Ceremony

By: Leslie Marmon Silko

Narrated by: Pete Bradbury

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Leslie Marmon Silko's sublime Ceremony is almost universally considered one of the finest novels ever written by an American Indian. It is the poetic, dreamlike tale of Tayo, a mixed-blood Laguna Pueblo and veteran of World War II. Tormented by shell shock and haunted by memories of his cousin who died in the war, Tayo struggles on his impoverished reservation. After turning to alcohol to ease his pain, he strives for a better understanding of who he is.

©1977 Leslie Marmon Silko (P)2008 Recorded Books

My favorite novel

When I first read this book in 2013, it made me see the world in a new way. My life has never been quite the same since.

great book

Wonderful read and listen. Had it for a school project. Recommended read. Confusing at first but falls together to make sense.

Creative, Creative, Creative!

This book has magic in it. I am more awake in the world now- seeing the world through fresh eyes. Beautiful, devastating, and ultimately healing. Well written and read!

Riveting

A quintessential American novel and an homage to the power of storytelling culture… must read!

Powerful!

Incredibly beautiful narrative. This book has great power in it to heal broken spirits, it is a ceremony in itself. Made elegant, accessible, and deeply penetrating by the performance.

Incredible

What an amazing read! It’s my first Silko book, but it’s absolutely not my last!

what the?

ok. I will say the narrator was really good. He made the ideas and everything of this book come a live a lot better, the dialogue and characters really clear, etc... having a lot of the things you want in a narrator.
on the other hand, the book was just weird. now I k ow it's supposedly some great piece of literature, but it was super hard to follow, and nothing made sense. It was so non linear and all over the place that there really wasn't a story line, just kind of a weird unpallored existance. he's sad, something sad happened to his past in world war two, his uncle died, he got a ceremony, got hinted down for being insane but he understood the ceremony and then wasn't hunted down anymore I guess? I don't k ow. It was just really weirs. and their were some characters that were just suddenly there with no context as to why they meant so much, then gone again without context. and there were weird sex scenes with complete strangers. I don't know. It was just so hard to follow and all I got out of it was a feeling of confused sadness.

Worth a re-read

I had a difficult time with this book at first because there is no transition when moving from character to character or past to present. I became frustrated and wanted to write it off, but I didn't and I am glad. I realized that this book is different than the average novel of today because it emulates the ancient storytelling traditions of the native american culture while having to manipulate them into the literary standards of today. Since these cultures are as different as they are, this can be a difficult task, so I opened my mind and listened again and what I got from the story is a connection to the pulse of life around me - something I never felt when reading King, Koontz, or Grisham.

Interesting

I read this book for a class. It is not something I would normally read and I had a hard time getting into the story. The story moves around and it's often difficult to to track of whether the main character is dreaming and reliving things from his past or if the things are happening in real time. This novel is also filled with symbolism and metaphors, so if you are looking for a straightforward story this is not the novel for you. It was interesting and caused a lot of thought on my part regarding the struggle and loss the Indian tribes of this nation suffered and are still dealing with today.

Exceptional

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially for those interested in what Soldiers deal with as they recover from wounds deeper than the physical or the traditions both past and present of Native Americans.