_The Delicacy and Strength of Lace_ is an incredibly moving exchange between two great American poets who only met briefly on two occasions: Wright heard Silko read from her work which initiated the correspondence; Silko visited Wright on his deathbed. In between they exchanged letters about their everyday existences, everything from Silko's rooster to the nature of another animal, the human animal. Wright's inititial letter told Silko of his high regard for her book, _Ceremony_ and it's importance and stature in American literature. The letters quickly take on the knowing, personal feel of two people who have known each other for years. The reader is drawn into their lives and, especially, their visions. I recently re-read the book, and once again found myself examining along with the writers the very heart and nature of our existence in this vale of tears. Fans of the poetry of either will find this exchange especially enlightening, but I came to it unfamiiliar with either and found its simplicity and yet its warmth and vision compelling. I often give it as a gift. My copy has been around the world. This is a book to read, relish and re-read. Most readers will probably move next to the works of these two wonderfully compassionate soulmates. Many of Silko's poems appear in the letters.

The quality varies in this collection of essays, newspaper/magazine commentaries and other textual fragments. Also, because they often touch on similar topics, the book is a bit repetitive at places - especially in the case of "Fences Against Freedom" and "The Border Patrol State," which contain a number of identical passages. Even so, it is in these two pieces in particular that Silko provides some of her sharpest insights and most damning criticism of official U.S. policy toward Mexico and toward its own citizens living in the Southwest. Also interesting are Silko's observations on the concepts of collective memory and consciousness contained in the complex system of oral narratives among her own Laguna Pueblo nation. Although none of the contributions in this book are in-depth studies, taken together they all offer a great deal of food for thought.

Silko's collection of essays present an open, expansive view of her mind and art, her background and destiny. If you've read any of her other works, reading this short book will enrich your appreciation as well as assist you on the next step of your journey. If you haven't read any Silko yet, this is a gentle way to ease you into her writings.

I read it for the background that she gives about storytelling and the narrative process; for wonderful sentences like this: "The storyteller did not just tell the stories, they would in their way act them out. The storyteller would imitate voices for vast dialogues between the various figures of the story. So we sometimes say the moment is alive again within us, within our imagination and our memory, as we listen."

I read it for the wisdom of the old ways of the old-time people; like this: "...time was round--like a tortilla; time had specific moments and specific locations, so that the beloved ancestors who had passed on were not annihilated by death, but only relocated to the place called the Cliff House. At Cliff House, people continued as they had always been, although only spirits and not living humans can travel freely over this tortilla of time. All times go on existing side by side for all eternity. No moment is lost or destroyed. There are no future times or past times; there are 'always all' [her emphasis] the times, which differ slightly, as the locations on the tortilla differ slightly. The past and the future are the same because they exist only in the present of our imaginations...." and she continues, but, isn't that powerful? As well as good writing?

I also enjoyed reading of her political activism and her position on many issues of the west and Native-Americans.

For me, highly recommended. Can't you tell?

I was extremely surprised to find this collection of essays not reviewed here. The title essay alone, "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the spirit," carries more weight than most books in total, given the revelatory descriptions of traditional Laguna Pueblo culture.

Also, Silko's essay "The Border Patrol State" and other notes on border militarism and race related discrimination are important and timely, and increasingly relevant.

"Gardens in the Dunes" covers a lot of territory, most of it new--for example, one subplot concerns botanical theft (uprooting specimens of a particular orchid species from its habitat in the Amazonian rainforest, then burning the rest of the habitat to increase the value of the specimens). Silko has obviously done exhaustive research on many different plants and garden types, European and Native mythology, the Ghost Dance, and numerous other topics outside the range of most historical fiction. These details definitely make the novel worth reading.

However, unlike some of Silko's earlier work (ie. "Ceremony"), "Gardens" is written with little attention to prose style. Instead of showing the characters' emotions through their actions or dialogue, Silko is often content to describe them ("Hattie felt sad...") which has little impact for the reader.

