Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko

 

Ceremony

By Leslie Marmon Silko

Tayo is an Indigenous Laguna man. After he returns from being held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in WWII, without his cousin with whom he enlisted, Tayo struggles with PTSD. He grew up with his aunt after his mother left him there as a child. Tayo is half-white and has always felt estranged from his family and community, but this feeling is heightened after the war. He feels an emptiness in the alcohol and violence the other Laguna war veterans take solace in. Tayo even spends some time in a psychiatric hospital because of his fear and delusions of being in the war. His is grandmother sets him up with a shaman to perform a ceremony to help him. The quote below sums up the story and its messages perfectly. It is quoted from a review by Yelisa Leiva at Foggy Pine Books.

https://www.foggypinebooks.com/reviews/ceremony-book-review#/

"Tayo must return to his roots to recover from not only the war he had fought in, but the war within himself for being half-Native American and half-Mexican, a corporeal reminder of racial betrayal and perceived retrogression in his community. While colonialism is a pressing matter in the novel, the Native American characters view white assimilation as something that they should esteem to be, exhibiting the despondent, embedded indoctrination.

"Silko takes the issue of colonialism and parallels this confusion to Tayo’s broken mind. She beautifully interweaves the personal and socio-political issues through Tayo’s journey of cultural ceremonies and visuals within the pages themselves, such as purposeful large, blank spaces between Tayo’s memories and interjecting poetry and tales that are pertinent to the Laguna culture.

"The ceremony becomes integral to Tayo’s recovery. Betonie, an old medicine man, organizes the ceremony for Tayo, telling him of the necessary change he must find within himself and America. The ceremony involves him digging through his past and recognizing fear as the reason for the conflict within himself and his community. As the novel delves further into Tayo’s spiritual journey, his reality emulates those of his ancestors stories, including characters like the Night Swan, a Mexican woman with hazel eyes and mystical powers, The Hunter, who transforms into a mountain lion and rescues Tayo twice, and the instance where Tayo curses the rain which inevitably results in a detrimental drought."

This was a good book, but I think I need to read it again at some point. It didn't hit me as strongly as I think it should have. The writing was a little difficult for my brain to grasp at times, but the imagery was striking. Ceremony is a book of a people for a people. For me it landed at 3.5 stars.