Overview

The acclaimed and groundbreaking memoir from Wendy C. Ortiz A darkly vibrant and daring memoir, Wendy C. Ortiz's Excavation challenged the standard telling of abuse narratives when first published in 2014 over a decade later, it remains deeply prescient. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley in the late 1980s, the narrative follows the spiraling entanglement between Wendy and her eighth-grade English teacher as she becomes both victim to and participant in a simultaneously predatorial and impassioned relationship. Baited by initial praise and a false sense of control, Wendy tumbles into a dangerous dynamic that spans the duration of her teens. Artfully constructed from her own journals and decades of personal excavation, the story of this secret relationship has imprinted on Wendy and readers alike. A stunningly honest look at memory, agency, and power, Excavation will claim your whole heart.

Full Product Details

Author:   Wendy C. Ortiz
Publisher:   Northwestern University Press
Imprint:   Northwestern University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 12.70cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 17.80cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780810148604

ISBN 10:   0810148609
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   30 June 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Author's Note 98 September 98 Fall 98 November 9, 98 Notes on an Excavation: Opportunity School 2 2-2 4 98 985- 98 November 98 Notes on an Excavation: Any Given Day November 98 December 98 1987 1987 Home 1987 Early 1987 March 1987 April 1987 May 1987 1987 June 1987 July 1987 Summer 1987 Notes on an Excavation: 1995 Summer 1987 August 1987 Notes on an Excavation: Why I Didn't Tell September 1987 Fall 1987 Late Fall 1987 Notes on an Excavation: 1993-2 October 1987 Fall 1987 Notes on an Excavation: Tools, 2 2 Notes on an Excavation: Family, 1987 1988 January 1988 Spring 1988 Summer 1988 Fall 1988 Fall and Winter 1988 1989 1989 Early June 1989 Early Summer 1989 Summer 1989 Notes on an Excavation: Exorcism Late Summer 1989 September 1989 Fall 1989 Notes on an Excavation: 2 7-2 1999 1999 99 Summer 99 Fall 99 Late Fall 99 Notes on an Excavation: Present Day Finds Acknowledgments

Reviews

""The time has finally arrived when women are telling the truth— the hard truths, the messy, glorious, loud, tender, screeching corporeal truths - about their lives as they live them and not lived as we are asked to live them. Wendy C. Ortiz's writing will rearrange your DNA. Permanently, beautifully"" - Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water: A Memoir ""Excavation by Wendy C. Ortiz will change your life. Readers will find everything here: a gripping and necessary story, luminous writing and an utterly compelling heroine who is both generous and fierce. You will emerge changed, dazzled, energized, disbelieving and yet a believer. Most of all, read this book because, like all great literature, and especially the best memoirs, it will make you feel more alive."" - Emily Rapp, author of The Still Point of the Turning World and Poster Child "" ""It's rare to meet a memoirist who can write about the darkest things without judgment and emotional simplification. Wendy C. Ortiz is that kind of writer, and Excavation is a book that's devastating, funny, tough, broken, and achingly clear all at the same time."" - Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World "" A raw, unflinching memoir, beautifully told, Excavation is a portrait of all that roils beneath the teenage surface, a reminder of the secrets that any kid might be hiding. Ortiz is a fearless and generous storyteller, peeling back the layers of memory, exploring her parents' alcoholism and her years-long illicit relationship with a teacher, never slipping into the easy traps of sentimentality or self-pity. This is a brave, illuminating book..."" - Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day "" Excavation stopped my heart. Its story is vital, cracking open a dialogue about what we keep secret and how those secrets shape our lives. The narrative is direct and unflinching, pulling you, challenging you, the kind of read where you call in sick because ohmygod what happens next but between those moments, Ortiz hits pause and looks back, allowing the reader to breathe with her, to reflect with her, to "" wrestle with ghosts,"" in language so breathtakingly beautiful, so precise and poetic and true."" - Megan Stielstra, author of Once I Was Cool

Author Information

Wendy C. Ortiz is a writer of creative nonfiction who works in hybrid forms, essays, and memoir. She is the author of three books, all published by Northwestern University Press. Her writing has appeared in BOMB Magazine online, Joyland, The New York Times, Pleiades, Fence, and many other journals. Ortiz is a therapist in private practice in Los Angeles.

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