[.ca] Gardens in the Dunes: A Novel (ISBN 0684863324)

From Amazon.com:
In 1900 the West was still wild. Anglo-Americans were tearing up the countryside in the name of progress, and pity the Indians who stood in the way. To this canvas Leslie Marmon Silko, author of such well-received novels as Almanac of the Dead and Ceremony, brings her brush. Gardens in the Dunes begins and ends at a hidden garden near the Colorado River on the California-Arizona border. But Silko covers ground that includes the early stages of women's rights, emerging female sexuality, the rape of the Amazon, early quack medicine, Gnostic mysteries, Celtic magic, and flower husbandry. Her palette has many colors, but everywhere the garden is a central theme. Grandmother Fleet, one of the few remaining Sand Lizard Indians, tends a traditional desert garden while teaching the old ways to her granddaughters Sister Salt and Indigo. At a time of crushing hopelessness, Wovoka's Ghost Dance messianic movement appears, drawing in the girls and Grandmother Fleet: While the others danced with eyes focussed on the fire, Indigo watched the weird shadows play on the hillsides, so she was one of the first to see the Messiah and his family as they stepped out of darkness into the glow of swirling snowflakes. How their white robes shined! Indigo is also one of the first to sense the approach of soldiers and Indian police bent on breaking up the gathering. The action then moves her from the secret garden and small family to an Indian school in Riverside. She eventually flees the school and ends up traveling through Europe with an aristocratic Victorian family, as companion to an unmarried woman. Despite her many adventures and her exposure to a life of privilege and luxury, Indigo never loses her affinity for the traditions of her own people. Silko uses this novel to explore contrasts between Native American and European customs and morals--with white culture often coming up short. On occasion this ambitious novel strays into the political proper, but there's no denying the sheer force of Silko's prose and the sweep of her story. Gardens in the Dunes offers both a vivid portrait of 19th-century Native American life and a provocative exploration of disparate cultures' relationships to the world around them --Schuyler Ingle

fascinating but not up to Silko's previous books:
"Gardens in the Dunes" covers a lot of territory, most of it new--for example, one subplot concerns botanical theft (uprooting specimens of a particular orchid species from its habitat in the Amazonian rainforest, then burning the rest of the habitat to increase the value of the specimens). Silko has obviously done exhaustive research on many different plants and garden types, European and Native mythology, the Ghost Dance, and numerous other topics outside the range of most historical fiction. These details definitely make the novel worth reading. However, unlike some of Silko's earlier work (ie. "Ceremony"), "Gardens" is written with little attention to prose style. Instead of showing the characters' emotions through their actions or dialogue, Silko is often content to describe them ("Hattie felt sad...") which has little impact for the reader. Considering the themes it deals with (suppression of Native cultures, women's rights, ecological destruction), the book is fairly apolitical. No one ethnic group is given a monopoly on meaningful spirituality or wisdom. White people are not the villains; the general human failings of greed, dishonesty, ignorance and condescension are what cause trouble, and the people that display these faults are in every culture. The destruction of nature and the oppression of fellow humans are the ills; a respect for the ancient wisdom (of any culture) and the beauty and providence of the natural world are the remedies. "Gardens" may seem dry to some, but it's well worth the effort to discover Silko's unique and detailed cultural vision.

Wonderful Imaginative:
Hard to put this one into words but it was the best book I've read in a year or more. If you like native american or goddess related topics you'll love this. The writing is smooth, the breadth of subjects and characters is refreshing (though somewhat uneven at times). I preferred this book to those of Kingsolver's although there are some definite similarities. Perhaps Marmon Silko and Kingsolver are forging a Tucson genre of fiction (both live in the area).

IMMENSE STORY:
Silko's novel is fascinating. Its continent-leaping plot begins and ends with the simplistic lives of the "sand lizard" Indians of the southwest. The great themes of greed and ambition are visited along the way as well as the more intimate ones of loyalty and courage. As one might expect, when the "civilized" world intrudes into that of the young Indian girls, conflict and betrayal are the result. But politically correct ideas are not played out heavyhandedly here. Deep character development and the heartbreaking story itself are the priority of this writer. I rarely savor a novel as much as I did this one. In fact, while reading dozens of others concurrently, this one took nearly half a year. There's a marvelous amount of gravity working in these pages.

