The arc and the sediment / Christine Allen-Yazzie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen-Yazzie, Christine Diane.

Contributor:

This book is freely available in digital formats through the Utah State University Library Digital Commons., funder.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women alcoholics--Fiction.

Women alcoholics.

Women authors--Fiction.

Women authors.

Interracial marriage--Fiction.

Interracial marriage.

Separated people--Fiction.

Separated people.

Navajo Indians--Fiction.

Navajo Indians.

Voyages and travels--Fiction.

Voyages and travels.

Deserts--Fiction.

Deserts.

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Logan, Utah : Utah State University Press, c2007.

Logan Utah State University Press, [2011]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Gretta Bitsilly, gin-steeped mother of two and self-proclaimed expert at standing outside the margins of ethnicity and peering in, has been all but eclipsed by the world that eludes her--as a wife, a writer, a skeptic in "the other land of Zion," Utah. Gretta has set off to Fort Defiance, Arizona, where she hopes to convince her Navajo husband, who has escaped not from his family but from alcoholism, to come home.Over a sputtering two-steps-forward, one-step-back desert journey, Gretta is diverted by chance, seizures, an inconstant memory, and the disjointed character of her irresolute quest.She is fueled by a volatile mix of rage and curiosity and is rendered careless by ambivalence toward her marriage--she knows a welcome mat will not be waiting for her, "that white girl" who can't seem to get anything right. On route Gretta finds herself lost in the landscape, in strange company, or in her own convolution of language and inner space. With a dictionary and a laptop she attempts to write herself into a better existence--a hopeful existence--and to connect points of intellectual, physical, even spiritual reference.This tale, though dark and difficult, is infused with tart, twisted humor. Confused, disheveled, self-deprecating, and self-destructive, Gretta is also sharp and funny. Here, first-time novelist Christine Allen-Yazzie breaks apart her own narrative arc but with gritty reality seals it near-shut again, if in rearrangement, drawing us into Gretta's wrestling match with herself, her husband, her addiction, and the road.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

The Plan

The Plan, Amended

New Breasts = New Bras

To Food

Dear James

You Got to Cut Its Throat

Hello, Please Help Me

How to Make the World a Better Place

Just So You're All Right Now

All That Matters

The Arc and the Sediment

A Sore Cursing

Hello, Kitty

Fruit Sauce Should Always Be Served on the Side

The Curiously Multifaceted Nature of Victimization

The Wavering Red Light

An Unspeakable Shine

Entering the Third Dimension

Forward, Anywhere

What Becomes of Virginia Dare

In the Vat Lies the Fruit

Second Place Is Pretty Good, Considering

A Little Reluctance Goes a Long Way

I Want Some Cookies

Who's Your Butterfly?

In Drills and Bursts

Rubber Hatchets

I'm Saying If

I'm Saying When

Do You Want to Save Changes?

As a Matter of Spite

Keeping It Out

Words for Later

And Also It Goes Back to That Whistle

They'll Eat My Irises

Or What

The Image Lasts All the Way Across

Afterword: Gretta's Alternative Twelve Steps to Sobriety

Acknowledgments.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786613267382

9781283267380

1283267381

9780874216554

0874216559

OCLC:

751695404

Access Restriction:

Open access Unrestricted online access

Unrestricted online access