About this title: In Momaday's first novel, Abel is a Jemez Indian returning to his tribe after World War II. An outsider among his own people because of his war experiences and because of the fact that he is the illegitimate offspring of a Navajo, Abel is humiliated at a ceremony, then he murders the man who offended him. After serving an eight-year sentence, Abel moves to Los Angeles, where he is confronted by the Reverend Tosamah, a Kiowa Indian based on a parodic view of Momaday himself. Tosamah proceeds to victimize Abel because he is a "longhair"--an unassimilated Indian. Abel is victimized in other ways ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780060804213ISBN:0060804211
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. 1985. Paperback. 7th printing Ed. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780060804213ISBN:0060804211
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. 1985. Paperback. 7th printing Ed. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
Description: Good. No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book shows moderate wear/ spine tight/ covers slightly creased and scuffed; moderate edge wear/ several pages have underlining and margin notes/ corners creased/ several page tips creased. read more
Edition: First Perennial Library Edition
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Perennial Library
Date published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780060804213ISBN:0060804211
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice, solid, unmarked. Spine slightly cocked. Some age tanning to inside covers. (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. Cover photo: Michal Heron read more
Description: Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 1989 Trade PB. Harper & Row. 212 pgs. Some reader notes, no highlighting. Binding solid. Cover with light shelf wear. He was a young American Indian named Abel, and he lived in two worlds. One was that of his father, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, the ecstasy of the drug called peyote. The other was the world of the twentieth century, goading him into a compulsive cycle of sexual exploits, dissipation, and disgust. Home from ... read more
"This was more confusing and obscure than The Sound and The Fury. I suppose the Pulitzer committee was impressed by it's veneer of native American spiritualism. I think it's an unreadable construction of meaningless imagery, with fewer than ten pages of dialogue in the whole book."
House made of dawn
Reviewed by bob on
2010-01-08 00:00:00.0.
This was more confusing and obscure than The Sound and The Fury. I suppose the Pulitzer committee was impressed by it's veneer of native American spiritualism. I think it's an unreadable construction of meaningless imagery, with fewer than ten pages of dialogue in the whole book.
Rating: 1
"My wife thought I might enjoy this one by Momaday, a Native American writer from the Southwest (which we visited earlier this year), and I did. This one actually deserved its Pulitzer."
House made of dawn
Reviewed by Paul on
2009-11-14 00:00:00.0.
My wife thought I might enjoy this one by Momaday, a Native American writer from the Southwest (which we visited earlier this year), and I did. This one actually deserved its Pulitzer.
Rating: 4
"i don't have a good history with pulitzer winners overall. there have been a few exceptions, but this was certainly not one of them. it was all i could do to force myself to skim this book. i was over halfway through before i found a page or two that mildly interested me, and it was short lived. i think there were spots where the writing was nice, but i couldn't bring myself to engage enough to find out for sure.
ok, ok, i'll give you a quote that is kind of lovely and thought provoking:
"The people of the town have little need. They do not hanker after progress and have never changed their essential way of life. Their invaders were a long time in conquering them; and now, after four centuries of Christianity, they still pray in Tanoan to the old deities of the earth and sky and make their living from the things that are and have always been within their reach; while in the discrimination of pride they acquire from their conquerors only the luxury of example. They have assumed the names and gestures of their enemies, but have held on to their own, secret souls; and in this there is a resistance and an overcoming, a long outwaiting."
while this is well written i find it in part problematic in content, but i'll let that slide. even so, i like this passage but can't say that it was worth reading to book to get to it. so i've saved you all the trouble...."
House made of dawn
Reviewed by elisa on
2009-10-22 00:00:00.0.
i don't have a good history with pulitzer winners overall. there have been a few exceptions, but this was certainly not one of them. it was all i could do to force myself to skim this book. i was over halfway through before i found a page or two that mildly interested me, and it was short lived. i think there were spots where the writing was nice, but i couldn't bring myself to engage enough to find out for sure.
ok, ok, i'll give you a quote that is kind of lovely and thought provoking:
"The people of the town have little need. They do not hanker after progress and have never changed their essential way of life. Their invaders were a long time in conquering them; and now, after four centuries of Christianity, they still pray in Tanoan to the old deities of the earth and sky and make their living from the things that are and have always been within their reach; while in the discrimination of pride they acquire from their conquerors only the luxury of example. They have assumed the names and gestures of their enemies, but have held on to their own, secret souls; and in this there is a resistance and an overcoming, a long outwaiting."
while this is well written i find it in part problematic in content, but i'll let that slide. even so, i like this passage but can't say that it was worth reading to book to get to it. so i've saved you all the trouble....
Rating: 1
"I found that this book dropped me into a bit of cultural confusion. Stuff in Los Angeles made some sense but I couldn't understand all that was going on on the reservation. There was a lot that I couldn't understand throughout the book. I kept reading anyway and then at the end, I was entranced into revisiting parts of the book I read earlier to see how they fit in and led to the conclusion."
House made of dawn
Reviewed by Donna on
2009-10-14 00:00:00.0.
I found that this book dropped me into a bit of cultural confusion. Stuff in Los Angeles made some sense but I couldn't understand all that was going on on the reservation. There was a lot that I couldn't understand throughout the book. I kept reading anyway and then at the end, I was entranced into revisiting parts of the book I read earlier to see how they fit in and led to the conclusion.
Rating: 4
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