Seldom Disappointed [Large Print] [Paperback]

Tony Hillerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

When Tony Hillerman looks back at seventy-six years spent getting from hard-times farm boy to bestselling author, he sees lots of evidence that Providence was poking him along. For example, when an absentminded Army clerk left him off the hospital ship taking the wounded home from France in World War II, the mishap put him on a collision course with a curing ceremony held for two Navajo Marines, thereby providing the grist for a writing career that now sees his books published in twenty-four languages around the world. In this wry and whimsical memoir, Hillerman offers frequent backward glances at where he found ideas for the plots of his books and the characters who inhabit them. For example, there's the way flushing a solitary heron from a sandbar caused him to convert Joe Leaphorn from husband to widower. No child abuse stories here: The worst Hillerman can recall is being sent off to first grade (in a boarding school for Indian girls) clad in cute blue coveralls instead of the manly overalls his farm-boy peers all wore. We get a good-natured trip through hard times in college, a colorful infantry career, and, afterward, work as truck driver, chain dragger, journalist, professor, and "doer of undignified deeds" for two university presidents. All this is colored by his love affair (now in its fifty-fourth year) with Marie, which involved raising six children, most of them adopted.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Correction: Due to an editing error, our review of Tony Hillerman's Seldom Disappointed (Forecasts, Sept. 24) erroneously stated that Hillerman's brother, Barry, died in WWII. In fact, he survived the war and lived for many decades. PW regrets the error.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

How Hillerman survived the Depression and World War II to become the beloved writer he is today.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Harper (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066213991
• ISBN-13: 978-0066213996
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,605,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tony Hillerman was the former president of the Mystery Writers of America and received its Edgar® and Grand Master awards. His other honors include the Center for the American Indian's Ambassador Award, the Silver Spur Award for the best novel set in the West, and the Navajo Tribe's Special Friend Award. He lived with his wife in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Friend of the Dineh, January 7, 2002

By 

Ron Hunka (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (Hardcover)

"Seldom Disappointed"
Tony Hillerman
ISBN 0-06-019445-6

I am one of those readers Tony Hillerman writes about in this memoir who does not like mysteries but reads his books. Like those folks, the Navajo cultural stuff is what interests me. Well, maybe there is something more than that. It is Tony Hillerman's remarkable ability to tell a story.

Hillerman grew up in Oklahoma, the son of poor parents for whom he had much respect. The title of his memoir comes from something his mother used to say, that one who did not expect too much from life was seldom disappointed. This was an outlook not uncommon to Hillerman's generation. Also, like many young men of his generation, he went off to the war in Europe.

As a combat infantryman, Hillerman won the silver star, the bronze star, and got blown-up by a mine. Yet there is little bitterness in him about the war. This is one of the few memoirs relating to WWII in which a former soldier describes the opposing German soldiers as "other teenagers". The casual manner in which Hillerman writes about his war experiences and later about his literary success seems to reflect a stoic outlook about "that short run toward the Last Great Adventure".

After the war, a couple of years studying journalism at the University of Oklahoma led to work as a reporter in Texas, Oklahoma, and eventually New Mexico. Fifteen years of newspaper work and being editor of the Albuquerque paper led to some connections with the University of New Mexico and its journalism department. Hillerman taught there for about fifteen years until he lost his enthusiasm for teaching and wanted to write.

Hillerman learned the Navajo culture from Navaho acquaintances who sensed his sincere interest. Having attended eight grades at an Indian school in Oklahoma and having had Indian playmates helped put him at ease with the people. He came to understand the Navajo ceremonies and values, which he made use of in his stories. For authentic and respectful portrayal of Navajo (Dineh) culture in his books, the tribe declared him "Special Friend of the Dineh".

In this memoir, one learns the origin of some of the material in Hillerman's books. For example, one of his villains is based in part on a death row killer who asked Hillerman and the Santa Fe AP bureau chief to write about him so that his mother might claim his body. It seems that he had been abandoned as a child by his mother and did not know her whereabouts.

Hillerman's "breakout book", my favorite, came in 1988 with the publication of "Thief of Time", about the theft of artifacts from Indian ruins for sale to collectors. It was his first book to make the "New York Times" bestseller list, and doing that, Hillerman explains, guarantees an author very large sales due to the way it is used by bookstore managers for ordering books.

At the end of this memoir, Hillerman reflects back positively on seventy five years of life. "They've been far better than anyone deserves", he writes.

By the way, Hillerman says that he interrupted a Navajo police novel to complete this memoir. I am looking forward to it.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Disappointing, October 4, 2001

By 

Kent Braithwaite (Palm Desert, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (Hardcover)

As an Anglo author who writes a mystery series starring a Latino private eye, I have always felt a strong kinship with Tony Hillerman, an Anglo author who writes mysteries starring Navajo tribal police officers. I found this autobiography a fascinating read. SELDOM DISAPPOINTED was never disappointing. From the days of his youth growing up in Oklahoma to his days of success here and now, Tony Hillerman tells a great tale. It is the greatest story he's ever told. His memories of his mother are particularly touching, as is his affectionate comments about his wife and children. Then, of course, there is his professional career. Read SELDOM DISAPPOINTED as soon as you can. You won't be disappointed.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Autobiography with feeling, April 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Tony Hillerman tells a touching story of a great writer from Brokaw's "greatest generation" and his rise to literary success and acclaim. His views of small town Oklahoma during the depression are sensitive and yet lively. His recounting of the struggles of a foot soldier in World War II are moving, especially to a fellow veteran of a different era. The true story is a window into the soul of a man who could create Jim Chee, and more importantly, Joe Leaphorn.