House Made Of Dawn

HOUSE MADE OF DAWN
by N. Scott Momaday

 Award: Pulitzer 1969

 Dates Read: December 11, 2011 & June 27, 2019

 "Where language touches the earth there is the holy." - N. Scott Momaday

 House Made Of Dawn is so very beautifully written and the attention paid to nature made me feel as if I was experiencing the same landscapes right before me. The entire novel reads like a song of appreciation to nature and sacred ritual, all while conveying an underlying tension and alienation from the harshness of white expectation.

 The characters, however, read to me almost as a dream and do not stand out for me vividly. Abel's life is nothing short of a tragedy brought about by poverty and alienation. Abel doesn't quite fit in on the reservation nor among the white culture that doesn't understand or honor Native American traditions.

 What I am left with is a fascination with Momaday's ability not just to describe the importance of oral traditions but how important listening is to Native American culture and the preservation of that culture from generation to generation.

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