Rating: 
Summary: I loved this book!!!
Review: This book had all the elements and themes to make it a great book. Leslie Marmon Silko talked about themes dealing with hard times people had to go through, love and love affairs, war, nature and internal conflicts as well as the fact of Native Americans versus Caucasian Americans. It talked about lies, manipulations and power struggles between Caucasians and Native Americans. It allowed me to see how other cultures look at Caucasians and the role of violence in their culture. She also talked about the witchery and their power and their use of manipulation. Ceremony kept me wanting more. I could not put the book down. One never knew what was going to happen next to poor Tayo, the main character. The author wrote a story about Tayo and what he had to go through in his life. He had many conflicts to overcome, such as being half Native American and half-Mexican. This fact caused great problems within his family. The book told about the war that Tayo had to participate in and the effects of that on his life. The book takes the reader through the healing process of the Ceremony. It could be considered a form of healing for the reader. It talked about Native American ceremonies as remedies or medicines. The whole ceremony brought humans to be one with nature. It taught them to respect nature and use it for its good qualities. Overall this book was great, the only reason I gave it a four and not a five is at the beginning the flash backs that take place are a little difficult to understand. This novel over all tells how the author feels and thinks. One gets an understanding of her ideas and believes. It is a good insight. I recommend this book to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: The Beauty and Power of the Ceremony is indescribable
Review: If you are a reader that tries to read with an open mind, the power of "Ceremony"will simply overwhelm you. The novel opens up a world that is almost completely unknown to the mainstream Euro-American perspective. It is a world of American Indian wisdom that has been maligned, and misrepresented for way too long. On a personal note, this book took me out of the comfort zone that is so guarded cherished by American whites. A white male myself, I too bought the fantasy that nothing exists outside of our middle class life of cars, houses and jobs, and if something does exist, it is "tragic" and not noteworthy. Leslie Silko challenged this assumption in such an amazingly eloquent fashion that I can't help but to be in awe every time that I think about it. While the book makes us uncomfortable, (since it breaks our almost sacred concepts and beliefs) it does not concentrate on increasing the whites' guilt on "how horrible we treated the Indians. "Guilt, however great, leaves us the option of thinking 'Our creations are superior, but we shouldn't have treated these poor stupid people badly anyway.' But it is instead the western-minded readers that are poor/stupid in this book in comparison to Indian wisdom, and that's something that you should be prepared to deal with. After reading "The Ceremony" my life will literally never be the same, for I am now able to look at things around me in a new stunningly amazing light. If you are the type of person that likes to try and put pride and the presumptions of centuries aside, this is absolutely THE BOOK for you to read. But if you are not prepared to say (at least for the purpose of reading) that our western beliefs are not superior to beliefs of other cultures, this book will do little but infuriate you.
Rating: 
Summary: It's about death.
Review: The point of the book is that an individual Indian sees himself not as individual like the people in white society but as a member of a people. The main character could not define himself as psychologically distinct from his culture. He was sad because of what he saw in war but he could only define this sadness in terms of how Indians saw the death of humanity. The only thing that brought the main character out of his shell shocked vomiting state of mind was a story about how it was the Indian culture itself that set the evil destroying white culture against it through witchcraft. The story came from a medicine man and it empowered the Indian. Either way everything around the Indian spelled disaster because destroying white society had defeated the Indians. His life was empty and the world is doomed. This is not romantic or uplifting, only sad.
Rating:
Summary: "It's not easy to fix things up again."
