rough house
whole lives are lived below the federal poverty line in the rural spaces of the Pacific Northwest. with rough house, Tina Ontiveros shares one of those lives in a memoir that is more than simply a chronicle of hardship.
in rough house we meet Loyd, a logger roaming across the timber-and-mill towns of the Pacific Northwest in the 80’s and 90’s, living in trailers and shelters he builds for his family. Loyd becomes more nomadic as the timber industry dies and as meth spreads across the region. stuck in a lifelong migration between sobriety and chaos, he’s forever starting over. as Loyd moves through his forested territory, he destroys and rebuilds three relationships again and again: with Alcoholics Anonymous, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and his children.
Loyd’s daughter narrates this memoir with a child’s sense of awe. her growing awareness inevitably intersects with the destructive side of her father’s nature. Loyd hurts and abandons her countless times. but he also makes wonder, imagination, and grit into family values. with rough house, Ontiveros holds her father’s life in her hands and observes it with curiosity, considering the landscapes he invited her to explore and the sometimes terrible, but often beautiful, lessons he taught.
october 2020 indie next list pacific northwest book award winner
“Her skillful prose keeps you turning page after page; until, before you know it, you're done with the book but certainly not done thinking about the strong, flawed, and resilient people you've just met.”
—Grace Rajendran, University Bookstore
photo by Alexis Montavon
“Family makes us who we are now and, regardless of where you grew up, or who grew you up, Tina's life story will surely resonate with every reader in one way or the other.”
-René Kirkpatrick, University Bookstore, Seattle
“She has built her readers a shelter: a place where they can heal their own scars, recognize their strengths, find forgiveness, and realize they are never alone in their journeys.”
-Katrina Woolford, North Words Writers Symposium
"We need more firsthand books of working class Americans like this that show not only the struggles but also the beauty and joy."
-Ariana Paliobagis, Country Bookshelf, Bozeman
“In spite of her struggle, there is something so plucky and honest about this book’s narrator, you will be converted to a new view of your own troubles. You will look at your own life through the lens of this book, knowing with Ontiveros that “certain beauties can only be seen in the complication of hardship.” This kid’s got the goods to survive, and this book’s got a big story for you.”
—Kim Stafford, author of Singer Come from Afar
Advanced praise
“Ontiveros's prose is intimate and unsentimental, eloquent testimony to life in hard times and the grit it takes to endure. rough house opens a window onto life in America far beyond the limits of Ontiveros’s own family. Clearly, she is a writer working with deep reserves of talent, intelligence, and heart.”
— DJ Lee, author of Remote
"Rough House is at once a study of a disappearing culture, and an exotic and achingly familiar meditation on family. Amidst an unforgettable world of sawdust and grime, snarling chainsaws and privation, Ontiveros is as vivid in her description as she is unflinching in her honesty."
— Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy
I read Rough House in a single sitting, unable to break loose from the tension of what might happen next. It is the story of a childhood gone wrong in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, twisted and tangled, before it is finally set to rights....rough house chronicles a past that haunts a young girl who, like her father, is filled with a legacy of anger, but like her mother, is determined to reshape how her own story will end."
—Deborah Reed, author of Pale Morning Light With Violet Swan
"rough house is a deeply realized memoir about family, addiction, violence, molestation, and the ways regular people endure and overcome inter-generational family dysfunction.”
— Keenan Norris, author of By the Lemon Tree
“Tina Ontiveros has written a moving and powerfully wrought memoir. The portrait of her father Loyd is stunning, rich and complicated. This is a story about love, not happiness, and Ontiveros delivers this truth to us in her sensitive and beautifully constructed memoir.”
— Beatrix Gates, author of Dos
"Ontiveros's portrayal of Loyd, the father character, is complex, empathetic, and truthful---emblematic of the way men become debilitated by masculine shame and loneliness...Ontiveros presents a richly emotional and revelatory vocabulary for family in rural America."
— Jay Ponteri, Author of LOBE and Wedlocked.