her daughter, to her mother, to the reader, and to society at large.

The third story is told by the grandmother, Ida. There is a very unique plot twist in Ida’s story that I do not want to reveal. Ida’s life comes across as one that is taken advantage of by the previous generation. It is also one that is not understood by the following generation, partly because of the mysteries of their births, and partly because Ida’s favorite technique of arguing is silence.

Both Christine and Ida come across as women intensely in love with their children. Christine, in particular, makes bad choices, but the choices are often inevitable. Both of them are proud women, despite the fact that their lives are in some ways “shameful.”

I wish there was more from Ida- the story ahs a wonderful ending, but it is also abrupt. It does not deal with the death of her son- a huge event in Christine’s story- or with her visit to Christine when Rayona is a child, a trip that seems incredibly consequential after the first part of Ida’s story is told. But still, it is a book that is insightful, compelling, and helpful.

George R. PasleY