The Arc and the Sediment by Christine Allen-Yazzie (review)

W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n L it e r a t u r e S p r in g 2 0 0 8 The Arc and the Sediment. By Christine Allen-Yazzie. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007. 196 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Dayna Patterson Texas State University, San Marcos In Christine Allen-Yazzie’s first novel, The Arc and the Sediment, readers accom­ pany Gretta Bitsilly, an abandoned wife and mother of two, on her journey to reclaim her husband, Lance. Leaving her children with a friend in Salt Lake City, she meanders down to Fort Defiance, Arizona, planning to confront her husband when she arrives and decide together on either divorce or reconcilia­ tion. That is the plan. Several obstacles present themselves along the way, how­ ever, that keep Gretta on the road and away from her intended destination for most of the novel. She is addicted to Gilbey’s gin; she has allowed herself to run out of her seizure meds and suffers the consequences; the starter on her truck is broken; she runs over a fox in the road and feels obligated to find a vet; she is sidetracked by the allure of some ruins, and so on. Most important, Gretta is plagued by her own indecision and ambivalence, the main obstacle to her jour­ ney— she does not really know what she wants. Lance? Her kids? Acceptance from her Native American in-laws? A new job? Sobriety? To help manage what she perceives as an “unmanageable” world, Gretta relies on a dictionary, circumscribing her chaotic life with precise language, which she records on her laptop (194). Through the process of writing and revision, Gretta is able to exercise some control over the downward spiraling trajectory of her life. Two remarkable aspects of this novel for those interested in western litera­ ture are Allen-Yazzie’s multigenre approach and the way the author captures the complexities of ethnic and cultural marginality. The text is made up of suc­ cessfully interwoven third-person narration, dictionary entries, letters, docu­ ments, stream-of-consciousness writing, edited text, and more, all of which combine to produce a refreshing style that breaks with convention. The success of the multiple genres in the text contrasts with the difficulty of interweaving multiple ethnicities and cultures that Gretta faces. She is a non-Mormon in Utah, a white woman married to a Native American, an atheist struggling with AA’s God-centered Twelve Steps—she is the constant outsider looking in. Allen-Yazzie’s novel reminded me in many ways of Dante’s descent into hell with Gretta’s encountering a variety of tortured souls along her way, not least of all her own. But the finale of The Arc and the Sediment lacks the opti­ mism of Dante’s stargazing, or rather, I found the author’s attempt at it uncon­ vincing. Gretta remains adrift when I was more than ready to see her finally take control. Instead, “The situation is beyond her. There’s nothing she can do except go forward, anywhere” (191-92). Although I found the character resolution weak, I think Allen-Yazzie’s first novel is certainly noteworthy and look forward to stronger denouements in her future works. ...