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Book reviews for "Sarris,_Greg" sorted by average review score:

Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream (Portraits of American Genius, 1)
Published in Hardcover by University of California Press (1994)
Author: Greg Sarris
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Great book
I read this book for an anthropology class that i am taking, and i found it to be very good. We get a first hand account of what role Mable McKay played for the Pomo Indians as a medicine women and as a basket weaver. Everything that she did was for a purpose, even though at times she had to deal with not everyone accepting her. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Native American ways of life


Watermelon Nights
Published in Paperback by Penguin Putnam~trade ()
Author: Greg Sarris
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indians in the north bay
i liked this one because it reminded me alot of faulkner. i like the way the narrative was told through each of the three generations of indians. the irony was not lost on me that they resented white people and yet they knew they had to assimilate to survive in america.this book will give you alot to think about....

A book worth reading
I received this book as a present, not knowing much about the author, I decided to give it a try. The book captured my attention and drew me in as each of the characters told their story. There were many unsettling things brought about by this book, but like life itself, it told many aspects of life people try to brush over. Greg Sarris has a way of storytelling that brings the reader into the story and want for more. If you enjoy stories of families and their personal struggles, you too will enjoy this book.

A Sensuous and Compelling Portrait of a People's Survival
Like Steinbeck or Faulkner, Native American novelist Greg Sarris uses the lives and voices of his characters to evoke a living landscape in which memory and magic, place and passion are inseparable.

The hypnotic nature of Sarris's story-telling is due, in part, to the way in which the plot unfolds in reverse, unwinding backward through time in layers of lost memory and meaning. In Part One of the novel, a young mixed-blood Pomo Indian man named Johnny Severe threatens to leave his ancestral homeland behind while struggling to define his own evolving sexual, moral, and tribal identity. In Parts II and III, Johnny's mother and grandmother re-tell Johnny's story--and the story of the Waterplace Pomo people--from their own radically different perspectives in historical time. Their stories are sometimes harsh, sometimes haunting, often hilarious and ultimately hopeful. Taken together they hold the keys not only to Johnny's survival, but to the survival of the Waterplace Pomo people as well.

Though few in numbers, the Pomo people of Northern California are widely regarded by anthropolgists and art collectors as among the greatest basket-weavers on earth. Priceless collections of Pomo basketry are held in major public and private collections worldwide. With similar artistry, Greg Sarris weaves the separate voices of his three main characters into the whirling pattern of a single narrative, a hypnotic tale in which the lives of the characters tangle and intertwine.

The tightly woven multi-vocal nature of this novel makes for challenging reading. Those who want their Indian stories sugar-coated are better off renting Disney's Pocahontas cartoon. Like Johnny, the reader is forced to combine and compare the various conflicting versions of a painful past described like a puzzle to be pieced together, a mystery story to be solved. But the reward for the effort is far deeper and more memorable than any Kevin-Costner-in-a-loincloth version of Native American history could possibly provide. Hidden in the warp and weave of this novel are clues not only to Johnny's place in modern America, but to our own shared history as well. After reading Sarris's work, you'll never see the landscape of California the same way again.

Readers familiar with Sarris's earlier book Grand Avenue (the basis of the award-winning HBO mini-series) will find themselves at home here: many of the same characters and conflicts subtley reappear. Yet by avoiding the trendy nihilism of so much contemporary fiction, Sarris transcends the boundaries of his own previous work, wresting both meaning and magic from the harsh lives of his characters. In the end he gives Johnny the most precious gifts of all: the gift of self-knowledge; the gift of love; the gift of survival.

With these gifts, Watermelon Nights places Greg Sarris at the forefront of a new generation of emerging Native American writers. As a native-born California writer, Sarris also inherits the legacy of an earlier generation of California authors, from John Muir to John Steinbeck to Wallace Stegner, who helped to place the California landscape at the center of America's moral imagination, a part of what Stegner aptly called the "geography of hope."


Grand Avenue
Published in Paperback by Penguin USA (Paper) (1995)
Author: Greg Sarris
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Disappointing
I became interested in the book Grand Avenue after having it recommended to me by a friend; I am extremely interested in Native American culture, so I purchased the book thinking that it would be a classic. Unfortunately, I was wrong; this book is incredibly dull, and I totally regret buying it. The transitions between different periods of time are awkward and confusing, making it a somewhat frustrating read. Nothing really exciting takes place within, and I did not feel much sympathy for any of the characters, something which I was hoping for in a book featuring Native Americans; I have been more moved by history books that tell of Native Americans than this novel. The only entertaining story is that of Sam Toms, but this is definitely not enough to save an entire book. Perhaps there are some who will appreciate Grand Avenue; I, on the other hand, do not.

It is Grand...a must-read!
As a Native American, I found the book to be a compelling and truthful view of the modern world of urban Indian life. The clean lines of the stories are perfectly juxtaposed with the "stuff" of daily life in the urban rez. Sarris masterfully captures the meat and bread of this group of "Injuns" who are trying to get by the best way they can despite their disenfranchisement and despair. The basket of stories he weaves is a hypnotic mix of laughter and tears. Once the reader embarks on the adventure he simply cannot stop til the very last word. One finds a sort of happiness in the daily doings of these relateds. The humor that exudes from nearly every page ameliorates the drastic situations the characters encounter. I found the issue of "poison" to be the most compelling issue Sarris brings forward in his finely-crafted novel. I hope that non-Indians will take this look carefully as there is poison in every group of humans. If one cannot see it, it will take over. Sarris lays it out for all to see and for the lesson. What will be learned fromt his brilliant novel? There may be poison in your own family, in your neighborhood, down the street, on the freeway, in the government...watch out! be careful!

For Sarris fans, please check out his latest, Watermelon Nights. It is a winner too!

FROM THE REZ TO GRAND AVENUE
I SAW THE HBO SPECIAL 2 PARTER OF "GRAND AVENUE".. IT WAS POWERFUL & TRUE TO THE REAL WORLD... THERE ARE SOME BRUTAL MOMENTS, & SOME FUNNY REZ HUMOR... I BOUGHT THE 2 PART VIDEO.. AND I WILL NOW BUY THE BOOK TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES OF THE MOVIE.. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts
Published in Paperback by University of California Press (1993)
Author: Greg Sarris
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The Sound of Rattles and Clappers: A Collection of New California Indian Writing (Sun Tracks, Vol 26)
Published in Paperback by University of Arizona Press (1994)
Author: Greg Sarris
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Surviving in Two Worlds: Contemporary Native American Voices
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Texas Press (1997)
Authors: Lois Crozier-Hogle, Darryl Babe Wilson, Guiseppe Saitta, Jay Leibold, and Greg Sarris
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