PDF Ceremony Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Leslie Marmon Silko Larry McMurtry Books

Product details Paperback 243 pages Publisher Penguin Books; Anniversary edition (December 26, 2006) Language English ISBN-10 0143104918

Ceremony Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Leslie Marmon Silko Larry McMurtry Books Reviews

• "She taught me this above all else things which don't shift and grow are dead things."
  
  That has been around for four decades and speaks a deeper truth to our culture than almost all other texts is worthy of recognition, which Silko's novel has undoubtedly received. It is not only that Silko creates a vivid, substantive depiction of her main character--Tayo, an army veteran returning to his reservation but not finding open arms--but that she shines and refracts a light through this character to expose simultaneously the beauties and flaws of the surrounding world, particularly the larger white culture that has perniciously tainted much of the good.
  
  Getting to these truths, though, is a struggle--and I have a feeling this book will take several readings to fully digest. It has little semblance of plot, and at times you will feel lost reading it (much like the protagonist does). I would much rather have read this book with a professor guiding my thinking, or at least I should say that it would have been a much more accessible experience. But the inaccessibility probably says just as much about me and my own mindset as a reader than the text itself, and that is the beauty of Ceremony it lends a mirror that is insightful--and incisive--no matter the context.
  
  Worth the struggle, I am 99% sure.
• I read it for class. It was a good book, maybe a little confusing, but I still think the Professor made a good choice exposing us to it. I'm not sure what "graphic violence" in a book would mean, this book has some pretty violent parts and and a fairly intense message, clearly not written for someone very young. I don't think someone would give this book to a kid anyway since it is a little bit of a hard read because its different than your average book. I don't think if I had picked it up casually that I would have finished it because it was not a book I could pick up in a busy hallway waiting for my next class and read a few chapters, it took a little more thought to really comprehend than the kind of book I would do that with and I kind of learned to appreciate that as I read because I ended up setting aside times to sit and try to really read and understand what was going on. If you want something different and meaningful to read, this book is for you
• The author tells a story of great current interest, a soldier returning from the war, traumatized by what he has seen, and his search for healing. She weaves together Native poetry and traditions in a conventional narrative form. Her imagery of "skid row" in Gallup NM is particularly clear and real. The central character's thoughts are intermingled with present events and I found myself sometimes thinking I was reading events in the present when they were actually being recollected in memories. This can be momentarily confusing but effective for a character who is deeply troubled by his memories and trying to regain his footing after his difficult experiences, in World War II, and as a mixed-blood member of a community and family, growing up with feelings that he didn't fit in.
  
  I'm reading this for a two-book seminar on Native Americans coming home from the war. The other book is House Made of Dawn by N Scott Momaday. I'm looking forward to completing Ceremony, reading House Made of Dawn, and following on with in depth discussions. Highly recommended!
• I loved the mystical aspect of this mans journey through his PTSD I don't believe he would have been able to come through it without the traditions of his people . It was a sad, brutal story. Not just about war and what that can do to you, but the racism against native Americans and also about the particular form of racism that mixed race people have to deal with. When you are not embraced by either part of your heritage you are truly lost
• One of my favorite books! Beautifully written, with gorgeous descriptions, wonderful stories, and a great tale of a Native Veteran struggling to overcome his PTSD and find where he fits in the world. Tayo, the main character, struggles with his mixed-blood identity as he fights to overcome his PTSD from the war and his dead brother. Silko offers a beautiful story detailing the changes Native Americans have faced while also showing how change in traditions can also be good.
• Silko captures the fugue, guilt, anger, and silent hurt of PTSD better than any novelist I've yet read. Much of the writing is lyrical and the relationships herein she imagines with beautiful nuance and the histories of the central character (Tayo) reverberate again and again. There is not always clear distinction between what things Tayo is remembering, doing, or dreaming and the shifts seem so sudden that the plot sometimes seems fractured chronologically and can be difficult to follow. The poems and snippets of song included hardly make things clearer , but they serve to give additional depth to the central tale of return, recovery, and, ultimately, renewal.