Reviews

Storyteller by Leslie Marmon Silko

aidareads's review

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challenging emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

3.75

angel_filyaw's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 stars

I’ve read Silko’s short story "Lullaby" twice now and it only gets better and better, but "Tony’s Story" is definitely my favorite out of this collection. Silko shows how storytelling evolves and how it is not a loss for her to record some of the variations of her peoples’ stories in writing but a tool.

anthonyk's review against another edition

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3.0

read for native american literature class

not my favorite in the class so far. the poetry in this book was godly but I just couldn't get into the prose sections for whatever reason. of all the books we've read for this class, this certainly sticks out like a sore thumb.

dunderdorian's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

liambenfer's review against another edition

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5.0

Storyteller was an incredible book that I'm excited to revisit and think about often. The writing is beautiful, and I'm amazed by how Leslie Marmon Silko articulates what storytelling is and how it functions in her culture.

mielenmaisemia's review against another edition

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emotional informative slow-paced

3.0

choirqueer's review against another edition

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5.0

This deeply moving narrative is constructed of photographs, poetry, memories, and parables woven together to create a story that offers truths from all different angles. The unique physical structure of the book, a long rectangle with the long side on top, draws the reader out of ordinary book-reading mode and shifts the sensory experience of reading the book, which I thought was a really cool way to do that.

cw for child sexual abuse, racial violence

paulineg's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

lauramcc7's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

nicole6559's review

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4.0

I only read the short story Lullaby from this book for class, and I have to say that it was eye opening. This book educated me on a moment in American history that was dark and traumatic for the Native American Population.

The short-story Lullaby details the story of Ayah, a woman who gets her children sent away to an American Indian Boarding School. It tells how it breaks her husband and her apart and how she is never the same after it happened.

While the story details what happened to the parents, it doesn't detail what happens to the children when they are sent away to the schools. If that was included in this story, I feel as if the impact would have been conveyed better. I went to a museum in my city that had an exhibit on the boarding schools, and I have to say the museum add another level to this story, one that it was severely lacking.

Overall, it was a good story that sheds light onto a dark time in American History.