The literature of the American Indian is ritualistic. Its whole purpose is to establish a sense of unity between the individual and his surroundings, which include the landscape, the weather, history, legends and all other creatures. The very act of storytelling is a part of this process: sometimes its purpose is medicinal, to cure an illness; at the very least it is an act of discovery, a search for physic wholeness wherein nothing is left out.

Leslie Marmon Silko's first novel, aptly entitled "Ceremony," fits into this tradition …

[It establishes Silko] without question as the most accomplished Indian writer of her generation. Her achievement lies partly in the way she has woven together the European tradition of the novel with American-Indian storytelling. She has used animal stories and legends to give a fabulous dimension to her novel. These are set aside from the prose narrative and look like curative and ceremonial chants that are recited in hogans. All of these devices reflect the theme of the novel, which is that that war has made all people one….

Leslie Silko has avoided the easy sentimentality of treating Indians as morally superior to whites; indeed, she has Old Betonie insist that the whites themselves have influenced the ceremonies, and that such changes are necessary in order to keep them alive …

["Ceremony"] is one of the most realized works of fiction devoted to Indian life that has been written in this country, and it is a splendid achievement. (p. 15)