Review: I'd read some of Leslie Marmon Silko's short stories before starting on this novel. They were like gems, polished, smooth, and echoing with a gentle quiet not commonly found in English literature. CEREMONY is a far more ambitious undertaking; the building of a literary castle. Set in New Mexico, in and around Laguna Pueblo, immediately after WW II, the plot concerns a young Indian war veteran who has been traumatized by his experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese. When we meet him, he's barely conscious, being released from a mental hospital. He lost his half-brother on the Bataan death march, his favorite uncle had died at home, a herd of special cattle---adapted to life in the desert---has disappeared, and his old friends are drinking themselves away in bars. To top it all off, Tayo, the central character, is illegitimate and half-white, raised by relatives, not accepted fully by everyone in the family. He seems destined for the asylum, jail, an early death from alcohol, or suicide; not exactly unknown fates for young Indians then or now. Elders arrange a healing ceremony for him, but the healer is a maverick, not tied to traditional methods. Tayo's whole life and consciousness merge into the healing process and that process begins to look like a prescription for the Indian peoples in North America to heal nearly-fatal wounds dealt their cultures over the last five centuries. Silko sees the materialism and violence of Western civilization as a curse threatening the continued existence of everyone on the planet, a curse stemming from evil itself rather than from a particular group of people. In tones that ring most uncannily today, she wrote in 1977 [p.191] "If the white people never looked beyond the lie, to see that theirs was a nation built on stolen land, then they would never be able to understand how they had been used by the witchery; they would never know that they were still being manipulated by those who knew how to stir the ingredients together: white thievery and injustice boiling up the anger and hatred that would finally destroy the world: the starving against the fat, the colored against the white." The ceremony thus begins as a curative ritual for a single man, but expands beyond a simple hogaan to the whole world. Dream figures come to life, life becomes a dream, life is healing and healing is life. Silko attempted a very difficult task and I am not sure that it is entirely successful. Sometimes, the pieces don't seem to match. Her World War II sequences don't ring entirely true either. Americans never evicted Japanese soldiers from caves before the Bataan death march; they were not executing prisoners then. The shoe was on the other foot. But these are quibbles. CEREMONY's language, the poetry, the beauty of the land, the theme of healing--- all come through to make an unforgettable novel, an original voice that deserves an honored place in American literature. If you have a special interest in Native American literature and have enjoyed N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, or Sherman Alexie, Silko's work will be a welcome addition.
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Summary: Healing process of Native American war veteran
Review: Book Review of Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko Ceremony (261 pages) is a fiction novel, written by Leslie Marmon Silko. The novel is about a Native American originally from the Laguna Pueblo, named Tayo, who has just returned from the war against the Japanese. He and his fellow Indian friends are suffering from post-war trauma, in part caused by the horrors they experienced during battle, but also by their disappointment at having to return to their Indian lifestyle. Tayo was psychologically wounded by the war and although he received treatment for his mental health, both by white doctors and by Indian medicine men, he wasn't able to get back on his feet. This fragile state of mind made him seek shelter in alcohol, which was the only thing that made him feel proud of being a war veteran. When Tayo and his Indian friends wore the uniform white people treated them with respect. They felt overwhelmed by what the US army uniform meant: equality with white Americans. But when they took it off, everything--the illusion and the glory they thought they had gained--went right down the drain. Now, they must struggle to try to survive in a culture that was considered inferior by everyone else who was not Indian. Returning to the Indian culture meant returning to the reservation, in which the probabilities of achieving success (economically, educationally, etc.) are almost non-existent. Tayo also has to deal with being half-Indian and half-white and the commotion this causes among the veteran Indians. Emo is jealous of Tayo for being white and he also hates him because, in Emo's opinion, Tayo, as a "white" American, thinks he's superior to the Indian culture. His hatred and jealousy drives him mad and he seeks revenge by trying to kill Tayo. Although most of the action of the novel takes place in the present, the author uses flashbacks to complement the story. Silko also integrates short Indian poems, which explain in a more mythical way Tayo's healing process, which for the Indian culture is a ceremony. Ceremony was inspired by the life of the many mixed-blood Indians who, for this reason, are neglected from the cultures they belong to. Silko is of mixed blood, too, and maybe she portrays her life through Tayo, her being the real wounded soul, and the writing of this novel her healing process or ceremony. I guess that's for you readers to find out.
