Book Club: Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony follows Tayo, a half-Pueblo, half-white veteran, after his return from WWII, where he was stationed in the Pacific. He returns with P.T.S.D, tormented by the knowledge that the United States government used him and other Native men for its war, giving those lucky enough to survive nothing in return.

His white doctors diagnose him with "battle fatigue," today known as post traumatic stress disorder. In addition to Tayo's story in the present, the novel flashes back to his experiences before and during the war. A parallel story narrates a legendary episode in which the Pueblo nation is threatened by a drought as punishment for listening to a practitioner of "witchery". In order to redeem the people of the nation, Hummingbird and Green Bottle Fly must journey to the Fourth World to find Reed Woman.