The Diamond Doorknob

by MariJo Moore

A novel by MariJo Moore

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

MariJo Moore (Cherokee/Irish/Dutch) is the author of a dozen books including Spirit Voices of Bones, Confessions of a Madwoman, Red Woman With Backward Eyes and Other Stories, The Diamond Doorknob, The Boy With A Tree Growing From His Ear and Other Stories, and the editor of four anthologies including Genocide of The Mind: New Native Writings and Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian Holocaust. The recipient of numerous literary and publishing awards, she resides in the mountains of western North Carolina where she presides over rENEGADE pLANETS pUBLISHING.

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

MariJo Moore says that this book was twenty years in the making. It was worth the wait. She has crafted an engrossing story that coaxes out every emotion imaginable from the reader. The novel is about the life on a half-breed Cherokee woman and the lives she has touched and that have touched her. Cloud lives and survives racism, abuse, both physical and sexual, and emotional detachment from her mother. She does what she must to live, even though much of the time she does not know if she has a purpose on this earth. The one constant in her life is her knowledge that her grandfather, Smoker, is with her in spirit. This knowledge is enough to guide her through the roughest times of her life.

Intertwined with Cloud's story are the stories of the people surrounding her. Her mother and stepfather, her husband, her lover...they all have their own stories, and those stories are important as well. Also, the setting, the deep South, and the time period are extremely important to the story. Moore's grasp of regional dialects and slang made a huge impression on me. In my mind's eye, I could hear my own ancestors speak.

Moore has really created something that will linger with me for a long time. I highly recommend this novel.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very real. Raw at times!