“The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You” by Dorothy Bryant is a masterfully designed novel with the format of a personal memoir. The teller is a nameless man who finds himself living in an unrecognizable village that, as a fully Western, rational, successful and egotistical man, he could only see as primitive.
Since the last thing he remembers prior to his relocation was a car accident, he has no way of achieving any reality check to see if he is trapped in a hallucination or has been recovered by some people living outside of society at large.
By Joel Brown,
Staff Writer
“The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You” by Dorothy Bryant is a masterfully designed novel with the format of a personal memoir. The teller is a nameless man who finds himself living in an unrecognizable village that, as a fully Western, rational, successful and egotistical man, he could only see as primitive.
Since the last thing he remembers prior to his relocation was a car accident, he has no way of achieving any reality check to see if he is trapped in a hallucination or has been recovered by some people living outside of society at large.
Throughout the years he ends up staying with this village, he is faced to confront everything that he took for granted as the triumphs of his own way of life. He had lived for sex, money, and the fame he received as an accomplished author. In Ata, which is the name of the place at which he has found himself relocated, people speak little and have no written language, feed each other, and take care of all of the children as a village rather than as a family unit with two parents at its head.
Decisions are made according to one’s dreams, which are considered to be most important to honor in life, while two words “Nagdeo” and “Donagdeo” are usually sufficient enough to understand the effect that any action will have. Arguing is non existent, while clashes of opinion tend to be settled with a “perhaps.”
Most interesting is that the narrator speaks in a way presenting it all as absolute fact, documented to the best ability of his memory, while even including moments that he admits cannot be conveyed in our own language, but that he will make the closest attempt possible.
The reader will also find that the element of being an entertaining novel pales compared to the truth that pulsates in the heart of the Ata message that is made so understandable by the narrator’s descriptions of the profound people who he meets.
The message of these Atans is not for an isolated utopian life. The teller finds that they are the remnants of original humanity, forever staying in touch with the rest of the world through dreams and perpetual hope to counterbalance the self-destructive habits of humanity.