The one thing I loved from this method were the poems. There weren’t chapters in the book, but each section was determined by the crazy indentation the paragraph starts with. The story is told in flashbacks, in present day events, and in the ceremony to help Tayo heal from the atrocities of his life and the war. Once I finally got a grasp of what was going on, I approached the book more cautiously. It was also stylized in a way that made it quite confusing in the beginning. I really regret not looking into this one some more because while it was really interesting to read, it was pretty dense writing. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremony that defeats the most virulent of afflictions-despair. Tayo’s quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. First, let’s talk about what this book is about

It was surprisingly short and compact for what it was conveying and I loved it. I could write a whole dissertation on the different themes of this novel. With very little knowledge of what this book is about, I read it. Because a friend was doing a challenge to read books by Native American authors.

Ceremony book silko