Ceremonies Of The Damned: Poems (Western Literature Series) [Paperback]

Adrian C. Louis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alzheimer's
Black Crow Dreams
Black Is This Night Of Love
Ceremonies Of The Damned
A Colossal American Copulation
Coyote's Circle
Dead Rez Land Dream
Earth Bone Connected To The Spirit Bone
For You, These Flowers
Getting A Second Opinion
Good Morning America
It Has Come To This
Mario Savio
Medicine Song
Note To A Young Rez Artist
Petroglyphs Of Serena
Shall We Gather At The River
Star Quilt In A Pawnshop
This Ends With A Frozen Penis
This Is The Rez
To Bill In Minnesota, Minnesota
To Jim In Sawyer, Minnesota
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 71 pages
• Publisher: University of Nevada Press (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874173027
• ISBN-13: 978-0874173024
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Louis's <Ceremonies> shatters the myth of Indian men, December 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Ceremonies Of The Damned: Poems (Western Literature Series) (Paperback)

Adrian Louis's Ceremonies of the Damned is a book wrought from love so rare that it destroys down to the last particle the image of the emotionless Indian man. It is the personal tragic journey of dealing with the tragedy of losing one's life partner to a debilitating disease, Altzheimers, and is a pain-filled love story. Ceremonies is the best book of poetry written by a Native American man in the whole history of native literature. It begins with the human contradicitions in character in a poem entitled "Petroglyphs of Serena," in which Louis documents an affair. The stage is set for what comes later. We have to question if the disease that afflicts his wife is a direct result of infidelity? Maybe. Without this preface, though, I believe, we would elevate Louis to sainthood. In the end, without this poem, we as readers would not be privey to the real human contradictions at work in Ceremonies. There are implications to our own lives. The last poem, too, is a remarkable testimony of human resiliency wherein Louis, despite his pain, is still able to ask if there is still the possibility of love. Between the two ends of this spectrum are: beauty, pain, tragedy, and anger. Louis is a fine-tuned poet that pulls you from laughter to tears in a few lines. I read this book from front to back in one sitting; I could not put it down. When I finished reading it, I wept.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knocked the air from my lungs, May 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ceremonies Of The Damned: Poems (Western Literature Series) (Paperback)

Ceremonies of the Damned literally knocked the air from my lungs. One of the harshest and most beautiful poetry books I have ever read. Get it!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ceremonies of the Damned, November 29, 1999

By 

Theresa Sucha (Omaha, Nebraska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ceremonies Of The Damned: Poems (Western Literature Series) (Paperback)

Ceremonies of the Damned by Adrian Louis is truly a collection of poems that is wrought with moral destruction. Louis leaves a lot to the imagination. Did he really sleep with his student Serena? He never really answers this. He lets the reader's imagination run. And what about his wife's Alzheimer's? How do you blame a man for being unfaithful to a woman who is just a shell of the woman he once loved(?). This collection of poetry is some of the best poetry that I have ever read. Louis paints a horrifying picture of reservation life that is decorated ever so slightly with a love for his wife that keeps his guilt alive and strong. I read this book beginning to end several times. Spellbinding!