Same Book, Same Reader, Different Story

Agnes in the Snow

The featured picture is of our yard in a sudden storm that changed our perspectives on what was there.  Seemed appropriate for this piece.  Read on!

As readers of my Friday Fragments know, last week I had just finished one audiobook, and needed to find another.  After some poking about, I decided to listen to The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman, and maybe continue with the series in order.

When I first read The Blessing Way, I was a college professor living in Lynchburg, Virginia.  The book arrived as a gift from my pen pal, Roger Zelazny, on a day that was dank and grey.  The novel, set on the Navajo reservation during the summer, was just what I needed.  I dove into it eagerly.

At that point, I’d never been to New Mexico—or any of the southwest.  I knew a little about the Navajo, but not much.  Basically, I read it as a mystery novel set in an exotic location.

This time, as I hit play, I was struck by how the changes in my life over the last thirty or so years had completely altered how I embraced the story.  I’ve now been to or through many of the locations in the novel, or locations similar to them.  Plants that would have been just names to me, like turpentine bush and rabbit brush, grow in my neighborhood.

One of the two main characters in the novel is an archeologist who teaches on the UNM faculty.   I’m married to an archeologist who took his Masters at UNM.  A few of the faculty referred to—most notably, Jack Campbell (who was a friend of Hillerman’s)—were Jim’s teachers, and Jim actually worked for Campbell on a project around Raton.

And, I met Tony repeatedly, as for a while we both attended the same very informal writers group.  (If you want to a neat experience, try the audiobook of his memoir Seldom Disappointed.  He may not be the best reader ever, but it’s fun to hear him tell his own story.)

All of these are fun details, but what really struck me was how my years living with Jim and learning about the various indigenous cultures of the southwest changed how I envisioned various elements of the novel.  Hillerman provided enough descriptive detail that on my first reading I had no problem following the story (in which these elements are not just window dressing), but this time I knew precisely what was being described.

I’ve been into an “Anasazi” cliff dwelling.  I know what Hopi “kachina” figures are.  I’ve seen various sorts of stone fetish figures.  I’ve seen many Navajo hogans.  And on and on…

(Parenthesis are because these terms, while accurate to Hillerman’s novel, have evolved and would probably not be used today.)

So, same novel.  Same Reader.  Completely different reading experience. Kinda cool.