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Becoming Story Greg Sarris

Becoming Story By Greg Sarris

Becoming Story by Greg Sarris


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Becoming Story Summary

Becoming Story: A Journey among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors by Greg Sarris

A gently powerful memoir about deepening your relationship with your homeland

For the first time in more than twenty-five years, Greg Sarris-whose novels are esteemed alongside those of Louise Erdrich and Stephen Graham Jones-presents a book about his own life. In Becoming Story he asks: What does it mean to be truly connected to the place you call home-to walk where innumerable generations of your ancestors have walked? And what does it mean when you dedicate your life to making that connection even deeper? Moving between his childhood and the present day, Sarris creates a kaleidoscopic narrative about the forces that shaped his early years and his eventual work as a tribal leader. He considers the deep past, historical traumas, and possible futures of his homeland. His acclaimed storytelling skills are in top form here, and he charts his journey in prose that is humorous, searching, and profound. A gently powerful memoir, Becoming Story is also a master class in the art of belonging to the place where you live.

Becoming Story Reviews

Sarris recounts the hard-won knowledge of Coast Miwok, Pomo, and other Indigenous peoples. He also imagines a possible future in which at least some Native lands are restored to their pre-contact health and serve as models for what the world might learn from Indigenous peoples, if it's not too late to put such lessons to use. -M.T. Hartnell, Alta


Sarris gathers from gossip, myth, dreams and science to investigate the imperishable power of story itself and how it helps us locate and claim a sense of home. [...] In clean, thoughtful prose with jewellike detail - whether pondering Yosemite, his childhood babysitter, a secret cave or the oak tree outside his house - these meditations enchant.-Joan Frank, San Francisco Chronicle


Greg Sarris's resonant memoir explores identities, heritages, and the legacies of places. [...] The book details California's troubled history of European conquest, Manifest Destiny, and the suppression and subversion of Indigenous ways of life. It laments that the state's mystical, resourceful Indigenous cultures were invaded by Spanish rancheros in the 1800s, after which California's environmental harmony began to suffer. [...] Testifying to the impacts of people on the land, the powerful memoir Becoming Story lauds the power of language when it comes to leaving tracks for others to follow. -Foreword Reviews


A fascinating and evocative memoir in essays. -Kirkus, starred review


Like Sherman Alexie and Oakland author Tommy Orange, Sarris has portrayed Native American life in a non-romantic, realistic way in his past work. Becoming Story maintains this, but also takes on a more dreamlike quality, as Sarris evokes memories from his past and incorporates landscape, weaving them into a whole narrative.-Kary Hess, The Bohemian


In Sarris's latest work, Becoming Story, he invites us into an intimate and communal California Indian world. Part memoir, part history, part ethnography, the work has echoes of Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain. He shares, with refreshing honesty, his family roots-their depths and dislocations, as well as the their strong sinews that the forces of settler colonialism and American genocide could not sever. His narrative reminds us that the roots of our tribal identities remember and, ultimately, restore(y) us.-Theresa Gregor, Asst. Prof of American Indian Studies at Cal State University, Long Beach

About Greg Sarris

Greg Sarris is currently serving his fifteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He holds the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, and his publications include Keeping Slug Woman Alive (1993), Grand Avenue (1994, reissued 2015), Watermelon Nights (1999, reissued 2021), and How a Mountain Was Made (2017, published by Heyday). Greg lives and works in Sonoma County, California. Visit his website at greg-sarris.com.

Table of Contents

Contents

Seasons
Frost
Iris
Osprey
Scar

Places
Fidel's Place
Bluebelly
The Charms of Tolay Lake Regional Park
Osprey Talks to Me One Day
After the Fall

Trees
The Ancient Ones
If Oprah Were an Oak Tree

Ancestors
The Last Woman from Petaluma
Maria Evangeliste

Acknowledgments
About the Author

Additional information

CIN159714567XG
9781597145671
159714567X
Becoming Story: A Journey among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors by Greg Sarris
Used - Good
Hardback
Heyday Books
2022-05-19
224
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Becoming Story