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Summary: How can a person NOT love this book?
Review: I guess I can understand why some of you wouldn't enjoy this book -- you simply couldn't grasp what it was saying, and for that, I pity you. The bouncing back and forth in time had a point! She was illustrating the idea that time is irrelevant. The stories are interwoven and meld as one great story. She's also not bashing white people for those of you who think she is. She happened to have a father who was white and loved and respected him very much. She is simply honest in the story. Tayo had many reasons to hate what some of the whites did and recognizes in the end we are all one together against the evil. There are so many other beautiful characteristics about the book -- language, imagery, characters -- but rather than bore you, just take my advice and read this book for yourself and keep in mind that the reader is trying to make a point. Try not to miss it.
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Summary: Ceremony- forget about it
Review: If you're suffering from ensomnia, I highly reccomend Ceremony. If not, avoid it altogether. The book makes no sense at all. It jumps back and forth in time and expects you to follow. It has no chapters and no clear plot. I only read it because it was required for a class. Why this book is considered so good is beyond me. Tayo, the main character, spends the majority of the book puking, and the rest of the characters are just stupid. I give it two thumbs WAY down
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Summary: High School Junior captivated by the power of Ceremony
Review: I recently had to read this story for my English class, and wasn't too excited about getting started. However, once I began, I couldn't put it down. The powerful narration, the changing settings, and Indian legends combine to create a riveting and enthralling story about self-discovery and the nature of the world. Truly, an incredible novel for anyone willing to contribute a significant amount of thought while reading it.
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Summary: Review for Ceremony
Review: This book is not worth the paper it is printed on. It has no plot, no structure, and no merit. The author makes sweeping generalities while trying to combat those same generalities which are against Indians. Avoid this book at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: Give it a chance
Review: Yes, I too had to read this for school, but surprisingly it was a very good book. It was definitely a struggle, and I wouldn't say that it was boring because it wasn't, but it is one of those books that you must take in little peices, say twenty pages at a time. It changed the way I look at Native Americans; or rather, it made me start looking at the Native Americans around me. There is a lot of meaning and beauty in Silko's writing, and I highly reccommend this book.
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Summary: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK
Review: This book is so lame. It couldn't hold my attention through 5 pages! It just goes on and on with Tayo's pointless flashbacks. I had to read this book for school and every kid that read it wanted to burn it. So many kids hated it, our teacher isn't going to make next years class read it. Throughout the book it will be talking about one thing and in midsentence it will change to another subject and tense. There is no plot and the whole book in general is just sooo boring. Silko blames everything that goes wrong on white people. According to the book, Indians think white people were made by witches to destroy the earth. If you have to read it for school I feel sorry for you, but if you don't have to read it please don't!
Rating:
Summary: awful
Review: The worst book I've have ever read. The story wants to be a sad, feel so sorry for the main character, but actually makes you wanna gag. Throughout the entire book I found myself confused and lost. The author portrays Tayo as such a person you have to feel pity for, but really he needs a slap in the face and tell him to stop whining. In the end the book was horrible and I recommend not to read this.
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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.
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Summary: A WORLD OF MAGIC
Review: Richard Alvarez Gonzalez 802-90-0261 Expository Writing Review of Ceremony War is one of the most terrible evils man has known, yet is has been going on for ages. Since the beginning of known history man has been at war with his fellow man, himself and the world. In Leslie Marmon's novel Ceremony the point of view towards war is different from that of most people. A sense of loss takes central stage in the novel; loss of loved ones, loss of land, of heritage, and loss of self. Tayo and his cousin, Rocky, joined the army looking for a way out and adventure, they would go and fight a Great War. While fighting in the jungles of Asia, Rocky gets killed. Now Tayo is back, the war is over, but not for him. Tayo feels responsible for his cousin's death. He was supposed to protect him and he failed, and now his memory haunts Tayo's every second of existence. In the beginning of the novel we take a look into Tayo's disturbed and tormented mind, as he takes us along the story of his life, of death, war, and rejection. Tayo is a man desperately trying to hold on to his sanity while he wastes it away on a bottle of alcohol which sends him into constant sickness spells and confines him to a bed from which he is terrified to move. As his sickness progresses, Tayo is taken to see a medicine man that sends him on a journey to retrieve his uncle's dreams, thus putting his own fears and doubts to rest. It is during this journey that Tayo completes his healing process with the aid of a woman with whom he will fall deeply in love, Ts'eh, a mystical character that appears and disappears various time in the novel, seeming as if a dream or a creation of Tayo's mind. Ts'eh is a very interesting character because there seems to be various references to her in the novel, but with different names, adding another spark of magic to the story, and making it a trip into fantasy and wonder. Of course, the story is full of legends and mystical occurrences, unlikely events that seem to complete the story and make it right; and poems that interrupt the story and explain the Laguna people beliefs, merging with the story and coming together in a story of hope. Complex and engaging, Ceremony reveals a whole new world of magic, mysticism and beauty. It is a book that must be read carefully in order to understand all the little details here and there, which will in order reveal a much larger picture. A piece of literature which may carry different meanings, and messages, to different readers.
Rating:
Summary: unless it's for school, skip it
Review: Like many of you out there, I read this book for my freshman English class at the University of Kansas. Maybe part of the problem was that it was assigned over Thanksgiving Break, but this novel could not keep my attention. The message was valuable, but definitely not recommended for a leisurely read.
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