A Yellow Raft in Blue Water Lib/E

Review Dorris imbues the breath of verisimilitude into each gesture, word, and memory of three unforgettable women characters.-- "Booklist (starred review)"Memorable...Marvelous.-- "The Washington Post"Powerful and deeply evocative...Michael Dorris has created a set of Characters so real that they seem to acquire lives of their own.-- "Mademoiselle"Vivid, intense...Straight from the heart.-- "Newsday" Product Description Michael Dorris' contemporary classic novel 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. Starting at the present day and moving back in time, the novel is told in the voices of three women: fifteen-year-old part-black Rayona, searching for a way to find herself; 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-and their future. From Publishers Weekly Veteran narrator Rosenblat displays remarkable vocal versatility in narrating Dorris's cross-generational story of three Native American women in Montana who must come to grips with the past. Divided into three first-person narratives, the book follows teenage Rayona; her mother, Christine; and her grandmother, who both the others call Aunt Ida. Rosenblat gives each a distinct voice, perfectly capturing the youthful yet determined attitude of Rayona and the wizened, sardonic tone of her mother. The syncopated, husky voice she adopts for Aunt Ida, who is said to have a pronounced accent, isn't spot-on, but it isn't distracting either. Ida's story is the shortest of the three, and Rayona's is the longest and most immediate, as the other two are actually monologues that supplement and expand on the events of the first part of the book. Rosenblat ably gives voice to the secondary characters, switching easily from a chummy, awkward priest to the bullying young Foxy Cree, but it is her excellent portrayal of dopey, sweet Sky and world-wise Evelyn, a couple who take in Rayona when she runs away, that serves as an index to the overall quality of this laudable production.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the Author Michael Anthony Dorris (1945-1997) was an American author and winner of the 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award for his memoir, The Broken Cord. He and his wife, author Louise Erdrich, frequently collaborated in their writing. Michael also helped found the Native American Studies program at Dartmouth.Barbara Rosenblat, one of the most awarded narrators in the business, was selected by AudioFile magazine as one of the Golden Voices of the Twentieth Century. She has received the prestigious Audie Award multiple times and has earned more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards. She has also appeared in film, television, and theater, both in London's West End and on Broadway. From AudioFile Critics have described Michael Dorris's acclaimed debut as a braid: Each life is one strand interwoven to create a whole. To uphold that imagery, Barbara Rosenblat becomes three women in one for this production. She begins as Rayona, a teenager experiencing growing pains while dealing with her mother's illness. As Christine nears death, mother and daughter return to the reservation. With ease, Rosenblat switches from the higher, innocent voice of young Rayona to the gruffer, brassy voice of Christine, a woman who has always acted impulsively on her heart's desires. The final third of the book is Ida's story, the past that brings truth to the present. While her Native American inflection does not sound authentic, Rosenblat fittingly uses a deep, cold, snappish tone to convey the matriarchal character. Three strong women, one strong voice tells