Almanac of the Dead (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: spirit macaws, old boss woman, macaw spirits, Awa Gee, United States, Sonny Blue (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Silko's ambitious but meandering novel untertakes an epic narrative, heavy with intrigue and carnage, about an apocalyptic Native American insurrection. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When the ex-mistress of a sinister cocaine wholesaler takes a job as secretary to a Native American clairvoyant who works the TV talk show circuit, she begins transcribing an ancient manuscript that foretells the second coming of Quetzalcoatl and the violent end of white rule in the Americas. Witches and shamans across the country are working to fulfill this prophecy, but the capitalist elite is mounting a dirty war of its own, with weapons such as heroin and cocaine. This novel belongs on the same shelf with Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo ( LJ 10/1/72) and Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975). Occult conspiracies multiply at a dizzying pace, and eco-radicals actually do blow up the Glen Canyon Dam. Silko succeeds more as a storyteller than a novelist: the book is full of memorable vignettes, but the frame story of apocalyptic racial warfare is clumsy comic book fare. Recommended for collections of magic realism and Native American fiction.
- Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch . Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; First Edition. first paperback edition (November 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140173196
• ISBN-13: 978-0140173192
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Novel Might not be the Best Term for this Book, May 16, 2002

By	Lori McClure-Wade (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Almanac of the Dead (Hardcover)

In much the same way that her brilliant and beautiful 1st novel Ceremony is intended to function as a ceremony for its readers, Almanac is intended to function as a a prophetic document. Silko's text is inspired by, and meant to serve as an extension of, ancient Mayan codices--books which keep exact and detailed record of Time and attempt to prophesy based on this knowledge. Time is as much a character in this "novel" as the Land is.

Of course, Silko doesn't lay all this out for her reader, but the clues are there. The ancient notebooks that old Yoeme leaves in the hands of the twins Lecha & Zeta are directly inspired by & directly refer to the codices. Twins themselves are of mythological significance in Mayan (and many other Southwestern) cosmologies. Almost every Native American character in this novel can be read as a mythological being in disguise. They all have dual functions, especially the female characters.
Silko has said that the anger which can be so overwhelming in her text does not come from her. She sees herself as more of a conduit for a much more ancient and dangerous rage. What began as a project about the seedy underbelly of Modern Tucson quickly transphormed itself to a work of mythological scope and political indictment.

This novel is demanding, complex, and mind-blowing in scope. It is by no means a casual read, nor is it sympathetic towards its reader. It requires things of you that typical novels don't. It even demands you abandon your theory of what a novel is and does. But if you are willing to follow Silko's narrative & thematic trails, the vision she reveals for you is truly astounding.

Silko's next novel, Gardens in the Dunes, was written, she says, to reward all of us who braved and withstood the onslaught that is Almanac of the Dead. It is true that those who make it through this book develop a bit of an obsession with it. Approach this text with this in mind, and you might make it to the end. But be prepared to return immediately to the beginning--you'll never get the scope of Silko's vision in one read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Native Reality Check, October 7, 2002

By A Customer

I am a Native American woman, and I found this book empowering, depressing and very raw. I can see people that I know in the characters in the book as well as having had some of the same experiences. The book gives a realistic glimpse of a small population of Native American experiences. It shows how hard our world really is, and how Natives struggle through their lives knowing that there is no alternative. This book shows the other, real side to the "noble savage" myth.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book..., October 4, 2000

By	Yuri Kuzyk "zentao" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

Wow, what a concept...we finally have a Native American stream-of-consciousness novel! Enough of these white-man's dreams like The Tunnel or Gravity's Rainbow, we finally are letting some other voices tell the other side of our sorry travels.

Dense. Jumpy. And a few things you might wish you never read. But most of this novel is gripping and, quite sadly so, possibly the truth. If you've read the white man's tales listed above then you really should check this trip out.