Great storytelling and an intersting glimpse of history...:
Silko carries on her tradition of producing excellent literature in a Native American "bent" with "Gardens...". The story is a mixture of interesting historical anecdotes that perfectly contextualize her characters. The main characters are a native girl (Indigo)and her sister (Sister Salt) who are both members of the Sand Lizard Tribe. Their tale becomes intertwined with a rather educated woman, Hattie, who has recently married a prototypical American man. All of the female characters are well-developed and one is treated to very interesting character traits to develop Silko's story of government's sad attempts to "integrate" Native Americans into the newly-formed American culture. Silko has a real skill for maintaining a rather "objective" view while simultaneously showing the hypocritical stance of the conquering white people. The male characters are rather weak but the various historical anecdotes (building of a dam and the methods of collecting orchids from South America being my favourites) woven through the central story make up for any deficiencies. A very enjoyable tale that really should appeal to the mainstream.

Enchanted Gardens, Lush and Vivid botanical descriptions:
I loved this novel because of its vivid descriptions of plant life and gardens. I live in an urban environment and flowers, trees, colors and scents are not part of my daily life. I just couldn't get enough, and Silko creates dazzling gardens everywhere throughout her book. The first section is about a young Native American girl named Indigo, her Sister Salt and their Grandmother Fleet. They are making a life for themselves in a small town in the American Southwest around the turn of 19th century. Their greatest wish is to return to the home of their people, the Sand Lizards, and tend their desert garden in the dunes. But they are in constant fear of being caught by the white government and forced to live in schools or on reservations. Although the beginning of the book is wonderfully descriptive, I became very engaged with the characters about 50 pages in. Indigo escapes from the Indian school and wanders into the gardens of Hattie and Edward, a wealthy married couple. Edward's monkey, Linnaeus, charms Indigo out of hiding and as the 2 get acquainted, we learn of Hattie's life. Hattie was a scholar devoted to studying the role of women in early Christianity. However, the all male Harvard review board rejected her thesis topic and when she returns home, she meets and marries Edward, an older man with a professional interest in botany. Edward travels the world in search of plant specimens and his trip to South America to gather rare orchids is described in detail. In Brazil he was sabotaged, causing him personal injury as well as legal and financial difficulties. His leg was hurt so badly that intimacy is painful and unlikely for him, but Hattie wished to marry him regardless of their passionless future. With the intention of curing his money problems, Edward seeks out profitable citrus cuttings guarded closely by the Italians. Hattie becomes attached to Indigo and persuades Edward to let Indigo travel with them. Edward has planned a trip to Italy and en route they visit their families in Long Island where we get a glimpse into the frivolous lives of the wealthy and visit their cultured gardens. Indigo meets other Native Americans whose land and lifestyle has been taken from them. The story turns to Sister Salt who is now living in the Southwest with other Native American Indian girls. Sister Salt has become a laundress and works in an area where the government is building a dam to divert water to California, taking more life-sustaining farmland away from the Indians. Meanwhile, Indigo, her pet parrot Rainbow, Hattie and Edward travel to England and visit enchanting gardens in Bath, then more charming gardens in Italy where Edward pursues his illegal scheme. There is an underlying theme of the deification of snakes and the worship of the Mother figure that is explored and lends an air of mysticism to the novel. Throughout the story Indigo and Sister Salt long to be reunited with one another and we always wonder if it will happen. The story could have been edited in several places and I was upset by the violence against Hattie in the end of the novel. Could the author have still made her point without Hattie's loss being so extreme? Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely and I loved the journey it took me on. It is laced with many issues that are thought provoking and still relevant in today's world: feminism, religion, environmental awareness, class structure, oppression and beliefs about our relationships with others, the earth and our spirituality. I loved Indigo, Sister Salt and Hattie. I loved the mesmerizing Ghost Dance, Grandma Fleet's apricot tree, the lively Linneaus, the miniature farm animals, the Rainbow parrot, the eccentric Aunt Bronwyn, the allure of long distance travel by train and by boat, the snake in the water hole and most of all the lush and enchanting gardens.