Ceremony

Tayo, a young man of mixed Laguna Pueblo and white heritage, returns to his reservation in New Mexico after fighting in the Second World War as a prisoner of the Japanese. He is haunted by what he saw and is physically and mentally unwell, and the local healing does not work. Leslie Marmon Silko follows him as he turns to Betonie, a medicine man who uses new methods, and begins a ritual involving a lost herd of cattle, a woman named Ts'eh and the land itself. Chapters of poetry and traditional stories interrupt the narrative, linking his healing to the rest of the community.

It's for readers who like Native American literature and war stories that look at trauma in a different way. It rewards a slow reading.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?