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A review by careinthelibrary
The Tao of Raven: An Alaska Native Memoir by Ernestine Hayes
4.0
Tao of Raven was such an interesting and beautiful interpretation of a memoir. It isn't what you would pick up when reading a celebrity or politician's memoir, it has a completely different format and purpose. Elements of conventional memoir remain, and we get to know Ernestine Hayes better after Blonde Indian and portions of this.
But I loved how this book served a bigger purpose than just telling Hayes' story, it told the story of the land and the communities. This is so philosophical and introspective and tells the story of Ernestine through the generational traumas of the Tlingit people. This, she says with no uncertainty, is a result of colonization, capitalism, and Christianity.
We meet some familiar faces from Blonde Indian but this could also definitely be read before reading that one. Old Tom made a reappearance and I love how she has created a fictional character to represent innumerable real people's struggles and experiences. I think this is creative and successful at communicating her message.
The word that comes to mind when I think of this book is wisdom. Hayes is a teacher. Hayes tells us stories and dissects them into moments of wisdom and clarity. From one story, she sees many lessons and gives this advice to the reader. I was fascinated with these portions; she imparts so much of her own voice and the voices passed down for generations. Many passages were flagged for future reference to return to this beautiful, undefinable book and absorb her words and wisdom again. All folded into the beautiful story of Raven bringing the sun, moon, and stars to the world. Below I've included a portion that I loved and which I feel captures the magic essence that this memoir gives us.
"Do you see the water at the top of the creek, at the top of the mountain that holds our town in the palm of its hand and seeks the shoreline that our own front doors face? Be like that water.
Be yielding like water.
Go along the easiest way always, always willing to go around something. Offer no resistance. Go the easy way. That's the best way to get where you're going. Remember that all things begin and end in water, just as rivers begin and flow into the sea. When forces oppose, victory will be kind to the one who crafts herself like water, to the one whose power allows her to yield.
Take Raven.
When he wanted the Box of Daylight, he didn't invade a village. He didn't storm a house. He found the easy way. He used water. He made himself small so he could get close to daylight with the least effort. This is what Raven did to achieve his goal."
content warnings: alcoholism and drinking, residential schools and their many forms of abuse, cultural genocide, child/parent separation, discussion of colonial trauma.
But I loved how this book served a bigger purpose than just telling Hayes' story, it told the story of the land and the communities. This is so philosophical and introspective and tells the story of Ernestine through the generational traumas of the Tlingit people. This, she says with no uncertainty, is a result of colonization, capitalism, and Christianity.
We meet some familiar faces from Blonde Indian but this could also definitely be read before reading that one. Old Tom made a reappearance and I love how she has created a fictional character to represent innumerable real people's struggles and experiences. I think this is creative and successful at communicating her message.
The word that comes to mind when I think of this book is wisdom. Hayes is a teacher. Hayes tells us stories and dissects them into moments of wisdom and clarity. From one story, she sees many lessons and gives this advice to the reader. I was fascinated with these portions; she imparts so much of her own voice and the voices passed down for generations. Many passages were flagged for future reference to return to this beautiful, undefinable book and absorb her words and wisdom again. All folded into the beautiful story of Raven bringing the sun, moon, and stars to the world. Below I've included a portion that I loved and which I feel captures the magic essence that this memoir gives us.
"Do you see the water at the top of the creek, at the top of the mountain that holds our town in the palm of its hand and seeks the shoreline that our own front doors face? Be like that water.
Be yielding like water.
Go along the easiest way always, always willing to go around something. Offer no resistance. Go the easy way. That's the best way to get where you're going. Remember that all things begin and end in water, just as rivers begin and flow into the sea. When forces oppose, victory will be kind to the one who crafts herself like water, to the one whose power allows her to yield.
Take Raven.
When he wanted the Box of Daylight, he didn't invade a village. He didn't storm a house. He found the easy way. He used water. He made himself small so he could get close to daylight with the least effort. This is what Raven did to achieve his goal."
content warnings: alcoholism and drinking, residential schools and their many forms of abuse, cultural genocide, child/parent separation, discussion of colonial trauma.