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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
Mar 2007, 320 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2008, 320 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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A story of two families thirty years after the closing of the uranium mill near which they once made their homes. When one of the children becomes involved in a group seeking damages for those harmed by the radioactive dust that contaminated their world, their past and present collide for this eclectic cast of characters.
For her acclaimed collection of stories, Red Ant House, Joyce Carol Oates hailed Ann Cummins as “a master storyteller.” The San Francisco Chronicle called her “startlingly original.” Now, in her debut novel, Cummins stakes claim to rich new literary territory with a story of straddling cultures and cheating fate in the American Southwest. Yellowcake introduces us to two unforgettable families—one Navajo, one Anglo—some thirty years after the closing of the uranium mill near which they once made their homes. When little Becky Atcitty shows up on the Mahoneys’ doorstep all grown up, the past comes crashing in on Ryland and his lively brood. Becky, the daughter of one of the Navajo mill workers Ryland had supervised, is now involved in a group seeking damages for those harmed by the radioactive dust that contaminated their world. But Ryland wants no part of dredging up their past—or acknowledging his future. When his wife joins the cause, the messy, modern lives of this eclectic cast of characters collide once again, testing their mettle, stretching their faith, and reconnecting past and present in unexpected new ways. Finely crafted, deeply felt, and bursting with heartache and hilarity, Yellowcake is a moving story of how everyday people sort their way through life, with all its hidden hazards.
1
They come at ten o’clock in the morning. Ryland’s wife, Rosy, is at the
fabric store with their daughter, Maggie, who’s getting married next month.
Ryland goes ahead and opens the door against his better judgment. He always
opens the door when somebody rings, though he usually regrets it. He is not
afraid of muggers. Muggers, he figures, will leave sooner rather than later.
He’s afraid of the neighbor lady, Mrs. Barron, who always leaves later, and the
Mormon missionaries, who like to fight with his wife, they always leave later.
And Pretty Boy across the street, old Hal Rivers, who waters his lawn in bikini
swim trunks, parades young girls in and out, day in, day out, lady’s
man, though he has a gut and a little bald pate — still, the girls like him,
which only goes to show that it’s not the looks but the pocketbook. Old Hal
stopping by every now and again to chew the fat terrifies him, though Ryland
makes sure the man ...
The result is a novel that is both compassionate and wise, that not only explores the legacy of radiation sickness but also illness and aging, and the misunderstandings that can arise between generations and cultures...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier
A gorgeous novel about people who are as tender and ornery and passionate and mixed-up and real as the people we know in real life. I loved them, and I love this book. Peter Orner, author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and Esther Stories
Glorious . . . an unflinchingly honest look at the struggles faced by so-called ordinary Americans. But there is nothing at all ordinary about the wonderful, fully fleshed characters that populate this book. Cummins knows the souls of her people — an incredibly wide range of them — and she knows her place, a Southwest that is rendered in all its unromantic but somehow blessed beauty. Sigrid Nunez, author of The Last of Her Kind and A Feather on the Breath of God
Already much admired for her superb short stories, Ann Cummins excels once more with a first novel that places her among the most serious and original writers of her generation.According to theUranium Information Center:
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