Another fine multi-generational, multi-cultural, multiple viewpoint saga from Michael Dorris. This one takes us back to Ireland to meet the formidable Rose Mannion, the matriarch of an immigrant line whose descendants eventually include a Black man who marries a Native American woman and produces Rayona, a young woman who is now one of my favorite female characters of all time. We met Rayona's mother, father and grandmother in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. Now we learn of the complex lives and relationships of several amazing, if not always admirable, women on her father's side, both black and white. Totally absorbing, superbly crafted, unpredictable and unforgettable. ( )

Beginning with Rose Mannion in Ireland and winding up in Montana, this is the story of five generations. Rose married Martin McGarry in Ireland after saving his life by preventing him from being taken by the English supporters. They moved to Kentucky and had two sons: Andrew, who became a priest, and Robert, who worked for the railroad. After Andrew left the priesthood and began working for the railroad, he was killed and Rose eventually sues the railroad making Robert lose his job. Robert marries Birdie, a cold hearted woman who loved Andrew more than Robert. They have two daughters, Edna and Marcella. Edna never marries but Marcella marries Earl Taylor, a black man. Earl eventually joins the military leaving Marcella with their son Elgin. Elgin eventually marries and has a daughter, Rayona (the same character who appears in "Yellow Raft in Blue Water"). Each chapter is told by a different character and each chapter has a different writing style reflecting the character.

The author's description and choice of words is the best part of this novel. He clearly portrays each of these often-unlikable people who make some bad choices, fight and struggle with each other, but the thread of family loves keeps them together in spite of the fact they cannot say the words. ( )

I'm reading Cloud Chamber for the 3rd time. What a treat for the soul.
It's not a perfect narrative. There are a few leaps of faith in hurried connections to make the story a whole. BUT despite these little flaws the books is a 5-STAR anyway. It reads like a poem, but a poem that you can not only read in one breath, but one that you can understand and relate to.

All the book reviews always dance around the book's story, trying to give you cliff-notes as their justification of the book's value. That's never the point. And here, the story is completely unimportant. It would have been just as great of a book if it were about two people sitting at a table drining beer and talking. What makes this book beautiful and unforgetable is the language and style of its author. He tells of the most ordinary daily events with an extraordinary depth of percetion. He tells not about what the characters are doing, but what they are feeling when they are doing it, and what life's experiences and hostilities, (life's bagage) arose those feelings in the characters. ( )

Cloud Chamber spans five generations in a series of vignettes from various characters along the way who are part of the family - some blood relatives, some by marriage. The story provides a punctuated family history of Rayona, the main character in Dorris' A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, ending with a story told from her point of view.

The snapshots are well written and paced, engaging and full of interiority - of themselves, they make excellent short stories. However, I think the book fails somewhat in stringing them together attempting to make a cohesive narrative; too many events are not mentioned or are described in passing in a way that makes the reader feel like they were thrown in just so we could know they happened. It's really a story that should have been done in two or three longer books - especially as some of the passions are outsize for a chapter or two.

Despite this, it's enjoyable to read and consider, and fans of Yellow Raft should appreciate the added complexity it brings to that book. ( )

Married to author, Louise Erdrich, before he committed suicide.