Cloud Chamber A Novel [Paperback]

Ten years after his dazzling (San Francisco Chronicle), unforgettable (Newsday) bestselling debut novel,A Yellow Raft in Blue Water,Michael Dorris returns to the family at the core of that work to write the rich score of the full-blown, complex opera of his new novel,Cloud Chamber (Robb Forman Dew).
Opening in late-nineteenth-century Ireland and moving to Kentucky and finally to the high plains of Montana,Cloud Chambertells the extraordinary tale of Rose Mannion and her descendants. Over a period of more than one hundred years, Rose's legacy of love and betrayal is passed down from generation to generation until it meets the promise of reconciliation in Rayona, the indomitable part-black, part Native American teenage girl at the center ofA Yellow Raft in Blue Water.
Cloud Chamberis truly a tour de force, a powerful, rich tale about the energy and persistence of love.Michael Dorris's
adult fiction includesA Yellow Raft in Blue Water,The Crown of Columbus,coauthored with Louise Erdrich, and the story collectionWorking Men.Among his nonfiction works areThe Broken Cord,winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a collection of essays,Paper Trail.His most recent work of children's literature isThe Window.Reading Group Discussion Points

0. In the first chapter, titled The Dark Snake, Rose says, ...my hair's fine blackness was my signature. When Rose finds out that Andrew has been killed, she says, With each name I removed from my coiled hair a silver clip, and before it was done the famous braid hung below my waist, its weight pulling at the back of my neck. And after the jury trial for Andrew's damages ends, Rose's black hair turns gold and she decides to cover her head with a shawl. Why does Dorris place so much emphasis on Rose's hair? What does her hair symbolize? What does it represent to her? In relation to the themes of l“P