MixedThe Women\'s Review of BooksThough it successfully follows many of the conventions of literary memoir, seeking resolution through the excavation of family mysteries, it is also important to recognize this book as an indigenous woman’s testimony ... The memoir, too, is successful in its goal to tell a relatable story. It is rendered in the MFA-writing-workshop style, which emphasizes homogenizing craft over authenticity. While Geller’s story is well told, it also keeps the reader at a safe distance. You may closely observe without fear of being bedraggled. At the conclusion of Dog Flowers, I am glad for the daughter who has found her way to a peaceful, stable life. Like with the familiar neighbor who waves from across the street but whose dramatic background you only hear about second hand, I learned a lot about the author but never felt I knew her, much less the woman at the center of the narrative ... After centuries of exclusion of first-voice testimonies of women and people of color who have been silenced by White patriarchal and otherwise elitist dominance, it is important to recognize the contemporary story of a daughter of an indigenous woman born on a reservation in the United States. Despite generations of denigration and deprivation, the human spirit is relentless in seeking love, feeling compassion, and fighting for survival, and this too, is noteworthy in Dog Flowers.
