Through Yup'ik Eyes: An Adopted Son Explores the Landscape of Family

by Colin Chisholm

Overview

This haunting memoir seeks to define many dimensions of the human drama. Its poetic quality will make you remember this story long after you finish the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882405339
Publisher:	Graphic Arts Ctr Pub Co
Publication date:	10/28/2000
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.73(w) x 9.34(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Chisholm grew up in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. He received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Table of Contents

	Preface	9
	Family Tree	11
	Map	12
	Prologue: By the River, 1932	13
1)	Adoption	15
	Birthing, 1929	29
2)	Going Back	33
	The Trading Post, 1932	40
3)	Family Tree	43
	The Old World, 1930	51
4)	Photographs	59
	Leaving Kotlik, 1933	66
5)	Eskimo Dancing	75
	Winter Potlatch, 1879	83
6)	Drinking Glass	89
	Moving Upriver, 1933	99
7)	The Meaning of Wine	111
	Making Fans, 1915	125
8)	Home to Vashon	131
	Vashon, 1933-1934	140
9)	Growing up on Vashon	159
	Half-Breed, 1945	166
10)	A Child's Anger	171
	Liberty Landing, 1934	181
11)	Things Across the Creek	189
	Dogs, 1898	196
12)	Holding on	199
	Dreams, 1935	211
13)	Uncle Carl	213
	Sending the Seals to Sea, 1930	218
14)	Flight of the Ouzel	229
	Aivrun, 1914	241
15)	Looking for Home	247
	River and Sea, 1909-1931	252
16)	Farewell	263
	Dora's Death, 1931	272
17)	Olga	279
	On Raven's Back, 1943	285
18)	Driving East	289
	Bears	295
	Epilogue: the Bogomils	299

Editorial Reviews

Intriguingly, Chisholm's mother, known as Inaqaq or Doris, was born of a Yup'ik Eskimo mother and a Finnish father in a fishing village in 1920s Alaska. Following the death of her own mother when she was four, Inaqaq was sent to the Seattle area to be raised by a Swedish family who essentially adopted her. After giving birth to two children of her own, she later became an adoptive mother as well welcoming the blond, green-eyed author and two other youngsters into her life. Setting out to record his mother's life story, first-time author Chisholm (a 1995 National Magazine Award finalist) found that all who had known her since she was a young girl, except for one reticent aunt, had died. When the blank spaces threatened to force him to abandon his project, he began filling them with "fictional history." The result is a melodic, if rough, narration, in which the past and the present are interwoven to provide a more authentic understanding of four generations in his family. The liberties Chisholm takes with his mother's early life story can be distracting, but they are so richly detailed and skillfully crafted that readers will do well to relax and absorb all that he offers. His insights into adoption are deftly rendered and celebratory, making his book an engrossing meditation on the many ways that "family" can be a curiously expansive term--making this a good choice for reading group discussions. Agent, Denis Shannon. (Nov. 1) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The Yup'ik are an Eskimo people native to Alaska. Chisholm (a writer who lives in Montana) tells the story of his family, his and his mother's adoption, his journey back to Alaska to meet his mother's relatives, his travels to Yugoslavia to meet his father's family, and his return to his first home in Puget Sound. The story is marked by the many struggles, especially racism and alcoholism, that native peoples experience in western culture. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews