House Made of Dawn | 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110996
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First line: “The river lies in a valley of hills and fields.”
Life being so busy, it's sometimes hard to get into a book, especially those that are considered "difficult". Reading this novel, I at first thought it was somewhat impenetrable, but then it started to have a kaleidoscopic cadence, a colourful poetry, a beauty that my mind subtly settled into. Maybe that's the way it is with some "hard" books: just steal some time, silence, and a quiet but open mind, and suddenly things just might flow...
Their invaders were a long time in conquering them; and now, after four centuries of Christianity, they still pray in Tanoan to the old deities of the earth and sky and make their living from the things that are and have always been within their reach...They have assumed the names and gestures of their enemies, but have held on to their own, secret souls; and in this there is a resistance and an overcoming, a long outwaiting.
"What was it they saw? Probably they saw nothing after all, nothing at all. But then that was the trick, wasn't it? To see nothing at all, nothing in the absolute. To see beyond the landscape, beyond every shape and shadow and color, that was to see nothing. That was to be free and finished, complete, spiritual."
Ahh... That first line feeling.
"Dypaloh. There was a house made of dawn. It was made of pollen and of rain, and the land was very old and everlasting."
pickI can‘t say enough about this book. The narrative style is so interesting. The delicate use of nature & urbanity to highlight the two parts of Abel‘s psyche, indeed the struggle for many like him. The desire/need to honor & hold onto your culture/ancestry & yet the pull of the modern world, the push to assimilate. (At what cost!?) Gorgeous, devastating work. I‘ll think about this often. (I‘ve read that this was huge boon for anthropology as well!)
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Very visionary, strongly spiritual, this is the Native novel l had more difficulties getting into. I'm also not very familiar with the Pueblo cultures, which didn't help.
I'm sure l missed a lot between the lines, but what a did catch was very powerful, the story of a veteran serching for his true self in so many different ways.
Loved it.
pickThis is the more mysterious book l've read. Everything in this books means something else.
Being not too familiar with the Hopi culture, many episodes were obscure to me, but l still felt the power of it. There's a deep mysticism everywhere which creates surprising layers of meaning.
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Time for a reread of this old friend.
