Search - Ceremony

Used Book ~ Ceremony by author Leslie Marmon Silko
Ceremony
Author: Leslie Marmon Silko
Book Information
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Type: Paperback
Rating: 44

ISBN-13: 9780140086836 - ISBN-10: 0140086838
Pages: 262

Book Description:
This story, set on an Indian reservation just after World War II, concerns the return home of a war-weary Navajo young man. Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremony that defeats the most virulent of afflictions-despair. "Demanding but confident and beautifully written" (Boston Globe), this is the story of a young Native American returning to his reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. Drawn to his Indian past and its traditions, his search for comfort and resolution becomes a ritual--a curative ceremony that defeats his despair. -- from OCLC

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Genres:
Other Versions of this Book: Paperback, Hardcover


Top Member Reviews

Sarah R. (brianslittlegirl) from SMYRNA, GA wrote on 2/13/2007...

2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Great book. Very interesting look at modern Native Americans, looking espescially of the effects on the psychy after WWII.

Mary G. (mary77) from OXNARD, CA wrote on 8/30/2005...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Tayo, a young American Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during WWII, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive only increases his feelings of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to the beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremony that defeats the most virulent of afflictions, despair.

Amy F. from COLCHESTER, VT wrote on 6/19/2005...

1 member(s) found this review helpful.

From back cover:
Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soliders find easy refuge in alchohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution.

Tayo's quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, to the ancient stories of his people. The search itselft becomes a ritual, a curative ceremony that defates the most virulent of afflications, despair.


Rate These Member Reviews

Lynda C. (Readnmachine) from UMATILLA, OR wrote on 7/2/2008...


A young Native American soldier returns home after WWII, but cannot leave the terrors of war behind him as he struggles to survive in a world out of balance.

Matt B. (BuffaloSavage) from GETZVILLE, NY wrote on 1/22/2008...


Told in the tradition of story-telling, this novel is an account of a World War II veteran's return home to the Laguna Pueblo reserve in New Mexico. He has post-traumatic shock disorder and anxiety and he turns to traditional healing against the orders of his Euro-American doctors. Spots are wordy, which leads to a certain fuzziness. For me, paragraphs at a time of magical realism had little or no focus. But overall it's a positive story about the return to life of a guilt-ridden vet, who has issues that pre-date the war, the Bataan Death March, and captivity in a POW camp. The overarching message is that Native culture is still alive, growing, changing, so much so that it can save people from the past (and alcohol) and restore them.

Mac L. (mac) from SEATTLE, WA wrote on 8/16/2007...


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One of the few books I feel compelled to review. Ms. Silko gives us a well written and well painted portrait of young Tayo, who has returned from World War II, profoundly out of balance in his life and in the world in which he lives.

He has tried western medicine, "native" medicine, and nothing is helping. It is in his expansion of the healing ceremony to encompass his whole world that he finally begins moving toward healing.

Jessica M. from OREGON, IL wrote on 1/8/2007...


Haven't even cracked this one open :)

Sara W. (ladyofavalon) from FAIR OAKS, CA wrote on 8/18/2006...


compelling story of a young man coming to grips with his heritage and his past endevours.

Mike O. (mikeo847) from NILES, IL wrote on 12/5/2005...


Have not read it. Bought it for class, but the professor decided not to teach it.