I recently read A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris, a novel that deals exclusively with a Native American family and their various internal and external struggles. There was one instance of pedophilia in the book.
Dorris himself professed to be part Native American, though there is little proof of this claim. He committed suicide during a scandal in which he was accused of sexually abusing one of his daughters.
That being said, how much does your knowledge of an author's life contribute to your reading? Could you still enjoy this book, given Dorris' questionable actions? Can you separate the work from the artist?
