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Rating: 
Summary: Intimate, intelligent, and thought-provoking
Review: INDIGENOUS is a rare book: a memoir that offers both intimacy and a sharp-eyed look at a variety of social issues. Cris Mazza grew up in southern California outside of San Diego as one of five children, but, as she makes clear from the first page, she is not a stereotypical Californian. She is not blonde, does not surf, has no interest in acting. Her California is a gritty terrain - scrubby land populated by ant lions, bird dogs, and sand crabs. The daughter of educators by vocation and scavengers by avocation, she grew up hunting, clamming at the beach, searching through the landfill for soda bottles to redeem for spending money, and playing with and studying the indigenous creatures she encountered. Her views on ecology come from knowing both the before and the after, and by attempting to understand the forces that come into play. But Mazza is not an environmentalist; she is a fiction writer who has set out to share the complexity of her experiences. In these personal essays, Mazza uses her life as a touchstone to pose questions we should all be asking. In the chapter on her failed marriage to a San Diego symphony musician, she explores the reasons behind - as well as the repercussions of - America's view on the arts. As she discusses both her mother's stroke and her own volunteer work in the children's wing of a nursing home, she poignantly evokes the difficult role of being a caregiver while exploring what it means when the body cannot perform the most basic of human activities - walking and talking. She conjures up her preteen days of wanting to be a boy in the 1970's when the male gender seemed to have all the fun and advantages. She writes of raising her Shetland sheepdogs to be champion show dogs, thus examining the intricate relationship between humans and animals. All the essays are punctuated by black-and-white photographs of Mazza and her family. These images serve as anchors to Mazza's writing; they add to the atmosphere and wonder of what is written within these pages. Mazza writes with clear-eyed passion for her subject matter. Under her touch, ordinary subject matter becomes extraordinary. Her story contains none of the sensationalist topics of many high-profile memoirs; instead, it revels in the quiet details of an unconventional life. This book is exactly what a memoir should be: intimate, intelligent, and thought-provoking. Certainly fans of Mazza's fiction should read INDIGENOUS to understand the background from which her stories and novels spring. However, even those without a familiarity of her work will enjoy Mazza's stories about growing up in rural California and then taking that experience into a much larger world.
Rating:
Summary: Intimate, intelligent, and thought-provoking
Review: INDIGENOUS is a rare book: a memoir that offers both intimacy and a sharp-eyed look at a variety of social issues. Cris Mazza grew up in southern California outside of San Diego as one of five children, but, as she makes clear from the first page, she is not a stereotypical Californian. She is not blonde, does not surf, has no interest in acting. Her California is a gritty terrain - scrubby land populated by ant lions, bird dogs, and sand crabs. The daughter of educators by vocation and scavengers by avocation, she grew up hunting, clamming at the beach, searching through the landfill for soda bottles to redeem for spending money, and playing with and studying the indigenous creatures she encountered. Her views on ecology come from knowing both the before and the after, and by attempting to understand the forces that come into play. But Mazza is not an environmentalist; she is a fiction writer who has set out to share the complexity of her experiences. In these personal essays, Mazza uses her life as a touchstone to pose questions we should all be asking. In the chapter on her failed marriage to a San Diego symphony musician, she explores the reasons behind - as well as the repercussions of - America's view on the arts. As she discusses both her mother's stroke and her own volunteer work in the children's wing of a nursing home, she poignantly evokes the difficult role of being a caregiver while exploring what it means when the body cannot perform the most basic of human activities - walking and talking. She conjures up her preteen days of wanting to be a boy in the 1970's when the male gender seemed to have all the fun and advantages. She writes of raising her Shetland sheepdogs to be champion show dogs, thus examining the intricate relationship between humans and animals. All the essays are punctuated by black-and-white photographs of Mazza and her family. These images serve as anchors to Mazza's writing; they add to the atmosphere and wonder of what is written within these pages. Mazza writes with clear-eyed passion for her subject matter. Under her touch, ordinary subject matter becomes extraordinary. Her story contains none of the sensationalist topics of many high-profile memoirs; instead, it revels in the quiet details of an unconventional life. This book is exactly what a memoir should be: intimate, intelligent, and thought-provoking. Certainly fans of Mazza's fiction should read INDIGENOUS to understand the background from which her stories and novels spring. However, even those without a familiarity of her work will enjoy Mazza's stories about growing up in rural California and then taking that experience into a much larger world.
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