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Summary: Demanding and Frustrating, But Very Impressive
Review: Ok, ok. So I'm a suburban WASP (well, half on the W) kid with far too much time on my hands. And except for what I've read in books, I don't know jack about Native American culture. But any way you slice it, this is an extremely well structured book. Silko's writing style is very mystic, with adequate doses of hope and cynicism throughout. The integration of Native American poems throughout the novel is very interesting, as the stories parallel what is happening in the book, and they offer interesting symbols and history. It takes a bit of analyzing, but the result is very rewarding. The main character Tayo is almost too easy to sympathize with, as many of the people around him are immature alcoholics or self righteous pricks, most notably the aunt. The narrative can be confusing, with its flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. I had to read over many parts multiple times. The ending is especially beautiful, though a bit precarious. The way the book starts and ends with "sunrise" suggests a cyclical nature to life. And, this sounds really stupid, I felt more connected to the earth after reading it. If there's one drawback, other than the occasionally frustrating prose, it's that Silko's authenticity in depicting a battleground setting is questionable. For the most part, though, the scenes are not trying to show the horrors of war so much as stress certain key points of the story. It can also make you sick if you're easily grossed out by vomit. I feel it in my belly...
Rating:
Summary: Silko's best
Review: This slim book contains wisdom that transcends the local American Indian cultures portrayed within. Witches and evil exist in this world; learn to deal with them, because you can never make them go away. Read this book more than once, and do a little research if you're not familiar with Laguna Pueblo or Navaho cultures. It is well worth your while.
Rating: 
Summary: Blechhh!
Review: I am one of the unfortunate persons who had to read this abomination in my Senior Comp class in High School, which was taught by one of those hippie teachers who was white, overly liberal, and somehow thought she was a Native American. The book holds the title of "Worst Book I Ever Read." It is about these Native Americans who come back from WWII and decide that the best ways to cope with the trauma of war are drinking, beating each other up, and having sexual intercourse with cheap hookers. Except one guy, Tayo, decides that he should go smoke peyote with some medicine man, which is better than what his buddies do nonetheless. Well, the moral of the story is: white man bad, Indian good. At least that is what my teacher said. Not that I don't feel horrible about the way the U.S. government treated these people, but for God's sake, we aren't going to win the hearts of SUV driving suburbanites with nonsensical bass-ackward books such as this. The only thing that caught my attention was the portrayal of the atom bomb test on these poor people's land. Otherwise, the book - with its flashbacks, flashforwards, and flashsideways and upside downs - made no sense whatsoever.
Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: I had to read this book in my high school english class. To be honest, I did not like it. Thats not to say that it wasn't a good book, but it just did not catch my attention. It takes a long time to get into it, and when you finally do, the book is over. Even though I didn't like it much, I will have to admit that its very well written.
Rating:
Summary: Ceremony
Review: Book Review I think that the book was one of the most, well written books that I have ever read. The book includes a somewhat of a poem writing style. I found the writing style pretty difficult to understand when I started to read it. However as I kept reading it I either got used to the writing style or the books writing came to be easier and not so complex. With this happening it became easier to comprehend what was going on in the story.
For never having read a story such as this and not particularly liking the reading that this book included in the past I did on the other hand enjoy it the beginning of the book was a very slow start, but in my opinion I thought that the book came to be more and more interesting as I read on. When I started reading this book, I started reading it with no one referring it to me or prior knowledge of the book or any of Leslie Silkos writings.
After reading the back of the book, I thought that the book sounded interesting. But as I read through it, I found that the book was a lot more than interesting. I think that there are some very boring and slow parts in the book that you may not want to put the book down and say "where is this going". There are also parts that hold your attention and you don't know what may happen next or wonder what is going to happen to whomever in the book.
If you don't like books with hard-to-understand writings included in it, this book may not be something that you would like to purchase or read. I know in my opinion, I found the book pretty enjoyable for not really liking the type or reading that Silko used in this book. But I'm not sure if all of her books are written with this style of writing. If it is you would probably enjoy this book a lot.
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