Considering the themes it deals with (suppression of Native cultures, women's rights, ecological destruction), the book is fairly apolitical. No one ethnic group is given a monopoly on meaningful spirituality or wisdom. White people are not the villains; the general human failings of greed, dishonesty, ignorance and condescension are what cause trouble, and the people that display these faults are in every culture. The destruction of nature and the oppression of fellow humans are the ills; a respect for the ancient wisdom (of any culture) and the beauty and providence of the natural world are the remedies.

"Gardens" may seem dry to some, but it's well worth the effort to discover Silko's unique and detailed cultural vision.

Leslie Marmon Silko moves to the first rank of American novelists with this haunting, exquisitely written tale of a young Native American woman's odyssey through Victorian Age America and Europe. Her keen observations on 19th Century women's rights and exploitation of nature are still quite relevant today. Anyone who has enjoyed reading Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain" and Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" will find this magnificient book just as poignant and mesmerizing a read. "Gardens in the Dunes" truly deserves a wider readership than it's earned so far.

On a personal note, I remain indebted to Leslie Marmon Silko for taking the time to read a science fiction novel I had written that was rich in ideas and deficient in character development. Her generous advice I wasn't able to heed, but I hope a current work which a literary agent is now reading will bear some promising fruit.

This new novel by Leslie Marmon Silko is a masterpiece. Silko has written another wonderful book about Native Americans, but at the same time we can read the history of Western civilization following the story of these gardens and plants. The prose is always original, intense, lyrical.

The format is unusual: poems, short stories, personal accounts, photographs, all intermingled through the pages. The book shape is unusual (landscape vs the conventional portrait). The poems and songs were not lined up, but the stanzas were scattered through the page. Very interesting, and i am happy that i've read it, but i think this book was trying too hard to be different, and that took away from the content.

Leslie Marmon Silko's Storyteller was the first of its kind--a combination of fiction, poetry, family history, oral tradition from her own and other Native American communities, photographs--woven together to create a sense of personal, cultural, feminist, and human identity. Others have adopted some of her techniques, but Storyteller ranks as a classic work of Native American and American literature--and a great read.

Librarians have a difficult time finding a place for this book. Should it go into the autobiographical section? There's a great deal of her past and her family's heritage in this book. Should it be placed next to the poetry books? She has included several of her poems. What about fiction? She has several of her famous short stories ("Storyteller," "Yellow Woman," "Lullaby,") collected here. It's even got photojournalism in it--26 photos taken by either herself or her father. Even the shape of the book is peculiar. Maybe this might disenchant a reader who would rather have boundaries and borders. But I found it amazing.

Of course, she puts the table of contents at the end of the book. And the beginning of the book is in the center, with her poem "Long Time Ago," and should be read outwards, like the circular, centrifugal pattern in a spider web.

She keeps the memories alive of her the old people by telling her stories. She relates in her poetry and fiction, narratives that are reflective, alarming, magical, and, well, fascinating. The voice is consistent, strong, and rhythmic. Thought Woman has been at work here.

I recommend this book for those that want to learn, who want to challenge themselves by being confronted, who long to find a book to counsel and lead them into reflections, and who respect all things, past, present, and possible.

Silko has written the most disturbing work of fiction I have ever read -- brutal, violent, vulgar, obscene, horrific, ugly, terrifying.....and unfortunately true. With a cast of characters as degenerate as they come, Silko strips away the facade of "manners" and "civilization" to expose the ugliest of the ugly in man, an ugly too near the surface of many people. Blinded by their own self-centeredness, each character stumbles toward personal armageddon from which there is no escape. The novel presents none of the hopeful aspects which are generally associated with contemporary Native American literature (but one, Sterling's return to Laguna) -- there are no living children to continue the family and no characters in relationships that offer this hope, no communities with strong emotional ties, no returns (except for Sterling's), and no healing. Morally and emotionally scarred, the characters move through the novels like the decaying creatures in a horror movie. No book has ever made me physically ill until this one -- headaches, nausea, nightmares, general disgust. If you have a weak constitution, skip this one. Also, watch out for extreme prejudice -- are Europeans the only ones not allowed to live on in the promised land? Are Europeans the only group that is not tribal, and therefore not deserving of a place in the Americas (a trick question, for if you believe in evolution, all groups were tribal at one point or another)

Not nearly as complex as some would like to make it. The "land" interacts with people to manifest its spirits. Those who are "cut off" from the land, become alienated and "alien." 500 years is not so long in the grand scheme of things. What is yet to come is what has been before, a people who are shaped by the spirits of the Americas.

