Journal Entry 1 by SqueakyChu from Rockville, Maryland USA on Friday, October 28, 2005

Journal Entry 2 by SqueakyChu from Rockville, Maryland USA on Friday, November 25, 2005

I was disappointed in this book. I've only heard good things about it, but it started to let me down about half-way through.

The story is divided into the story of three women, each of a different generation, and it works backward in time. The most interesting story was that of the youngest, Rayona, who found it very hard to fit in among her peers and who seemed to be treated dreadfully by her mom. It was a very sad story, but seemed realistic. The story of Rayona's mom annoyed me. I didn't like that character at all and started losing interest in the book at that point. By the time I got to Ida's story, I was hard-pressed to finish the book. I still cannot figure out why, despite learning Ida's "real" story, why she was always so mean to Christine and Rayona. Much of this story made no sense to me at all.

Sorry. Most others who have read this book liked it a lot. I just did not.

The book is now in the mail to olered in Oregon. 

Journal Entry 3 by olered from Salem, Oregon USA on Friday, December 09, 2005

Received on December 9 and am very anxious to read. Thank you SqueakyChu for organizing this bookray! 

Journal Entry 4 by olered from Salem, Oregon USA on Thursday, December 22, 2005

It was a pleasure to read this book, the only thing distracting is the nearness of Christmas! I enjoyed the layers this book presented...the same events seen from the different perspectives of three generations of women in the same family. It also gave an inner look at the Native American culture and the difficulties of life therein. It seemed to me that Aunt Ida wasn't mean at all - just the - 'hold it all in - I have to do it myself - one foot in front of the other - strength' of a women filled with the secrets of the family. To be more emotional would not be in keeping with the Indian woman she chose to become. In her view she did all she could do and the best she could do for those she loved. I liked the chacters and felt they were pretty realistic for their times and places - although heartbreaking. I would recommend this book to others.
Will forward to Edith8 as soon as I receive her address. 

Journal Entry 5 by olered from Salem, Oregon USA on Saturday, December 24, 2005

Mailed 12-23-05 Media Mail to Edith8 

Journal Entry 6 by Edith8 on Wednesday, December 28, 2005

It just arrived today. Looks like my kind of book & I can't wait to get started. 

Journal Entry 7 by Edith8 on Tuesday, January 31, 2006

It took a while for me to get into this one. My experience was opposite to SqueakyChu's -- I wasn't crazy about the Rayona section, but I liked the sections about her mother and grandmother. I thought it was interesting that Christine and Ida seemed awful from their daughters' perspectives, but you could feel for them when you read their own stories. I always enjoy books about mother/daughter relationships. Thanks for sharing this one! I'll try to get it off to lauraloo29 tomorrow. 

Journal Entry 8 by Edith8 on Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Its on its way to Canada! 

Journal Entry 9 by lauraloo29 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada on Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Arrived today. I've just started another book, but this one will be next. Thank you! 

Journal Entry 10 by lauraloo29 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada on Thursday, February 23, 2006

I couldn't get into this book at the beginning. I felt so bad for Rayona and thought Christine was a horrible mother. Then, I read the other journal entries (I usually don't until I've finished a book) and saw the interesting mixed reviews. So I pressed on. Very glad I did.

Interesting how just one person never knows the whole story and how assumptions and avoidance of feelings lead to perceptions. How your past makes you the person you become. Very deep for me.

I found the last few lines of the book very profound.

**Spoiler**"A man with cut hair, he did not identify the rhythm of three strands, the whispers of coming and going, of twisting and tying and blending, of catching and of letting go, of braiding."

I have ireland424's address and I'm going to try and get this book in the mail on Friday. Next Monday for sure. Thank you for sharing! 

Journal Entry 11 by ireland424 from Pewaukee, Wisconsin USA on Friday, March 17, 2006

The book arrived late last week - my apologies for not journaling sooner.

Looking forward to reading, but as soon as a couple other books are finished that I'm working on. :D

*****************************************************
March 31st: Well, I'm not done with the other books I have in front of this one, but I'm moving this one right to the start of the line, so I can get it and a few letters I have going overseas sent out in the next week or so. I hope to be done with this by next weekend and then on it's way across the ocean. 

