Ceremony will surely take its place as one of a distinguished triumvirate of first novels by contemporary American Indians. Like Momaday's House Made of Dawn and Welch's Winter in the Blood, it presents us with the characteristic protagonist of the contemporary Indian novel: the young Indian male who begins the novel confused and disoriented and who ends it relatively unconfused after reorienting himself to important elements of his family and tribal identity.

The major themes of the novel, then, are conveyed by Silko's account of what Tayo learns on his journey to recovery. First, that Indian ceremonies are not superstitious nonsense, but can help lost Indians discover a living response to the world around them. Second, that life itself is a "story" which will work itself out to the happiest ending only if the liver makes himself aware of the traditions and stories of his people, and thinks...