Her novel might not make some people "happy." It certainly isn't your romantic "Indian story" (that so many people seem to want). The lives it depicts in fiction aren't far from the convoluted inner workings of some of the indigenous movements here in the Americas (the Zapatista, AIM, etc.) nor from the "cultural elite" who rot in their penthouses in the monuments of Western civilization.

It might not be an "easy" read, but it is certainly an engaging one, and a well-crafted one. Highly recommended.

In a stunning subversion of the concept of "americaness", Leslie Marmon Silko has drawn together the disparate histories of a world that streches for the end of Argentina to the tip of Alaska and created a new mythology of the Americas. Epic in scope, poetic in meaning, this novel graphically exposes the infected soul of a stolen continent. The language is unflinching as the story, each character crucified to their past as they move toward Silko's impending apocalypse. Not mearly the story of the evil oppression of a helpless people, this book explore the nature of domination and how it corrups and breaks both those who are dominated, and those who dominate. Almanac of the Dead is a history and a proficy. Undoubtedly the most important work or true American ficition

Leslie Marmon Silko, a Native American writer, talks in Ceremony about the survival of the people from her Pueblo, Laguna. In this novel Tayo, the main character, enlisted in the ARMY with his brother Rocky. Rocky died in the World War II. Tayo was very affected and came back to his home. Here Leslie Marmon Silko writes about the different reactions that the characters have to their suffering. Many of them take refuge in alcohol like Harley, one of Tayo's friend and Emo, the evil symbol of the novel; but Tayo lives with a guilty feeling. Ceremony is how they try to overcome World War II, it is how they try to overcome their social problems and how they found the balance in life. The novel talks about the different Indian traditions. For example, the ritual they do when a deer is killed (p.51-52). We can see too how important it was to Indians to be at the same social level of white people. This is one of the greatest polemics that Leslie Marmon Silko talks about, one of the biggest social problems that Indians are confronting. Indians have been always persecuted by prejudice and becoming part of World War II here in the novel made them feel popular and important. They feel that everyone treats them as Americans, as white people, it makes them feel that they (Indians) are just like white people. They even compare themselves with Americans; but Tayo found out by heart that this was a big lie, white people and Indians were really different (p.191). In the novel we will see how alcohol and the consequences of prejudice combine together to bring out a great theme that will get us thinking. Thinking in our own problems and how we have survived with prejudice, we should take Ceremony as an example to overcome today's society finding the balance like Tayo did. The most interesting part of Ceremony is the grate technique that the author Leslie Marmon Silko uses to take the reader on a travel through time. The characters in the novel are living in the present, but at the same time remembering and thinking of the past. Sometimes the reader will wonder of what he/she is reading is in the present or if the character is just remembering. But Silko integrated poems in the novel, the real Indian ceremonies. Many people think that the poems are only one more puzzle to figure out, and maybe they are right. However, I believe that even when they are puzzles they can help the reader, in some way, to comprehend the switching in time, so that they do not get lost, they help to keep track of time. The poems talk about many Indians traditions, droughts, witchery and stories that people do not know. As the people change the ceremonies change too. Here is where the puzzle comes in because the reader has to be very concentrated and into the novel to understand them, but at the same time the reader starts to comprehend the poems and the ceremonies; the reader will start to comprehend the novel too. People who like to analyze things and love analogies and the switching between the present and the past, between reality and fantasy and people who want to learn about Indians, their traditions and beliefs should buy this novel because it is very interesting. It will definitely get the money's worth.

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.

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.