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Madi ~☆TheBookNerdDiaries☆~'s Reviews > Ceremony
Ceremony (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)
by
by
I hate this book with everything I have. This was the absolute worst book I have EVER read. Maybe that's why I put off reviewing this book for so long. I just don't want to ever have to pick up this book again, let alone revisit it. Let's just say the day I turned this book in, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted of my shoulders. I was so sick of reading this and as soon as I had taken the final test on it, I dropped it and never finished. I can't remember hating a book this much ever - it was that bad. So I'm not going to write a fully professional review, just a bullet point list and explanation as to why. I just don't want to relive this ever again.
â—‰The non-linear plot line -
Horrid, just horrid. Maybe it's just my OCD but this made it so hard to follow and figure out.
â—‰Want to get something deep from this book? -
Have fun trying. You'll either learn about how Tayo goes to the bathroom or that white people suck. Or at least that's all the book talks about. White people did this, white people did that. White people, white people, white people, white people. Ugh.
â—‰More on that:
Want to remember the plot or what is attempting to be one? Have fun with that after the 20+ pages about cows or whatever. I'm not kidding. It's pretty much that long.
I just don't think I can talk about this anymore. I hate this book so much.
Please do yourself a huge favor and never read this.
â—‰The non-linear plot line -
Horrid, just horrid. Maybe it's just my OCD but this made it so hard to follow and figure out.
â—‰Want to get something deep from this book? -
Have fun trying. You'll either learn about how Tayo goes to the bathroom or that white people suck. Or at least that's all the book talks about. White people did this, white people did that. White people, white people, white people, white people. Ugh.
â—‰More on that:
Want to remember the plot or what is attempting to be one? Have fun with that after the 20+ pages about cows or whatever. I'm not kidding. It's pretty much that long.
I just don't think I can talk about this anymore. I hate this book so much.
Please do yourself a huge favor and never read this.
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Reading Progress
October 21, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
October 21, 2015
– Shelved
October 26, 2015
–
Started Reading
October 26, 2015
–
0.0%
"I'm quite sure I will not like this one. If not for my schooling, I would never have picked this up. It has no chapters (OCD bugging me here... I can't stand not having a set stop/chapter) and it's not something that would interest me. I've also heard the plot is non linear (It will not be in order) and that also bugs my OCD."
Finished Reading
October 27, 2015
–
2.57%
"I don't like this one. It will say something then go into a description that seems too long and gets very confusing. Not my cup of tea at all."
page
7
October 27, 2015
–
4.04%
"I don't think I like the non linear plot either. The combination is making me confused and it take me quite a while to read an entire page."
page
11
November 1, 2015
–
8.09%
"I'm not liking this one at all. There are so many metaphors that don't relate in any way to what they are being attempted to relate to and they make it more confusing/hard to get through. It takes me a while to read a page because of this. If this was required, I wouldn't be reading it and I'd be getting back to Happily Ever After."
page
22
November 4, 2015
–
9.19%
"I'm about 55-60 or so pages behind where I am supposed to be in this book and I haven't enjoyed it at all. I was in a reading slump before this and I don't think this is helping at all. I haven;t had time to read any of my other books and this one is draining me."
page
25
November 4, 2015
–
10.66%
"Normally, it doesn't take me a half an hour to read this minuscule amount of pages but for some reason, that is the case with this book. I've found that I have to re-read paragraphs or sentences over and over again because I either zone out or just don't understand them. I didn't like Eleanor and Park if you remember, but now I'm starting to wish I had to read that instead."
page
29
November 8, 2015
–
16.54%
"I don't think I've ever read the words "white people" said so many times in just a few short pages. Still not a fan of this one but I'm almost to where I need to be!"
page
45
November 19, 2015
–
25.0%
"1/4 done! (I'm still very behind but I'm slowly getting somewhere.)"
page
68
November 20, 2015
–
27.94%
"What this book has aimed to tell me so far: •Old grandma is old •White people ruined everything •White people know nothing about cows"
page
76
"
November 29, 2015
–
38.24%
"There went anything I wanted to accomplish this weekend. My semi-understanding has vanished and this make no sense any more..."
page
104
December 2, 2015
–
44.12%
"I don't think I can last any longer. This makes absolutely no sense and I have gotten no reason whatsoever to care about any of the characters. Really, I keep getting reasons to care about them less..."
page
120
December 2, 2015
– Shelved as:
dnf
February 9, 2016
– Shelved as:
library-books
January 18, 2018
– Shelved as:
dnf
April 13, 2018
– Shelved as:
hardback
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
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message 1:
by
Annie
(new)
-
rated it 2 stars
Jun 04, 2018 12:49PM
Oh my god, right? Like, I get it, white people did bad stuff in the past, but it doesn't mean we're all like that. And with anxiety disorder, Tayo's complaining and the non-linear plot line really triggered me.
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I agree with all your points. You might enjoy Laughing Boy, a wonderful novel built around a heart-breaking Navajo love story by Oliver La Farge. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929.
I think you missed many of the important points of the novel. Maybe try revisiting it.
Because, I mean, White people literally committed genocide of most Native nations and then called upon Natives to serve the US in a World War that took genocide to a scale that only Native peoples might truly comprehend. Even the Betonie the Medicine Man says that not all White people are bad, not all Indians good, it's more complicated than that. And Tayo is going to need complicated medicine to heal from the trauma of serving in that War.
I am well aware of the treatment of Native Americans and if I could do something to change the past I would. But history is full of ethnicities treated as badly and worse when a country is conquered and overrun by the victors. For a heartbreaking account that will really make you FEEL for the Indians, try Ramona. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote it in an effort to change the way Indians were perceived and treated in this country. It had a big impact as the first (I believe) fictional book to take the side of the Indians. I found it terribly moving. It was one of a handful of the great romances I've ever read. My problem with this book was not her espousal of the Native peoples. I just thought the writing was terrible and the plot amateurish. As a whole it was unpolished and unimaginative without any of the qualities I look for in a book. Had I been the publisher, I would have dismissed it out of hand as being simply not good enough, unprofessional. From some of the glowing reviews I'd read, I had expected something much better. And honestly, you couldn't pay me to revisit it. It was all I could do to finish it.
This might be the least analytically oriented review ever tbh but the cows part has me dying laughing. yeah I also found my eyes glazing over during the livestock hyperfixation