Journal Entry 12 by ireland424 from Pewaukee, Wisconsin USA on Wednesday, April 19, 2006

I hit a brick wall reading this - right at about page 153.... not sure why, maybe this just wasn't what I was in need of to help me out of my reading slump. I'm going to pass the book on in the meantime and hope that the next person in the bookring enjoys it.

Thanks for letting me join the bookring! I have the address of the lucky person next in line and hope to send it out this weekend. 

Journal Entry 13 by ireland424 at Post Office, 140 Simmons Ave. in Pewaukee, Wisconsin USA on Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Released 5 yrs ago (11/27/2006 UTC) at Post Office, 140 Simmons Ave. in Pewaukee, Wisconsin USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Hey, I finally got to the post office and sent this via air-mail to France! Hope you enjoy the read! 

Journal Entry 14 by Maza34 from Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon France on Thursday, June 14, 2007

I'm so sorry for the delay to register this book!

It was quite hard to get into the story, but once you're in it the stories are quite interesting, and I liked the "backward" way the story is told. 

Journal Entry 15 by book-man-8 from Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Thursday, June 21, 2007

I just got the book in the mail. Thanks for the ring and for sending! Unfortunately we are in the middle of moving, so reading time is scarce... I hope to get along by August, September at the latest. Thanks for your patience! 

Journal Entry 16 by book-man-8 from Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Sunday, August 05, 2007

An astounding book! Very profound, well written... Without BookCrossing I probably would have missed reading this book. 

Journal Entry 17 by book-man-8 at in the airmail-bag in -- Per Post geschickt/ Persönlich weitergegeben --, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Released 4 yrs ago (8/7/2007 UTC) at in the airmail-bag in -- Per Post geschickt/ Persönlich weitergegeben --, Baden-Württemberg Germany

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

This one is off to "Jerrlynnl". Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 18 by JerrilynnL from Denver, Colorado USA on Monday, August 13, 2007

Arrived in today''s mail.. looking forward to reading. 

Journal Entry 19 by JerrilynnL from Denver, Colorado USA on Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sorry I've been so slow. Interesting book told backwards through three generations of women. Interesting to read the next section and clear up things about the person in the chapter before. I enjoyed it. GateGypsy asked to be skipped, and silvia-pco wants to be moved to the end of the list, so am checking in with Midlifecrisis. 

Journal Entry 20 by JerrilynnL at USPS in Postal Mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Friday, November 16, 2007

Released 4 yrs ago (11/16/2007 UTC) at USPS in Postal Mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

On the way to the UK 

Journal Entry 21 by Midlifecrisis from St. Austell, Cornwall United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Safely received today - thank you Jerrilynn. 

Journal Entry 22 by Midlifecrisis from St. Austell, Cornwall United Kingdom on Sunday, December 02, 2007

What a great book. Such clever insights into the lives of the three women involved and how the perceptions of one generation were affected by events they were unaware of in the previous generation. I really could not put this one down. Thank you so much for giving me the chance to read it. I will get this on its way as soon as I have an address for the next person. 

Journal Entry 23 by Midlifecrisis from St. Austell, Cornwall United Kingdom on Thursday, December 06, 2007

Posted airmail to Tarna today. 

Journal Entry 24 by Tarna from Tampere, Pirkanmaa Finland on Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The book is now in Finland. Thank you Midlifecrisis! Thanks for the lovely letter too. How did you know I just love letters? For the time being it’s not nearly as cold as it really should be; some 4 degrees above zero— and no snow. That means it is dark almost all day long. Oh I wish it snowed soon! Christmas is nothing without lots of snow in this country. Ah, but there’s still time…
I can’t wait till I can start reading this book. I’ve just got to finish one book first and then… it looks so interesting! And it’s on my WishList. Thank you, SqueakyChu, for organising this ring and telling me about it!
 

Journal Entry 25 by Tarna from Tampere, Pirkanmaa Finland on Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Both my feelings and thoughts were changing while reading the book, so I think I’ll just take you there step by step.

