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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting autobiographic tale; beautiful and ghastly visions, March 10, 2003
Things Malidoma experienced as a young boy around the time of his grandfather's death and subsequent funeral make Carlos Casteńeda's and Lynn Andrews' 'accounts' seem rather sanitized, maybe even contrived (especially evident in the case of Andrews). Plus the man is far more of a poet, a seer and a deep philosophical thinker than these others. You'll not find a better writer on matters mystical and religious probably anywhere, at least not in the 'confessional/autobiographical' literature. Then again, herein are so many quotable passages that you could meditate on to form the beginnings of a new personal philosophy, it's really quite stunning. And it all seems like it equally extends from your own body and heart. This is in contradistinction, say, to a well-written but rather dry and compartmentalized account such as J. S. Danquah's 'The Akan Doctrine of God'*, which is more meant for those who enjoy the scholarly treatise, but might never wish to imagine themselves venturing into village life. Malidoma was kidnapped by the local priest a couple of days after his father was installed as clan leader, soon after his grandfather's death. He was only 4 years old. He does not pull any punches in detailing the horrible physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of these churchly personages, who made him and other young kidnapees and orphans total slaves to their colonialist/catechumenical education system. After over 16 years of this, the young man escaped and managed to walk back to his village over a hundred miles away. The remainder of the book is a very detailed and intense re-telling of selected experiences he was party to during his subsequent clan initiation. This constitutes the last 100 pages or so of the book. I can't begin to express how astonishing are the experiences, the images, emotions etc. represented on these pages. Suffice to say that the man is an absolute wizard at using the English language. Carlos Casteńeda and especially Lynn Andrews seem like comic book literacy after you've dipped even a little bit into Malidoma. I met Mr. Somé briefly at a Sun Bear Medicine Wheel Gathering a number of years ago; his personality is every bit as engaging as is his writing. His was a kind of quiet charisma, extending from which is an amazing, almost madcap sense of humor. You feel that his energy is entirely sincere, and that there's far more there than meets the eye. You can feel it, and yes, 'almost' begin to see into it, and with it. If Nick Black Elk had written his own book rather than having his texts filtered through John C. Neidhardt, it likely would have approached the book-length intensity we find here. Then again I read 'Black Elk Speaks' over 30 years ago; Neidhardt's account might seem much greater at this point of my own life journey. * the Akan peoples, actually a different cultural group, lived a hundred or so miles southeast, in Ghana.
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