Waterlily

This is such a fantastic book written by a wonderful and knowledgeable author. I recommend it to anyone interested in history

This is one of my favorite books. I received it as a gift from a friend whose mother was full-blooded Sioux, and I have since given it to several women friends. It is beautiful and moving in it's depiction of the everyday life of a young woman as she comes of age, marries and lives among her people observing intricate kinship relationships. The prose is somewhat slow moving, but to me, it evolks the rhythm of a far away place and time. There is life, death, celebration and sadness. I, too, find myself remembering it often.

I actually read this book as an assignment in a Native American literature course during my undergraduate studies. I have been not been more impacted by any other book. I found the vivid descriptions of Native American life, before white intrusion to be both exciting and depressing. I have a profound sense of loss by not being able to witness these events, before white influence. The descriptions of ceremony, daily life and the life of a woman in the time before my ancestors arrived here, gave me a new understanding of current and past Native American culture. I recommend it to all.

Waterlily is the story of two Sioux women, mother and daughter, and their relationships with their tribe and the larger world. Ms. Deloria's book is straightforward, with the negatives of Sioux life discussed quickly and without sentiment. Stories of tribal children being scalped or the inter-tribal warfare that goes on are almost treated as small ancillaries that do not affect the people. The main characters are described through their words and actions, more than through delving into their thoughts. This makes for a fast-paced book that shows in great detail a general, edenic version of Native American life before the European invasions and genocides. The Sioux are portrayed as brave, hardy people who live with an extensive tribal code of hospitality and interdependence. it is hard not to envy their "tiyospaye" in this disconnected, frenetic world and look with longing back to a slower, simpler time.

What an extraordinay book. I guarantee it is unlike any other you have read.If I had written this review immediately after reading the book, I probably would have rated it slightly less. What I find now, two years later, is that I remember the details and impact of the book far more than any other I have read in recent years.The author wrote it to share not only the tragic and the glorious, but also the mundane. Her intent, as an academic and as a Lakotah, was to leave us with a better understanding of the life of her people before and in the early stages of the white man's influence.While the book was not "difficult" reading, I did have to suppress my expectation and desire for the book to follow the patterns of typical fiction. But as a result, when the book ended I had a more complete "relationship" with Waterlily. She was fascinating. I still think of her frequently.