Stage #1. Reading the first part, Rayona. I like this girl but I’m not too fond of her mother. How could any mom act like that? I also like the way Michael Dorris writes, the text flows so easily.
Stage #2. Still in the middle of the first part. She’s found some good people—and yet she misses her mom? Ah well, it just shows how much children need their parents, how badly they want to protect them, no matter what they did. And Rayona is still a child.
Stage #3. Reading the second part, Christine. This woman is just...I don’t know what. She’s so selfish. She uses people. Everything she says or does is for her own benefit. She doesn’t care for anyone but herself. And this is the woman Rayona wanted to stay with?! Poor kid. Okay, Christine probably has very low self-esteem, and that’s kind of a sin in the American culture, I guess. On the other hand, I come from a culture where low self-esteem is so common it's, basically, an excuse, not a fault, and yet I cannot understand Christine. I don’t approve of her or her actions.
Stage #4. Something’s changed. I feel for Christine. She grows up, eventually. She takes responsibility. I do respect her for her honesty. She does not want us to see her in any better light.
Stage #5. Actually, she’s really whipping herself. Maybe she is better than she claims to be? Perhaps she never learned how to show her inner feelings, being raised by a mother like that?
Stage #6. I can see why Christine did what she did even if I think it was wrong. She acted out of love. She really does love her daughter, so perhaps in her case it’s forgivable to do what she did. She wasn’t raised to talk about her inner feelings, after all.
Stage #7. I’ve just started to read the third part, Ida. I like the first sentence of her story, ”I never grew up, but I got old.” It’s quite obvious, what’s her secret — I wonder if there’s anything new she can add to this story, if her part will really be necessary.
Stage #8. I empathize with Ida. Her life wasn’t easy and, besides, once again there is some cultural similarity. Traditionally, Finns are not known to be very talkative either. Silence speaks in our culture like it does in Ida’s. I am a bit surprised, though, the way she sees her children.
Stage #9. In this book, there are three persons telling their own story. They all use same kind of language. In real life it wouldn’t be so. This novel could be with only one narrator, who would just change perspective from time to time. I’m a bit disappointed.
Stage #10. I sure hope Ida will tell Rayona the family secrets. She has a right to know and she’s strong, she can handle it.
Stage #11. Just finishing. I can’t believe it ends like this. I have to check; perhaps there are some pages missing? No, they’re all there. I don’t understand. Why was Ida’s story cut so short? Why didn’t she say a word about her children growing up, them being teenagers, for instance? Why didn’t she say almost anything about Rayona? About Christine and Lee leaving home? About Dayton? Anyone?
Stage #12. Finished. Now I see this book was not about three different women but about one, Christine. It was her story, told from three different points of view. But I’m still not sure about the necessity of the third part to the whole story. Or it should have been longer, it should have given the reader more information. How did Ida see Christine and Lee when they grew up, what she thought about other people in this story? Or maybe something about Native American cultures, I missed that. Didn’t learn anything new. Disappointed again. :-(
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water was easy read, a page-turner, really. My major disappointment came with the language used, the way this novel was written. If you use several narrators, there should be at least some difference in their speech, in their language. And there wasn’t, at least I couldn’t see any.
It was a nice book, though. Nice, but not great. I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it. Thanks for sending it to travel, SqueakyChu!

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water has traveled long and it looks a bit worn-out. The pages are all there but the covers seem to be falling apart. I’m going to use some book cover film to make it better and maybe add some stickers, too.
Next in line is Aspen72. I won’t be mailing the book right away; I want to see if there’s any BC’er leaving Tampere for Turku in a week or two. If not, I’ll mail the book soonish.

I wish you all very happy BC year 2008.



EDIT Dec. 31, 2007. Mailed the book today. 

Journal Entry 26 by AspenYard from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Wednesday, January 02, 2008

This ring book arrived safely today. Thank you Tarna and SqueakyChu & others. Looking forward to getting into this book, it seems it is at least partly of native american tradition, my favourite subject. 

Journal Entry 27 by AspenYard from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Sunday, January 13, 2008

Journal Entry 28 by rotewoelfin from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Picked it up today - thank you for shipping! :) 

Journal Entry 29 by rotewoelfin from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I finished the book yesterday - and I really liked it. Just the same critic as some of you - the ending was to short - I would have expected that Ida's story would lead to the same time as the stories of Rayona and Ida and even a bit further. Seemed a bit as if the author lost the motivations of writing. But until this point I really enjoyed the reading and from the middle on couldn't stop reading ;)

Going to ship it to the UK on Friday :) 

Journal Entry 30 by rotewoelfin from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Saturday, May 03, 2008

Brought it to the post-office today :) 

Journal Entry 31 by elitetwig from Haughton Green, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Received this morning, Thanks.

