Skip to content

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) Paperback - 2007

by Leslie Marmon Silko; Introduction by Larry McMurtry

"Demanding but confident and beautifully written" (Boston Globe), this is the story of a young Native American returning to his reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II.


Summary

More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people. Only by immersing himself in the Indian past can he begin to regain the peace that was taken from him. Masterfully written, filled with the somber majesty of Pueblo myth, Ceremony is a work of enduring power. The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition contains a new preface by the author and an introduction by Larry McMurtry.

From the publisher

The great Native American Novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people. Only by immersing himself in the Indian past can he begin to regain the peace that was taken from him. Masterfully written, filled with the somber majesty of Pueblo myth, Ceremony is a work of enduring power. The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition contains a new preface by the author and an introduction by Larry McMurtry. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

First line

Tayo didn't sleep well that night.

Details

  • Title Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
  • Author Leslie Marmon Silko; Introduction by Larry McMurtry
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 272
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, New York
  • Date 2007-01-01
  • Features Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780143104919 / 0143104918
  • Weight 0.65 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 in (21.08 x 14.22 x 2.03 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 890
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Southwest U.S.
    • Ethnic Orientation: Native American
    • Geographic Orientation: New Mexico
  • Library of Congress subjects Western stories, World War, 1939-1945 - Veterans
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2006050705
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

An exceptional novel—a cause for celebration. (The Washington Post Book World)

Her assurance, her gravity, her flexibility are all wonderful gifts. (The New York Review of Books)

The novel is very deliberately a ceremony in itself—demanding but confident and beautifully written. (The Boston Globe)

Ceremony is the greatest novel in Native American literature. It is one of the greatest novels of any time and place. I have read this book so many times that I probably have it memorized. I teach it and I learn from it and I am continually in awe of its power, beauty, rage, vision, and violence. (Sherman Alexie)

Without question Leslie Marmon Silko is the most accomplished Native American writer of her generation. (The New York Times Book Review)

Citations

  • New York Times, 12/24/2006, Page 20

About the author

Leslie Marmon Silko was born in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. She has said that her writing has at its core "the attempt to identify what it is to be a half-breed or mixed-blood person." As she grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, she learned the stories and culture of the Laguna people from her great-grandmother and other female relatives. After receiving her B. A. in English at the University of New Mexico, she enrolled in the University of New Mexico law school but completed only three semesters before deciding that writing and storytelling, not law, were the means by which she could best promote justice. She married John Silko in 1970. Prior to the writing of Ceremony, she published a series of short stories, including "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." She also authored a volume of poetry, Laguna Woman: Poems, for which she received the Pushcart Prize for Poetry.

In 1973, Silko moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, where she wrote Ceremony. Initially conceived as a comic story abut a mother's attempts to keep her son, a war veteran, away from alcohol, Ceremony gradually transformed into an intricate meditation on mental disturbance, despair, and the power of stories and traditional culture as the keys to self-awareness and, eventually, emotional healing. Having battled depression herself while composing her novel, Silko was later to call her book "a ceremony for staying sane." Silko has followed the critical success of Ceremony with a series of other novels, including Storyteller, Almanac for the Dead, and Gardens in the Dunes. Nevertheless, it was the singular achievement of Ceremony that first secured her a place among the first rank of Native American novelists. Leslie Marmon Silko now lives on a ranch near Tucson, Arizona.


Larry McMurtry is the author of twenty-one bestselling novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show. He lives in Texas.
Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
Condition
UsedGood
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
3
Seller
Skokie, Illinois, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$3.81
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
UsedGood. creased spine
Item Price
$3.81
$3.99 shipping to USA
Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
Condition
UsedVeryGood
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Skokie, Illinois, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$3.81
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
UsedVeryGood. Minor wear on cover. Clean pages.
Item Price
$3.81
$3.99 shipping to USA
Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Leslie Marmon Silko

  • Used
  • very good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Very Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Publishing Group, 2006. Paperback. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
4
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Group, 2006. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
  • Acceptable
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Acceptable
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
4
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Group, 2006. Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Leslie Marmon Silko

  • Used
  • Acceptable
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Acceptable
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Publishing Group, 2006. Paperback. Acceptable. Disclaimer:Former library book; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Leslie Marmon Silko

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
3
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Publishing Group, 2006. Paperback. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Ceremony : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Leslie Marmon Silko

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Publishing Group, 2006. Paperback. Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. The dust jacket is missing. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
$5.99
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
Condition
UsedAcceptable
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Interlochen, Michigan, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$6.15
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
UsedAcceptable. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing (age related spots and browning). May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
Item Price
$6.15
FREE shipping to USA
Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

by Silko, Leslie Marmon

  • Used
  • Acceptable
Condition
Used - Acceptable
Edition
Anniversary
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780143104919 / 0143104918
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$6.29
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Books. Anniversary. Acceptable. Acceptable. Ship within 24hrs. Satisfaction 100% guaranteed. APO/FPO addresses supported
Item Price
$6.29
FREE shipping to USA