Dog Flowers

“My words feel inadequate,” Danielle Geller writes towards the end of her memoir. “I had never felt that kind of love, but I have never learned to write about happiness.” Geller’s heartbreaking memoir, Dog Flowers, is not very happy — it’s the story of a childhood with two parents who struggled with substance abuse, a mother who left, and a sister who grew up to be more like their parents than unlike them. Geller, a member of Navajo nation, writes movingly about Native identity, sisterhood, grief, and trying to get out from under the shadow of her troubled parents.

The story begins with Geller’s mother dying and Geller gathering up what she left behind — including what she movingly calls her mother’s archive. This archival material is woven throughout the text; she studied library science and uses this training to label and classify the photos. As Geller explains in an interview, “My mother’s archive was a collection of documents that might have informational value, in part because women like her aren’t often found in archives.” Geller ends up returning to Navajo Nation to reconnect with her aunt, cousins, and grandmothers. Just like her mother’s archive is not something easily found in the archives of this country, stories like Geller’s are not often found in our literary landscape, which is why I am so grateful for this memoir, and hopefully many more works to come from her in the future.

Rating: ★★★★