Shall take great care with it as it looks like it has seen better days, anyhow, will make this my next read. 

Journal Entry 32 by elitetwig from Haughton Green, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Sunday, May 25, 2008

Slowly reading this book bit by bit as I'm getting married this weekend so i'll take it with me on honeymoon so, please bear with me!!! 

Journal Entry 33 by elitetwig from Haughton Green, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Tuesday, June 24, 2008

What do i think?

Well, the first two parts of the story regarding Ray and Christine are fantastic reads and well written, also how similar and different they are. However, Ida's story I wasn't much impressed with, the writting had lost its momentum and pizazz. Then again, maybe that is how she felt with being offloaded (self volunteering) to "mother" her mother's sisters baby.

I still enjoyed the book despite the disappointing end, too short to be honest, the main pieces of text were colourful and descriptive easy enough for you to close ones eyes and your able to be part of the book.

As the end has come for my time with this book, I am sending it on to the next reader, wanderingstar8. Thanks 

Journal Entry 34 by wanderingstar8 from London , Greater London United Kingdom on Thursday, June 26, 2008

just arrived - looking forward to reading it. 

Journal Entry 35 by wanderingstar8 from London , Greater London United Kingdom on Thursday, July 17, 2008

Finished this yesterday. I am also pretty baffled as to why this got such a collection of great reviews (collected on the first few pages of the book). I found it quite unengaging. I do like the structure of the book - the idea that as you read through each woman's story, you have sympathy for them which you didn't have when reading the previous section - and also the way that you learn more about Rayona when reading Christine's story, and more about Christine when reading Ida's. But it's like that was the only thing that the author had in mind when he wrote the book - there's nothing particularly interesting about the stories themselves or the style.

I also didn't think that the book said a whole lot about "the native American experience", but maybe that's just me.

On its way to bearyfriend. 

Journal Entry 36 by bearyfriend from Singapore, Singapore Singapore on Saturday, July 26, 2008

Book arrived. Will read and journal again what I think of it. 

Journal Entry 37 by bearyfriend from Singapore, Singapore Singapore on Thursday, July 31, 2008

Overall, the story is interesting enough for me to finish reading. As for the three women I don't feel anything reading about them, except when the truth unfolds in the end and knowing what Aunt Ida had gone through to become what she became in Christine's and Rayona's eyes, I kind of pity her more, esp the secret she had to bear on her own because of other people's mistakes. Of course, it's not easy to have secrets during those times. Imagine what will happen if the truth is leaked out. In the olden china, if anything like that happens, the victims will be drowned, bound up in the bamboo crate. Anyway, sorry for digressing. The story is quite flat and the ending seems unfinished about the hair and the braids, without telling how she had actually felt about Lee's death. Are these some kind of traditions that the American Indians follow 'cos of their ancestors' long braided hair? Maybe the book is also about struggles & survivals, that's why this title?

Will send book to next in line once I get the address. 

Journal Entry 38 by bearyfriend from Singapore, Singapore Singapore on Friday, August 01, 2008

On its way to Oregon, USA via surface mail. Sorry if it takes a bit longer to arrive, as I'm short of vit-M, hope you don't mind. 

Journal Entry 39 by Stacers1973 from Gladstone, Oregon USA on Tuesday, August 12, 2008

This book has arrived safely in Oregon, thanks for sharing! That didn't take long at all! 

Journal Entry 40 by Stacers1973 from Gladstone, Oregon USA on Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Whoa, this was interesting. With each part of the story I felt myself softening towards characters I didn't like. I liked the way it was told from youngest to oldest in backward fashion, but felt Ida was cut short. I almost thought pages fell out as I was expecting it to bring us further into the present to tie some things up. That is okay though, unexpected is good. Evelyn and Sky had this faceless quality for me, lacking in description like the faceless folks you encounter on a long road trip.
Favorite line:
"Her words rinse through my thoughts, clear as water, as disconnected as rain."
Thank you for seeking me out to join this ray SqueakyChu :) Thanks everyone for sharing ...
Mailing to spaceystacey today. 

Journal Entry 41 by spaceystacey from Bridgeton, New Jersey USA on Sunday, August 31, 2008

Received in the post yesterday. It had been opened in Oregon as part of the media mail Inspection protocol. It is undamaged and was resealed.