Download or read book Excavation written by Wendy C. Ortiz and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2025-04-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.