On the other hand, I thought Jeff's tone always sounded too youthful, but he was very immature in many senses so that maybe the reasoning behind the youthful tone in narrating him. That's how realistic her narration sounded. Story telling is a lost art and I feel as though the female narrator could've actually been the author. I always prefer to listen to stories when I have the opportunity to do so. I've only read some pages on my kindle book in between audiobook listens. Would you consider the audio edition of Excavation to be better than the print version? Reducing speed to 75 x made the narrator sound stoned - which may have been appropriate for parts of the story but grated.Ī Coming Of Age Story Unlike One I've Ever Read Though it was clear in voice it was rushed. I would very much like to listen to Ortiz’s body of work but can’t see it as yet on Audible. While my dark Vanessa had disturbing tones of familiarity to my own abuse ( not by a teacher) excavation did not and I think the similarities exist and are noted by survivors because abuse does have many relatable circumstances across types of abuse anyway. There are similarities and I understand this was part of the background reading for the other book - and why not? It’s important. However, I think it important to justify I find significant differences in them and did not feel I was listening to the same book twice or the same protagonist twice. I listened to this alongside My Dark Vanessa as I felt as an ally and survivor in the wake of controversy it was important to read Excavation not just the book I had heard of through promotion. It's a beautifully written and powerful story of a woman reclaiming her whole heart.

The present-day narrator reflects on the girl she once was, as well as the teacher and parent she has become. In Excavation: A Memoir, the black and white of the standard victim/perpetrator stereotype gives way to unsettling grays. This conflicted relationship with her teacher may have been just five years long, but would imprint itself on her and her later relationships, queer and straight, for the rest of her life. Her teacher - now a registered sex offender - continually encouraged her passion for writing while making her promise she was not leaving any written record about their dangerous sexual relationship. Her relationship with a charming and deeply flawed private school teacher 15 years her senior appeared to give her the kind of power teenagers wish for, regardless of consequences. Ortiz was an only child and a bookish, insecure girl living with alcoholic parents in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Wendy c ortiz excavation