Tenaya has never left Yosemite Valley. He was born in a car by the Merced River, and grew up in a hidden camp with his parents, surviving on fish, acorns, and unfinished food thrown away by the park's millions of tourists. But despite its splendor, Tenaya's Yosemite is a visceral place of opposites, at once beautiful, dangerous, and violent. When he meets Lucy, a young woman from the south side of the park, Tenaya must choose between this new relationship and the Valley, terrorism and legend, the sacred versus the material. In this modern retelling of Samson and Delilah, Graphic the Valley explores mythical strength, worldly greed, love, lust, and epic destruction. Set entirely in the majestic Yosemite Valley, Hoffmeister recalls Edward Abbey's vivid sense of place and urgent call for preservation of one of the world's most spectacular sites.
"The author knows Yosemite like the back of his hand, which adds a detailed beauty to what is a stark opposite of what is happening in the area. Tenaya (the main character) has been living in the park his entire life, illegally camping with his mother and father in the usually pristine and quiet places, away from the tourists, hunting and fishing to stay alive. But things are changing with corporate restaurants and gas stations beginning to creep into the park more and more deeply. With his parents getting older, and with his new girlfriend (though she is the daughter of one of the developers), he is torn. Should he stay and do something to protect his home, or should he leave the only place he's ever known and try to make a more normal life away from Yosemite. Things get darker when it seems that someone else is trying to stop the development by using eco-terrorist means that are actually killing people. This is a strange but rather austerely beautiful book that leaves the reader with much to think about."
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