TeaLeavesGreen 2008-04-17

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I just... I have no words. There are parts of this book that make me sick. Parts that make me weep. Parts that really piss me off. And yet, it leaves me hopeful. I adore this book. It's truly revolutionary, in my opinion.

I question the classification as fiction, however. I mean, yes, there are parts that are very much fictional - specific characters, individual backstories and personalities and situation. But, as with I-novels (shishosetsu), while the details are fictional, the essence of the story is true. It's real.

Five stars. I'd give it more if I could.

Stephanie N. Medoff 2006-07-30

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

This is a novel that's formidable at first sight but well worth reading, or at the very least skimming...

I stumbled upon this book after I was captivated by the cover as a fellow walked by holding it under his arm. I thought "Almanac of The Dead," that sounds like something I'd like to read... It was, just not the way I expected...

With more than 50 characters and a wide array of events spanning hundreds of years and several continents, the plot of this novel is less linear than an elaborate web of events that centers itself on Tucson, Arizona.

Stamped by the era it was written in and bursting at the seams with addicts, eco-warriors, the homeless, alcoholics, twisted judges, corrupt politicians, the greedy, the unscrupulous and a variety of other unsavory characters, this novel tells a story of oppression, of indigenous people and their allies, of efforts to retake their stolen land and ultimately of a form of healing not often visited by novels...

Perhaps, it's because I live in Tucson, AZ that I was able to transport myself to this parallel universe world so easily but whatever the reason it was like taking a walk through another person's dreamscape. Vast, jarring, complex, upsetting, even a bit boring at times, but always compelling.

I'll never read it again, but I'm glad I read it once.

Tidewater 2005-09-21

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

This novel is one of the great novels of the 20th century--IMHO. It ranks with Joyce's "Ulysses" in dissecting a culture, this one of North America (sans Canada). There are lessons here, and the writing cuts to the bone.

Not F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway, to be sure. More like an extended take by Flannery O'Connor from a Native American perspective.

To read (and re-read) "The Almanac of the Dead," "Under the Volcano," (Malcolm Lowry) "Wise Blood," (O'Connor) and "Moby Dick" (guess who) is to obtain a comprehensive view of America from the underside. And the underside, as Carl Jung was at pains to point out, is where the collective unconscious is at work.

Nathan R. Cowlishaw 2004-09-23

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

I love Leslie Marmon Silko's book. I was able to relate to the story and the plot is believable. Leslie is a very talented, and worthy writer. While the book was depressing at times, it was filled with truth, righteous indignation, and deep wisdom. It is time to take our lives back from those that destroy and plunder our Earth Mother, and seek nothing more then greed for comfort.

I hope a revolution develops, like the one in Almanac of the Dead. It is time for Indigenous peoples to take back their lands and to put an end to all human suffering.

This book is a message for all peoples of the Earth. It is a change that is necessary to bring peace, and harmony to our lives. Resist!

2004-04-16

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Leslie Marmon Silko has created an intensely profound window into the deep undercurrents of American civilization. Her complex characters and revealing looks into their lives opens a porthole into the human condition that is intersting and intense all at once. The reader becomes an intregal part of the lives of the characters that she has created. The shortcomings of the characters are buried beneath reality and Silko is able to make a connection that is intriguing. Aside from the all consuming length of the book Silko manages to stay the course and complete a novel that is worthy of the time investment. I read this book as part of an essential study on modern American novels and I agree that this book has characteriscs that make it worthy of its lofty modern day status.