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babyvirgo's review against another edition
Lost access to the Seattle Public Library, others didn't have a copy.
x0pherl's review against another edition
5.0
After telling a friend that I thought The Solitude of Prime Numbers was the best novel I had ever read, they asked me what else came close. This and Confederacy of Dunces were the only books I could bring to mind, and the mood of Confederacy is very different from Solitude so I decided to re-read this and see if my opinion still stands.
The answer is probably, although I need to think about it for a while. It's hard for me to place this book - written during the Vietnam era about a man returning from World War II - in the appropriate time, but overall it reads like a much more modern story. It would take very few changes to place this story in today's world.
Silko walks a fine line, tempering a somewhat optimistic ending with the overall mood of the book, which is much to the credit of the book. While the ending seems somewhat tentative to me, its hard to imagine a different ending that wouldn't cause more problems than it resolves.
The answer is probably, although I need to think about it for a while. It's hard for me to place this book - written during the Vietnam era about a man returning from World War II - in the appropriate time, but overall it reads like a much more modern story. It would take very few changes to place this story in today's world.
Silko walks a fine line, tempering a somewhat optimistic ending with the overall mood of the book, which is much to the credit of the book. While the ending seems somewhat tentative to me, its hard to imagine a different ending that wouldn't cause more problems than it resolves.
katcanwrite's review against another edition
5.0
Not my favorite of the books I read sophomore year of high school. It was just kind of grating. It was the last book we read that year.
elfinedaze's review against another edition
3.0
"But the effects were hidden, evident only in the sterility of their art, which continued to feed off the vitality of other cultures, and in the dissolution of their consciousness into dead objects: the plastic and neon, the concrete and steel.Hollow and lifeless as a witchery clay figure. And what little still remained to white people was shriveled like a seed hoarded too long, shrunken past its time, and split open now, to expose a fragile, pale leaf stem, perfectly formed and dead.
3.5 stars. I won't lie, this book deserves more than 3.5 stars. Probably 5 stars. But there are a few things which did not really sit well with me. First was the way the story was told. I get the whole ceremony and storytelling theme but i found the nonlinear narrative extremely disorienting and confusing. It was almost as if the whole book and plot were a big vague referent. Also, i found it really hard to connect with the characters. I really wanted to. Like i really tried but I felt so indifferent and i partly blame the narrative.
Secondly, some parts were just too overbearingly descriptive and it made me just speed up my reading so my agony would end.
All in all, this is a really great book, and maybe in the future , i might take it up to read again (very unlikely) but slowly and comprehensively this time.
3.5 stars. I won't lie, this book deserves more than 3.5 stars. Probably 5 stars. But there are a few things which did not really sit well with me. First was the way the story was told. I get the whole ceremony and storytelling theme but i found the nonlinear narrative extremely disorienting and confusing. It was almost as if the whole book and plot were a big vague referent. Also, i found it really hard to connect with the characters. I really wanted to. Like i really tried but I felt so indifferent and i partly blame the narrative.
Secondly, some parts were just too overbearingly descriptive and it made me just speed up my reading so my agony would end.
All in all, this is a really great book, and maybe in the future , i might take it up to read again (very unlikely) but slowly and comprehensively this time.
jendiz_'s review against another edition
*** read for Native American class 21’***
I have no idea what this book said. I know it’s about tayo who has severe ptsd but my understanding stops there. Hate the fact I had to read it for class bc I don’t think I can judge it fairly. Thus my no rating.
I have no idea what this book said. I know it’s about tayo who has severe ptsd but my understanding stops there. Hate the fact I had to read it for class bc I don’t think I can judge it fairly. Thus my no rating.
buttercup7's review against another edition
3.0
Very mixed- some parts were beautiful and profound but there were pages and pages of nature descriptions which I personally hate. I get the message that nature is ultimately more powerful than man, but I do not need to read about the reservation landscape so much. That being said, I enjoyed the mixed narrative structure and how the book focused on the localized effects of the war.
sasifras's review against another edition
4.0
It was beautiful. This was a copy I was borrowing from someone who read it for school. I am thankful it came into her path so it could come into mine.