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The Man Who Killed The Deer: A Novel of Pueblo Indian Life
Present day Indian questions, complicated by the good and bad in the treatment of the Indians, by their rituals, by conflict between the old and the new, provide motivating force for this thoughtful novel. Martiniano, an Indian of the Southwest, has been to "away" school and resists returning to the blanket, refusing to follow the traditions of his pueblo. He kills a deer and gets into trouble with the authorities, so that he is haunted by fear of ill luck touching his personal life. But good luck comes with the birth of a boy child, and Martiniano at last accepts his place as an Indian. This is not only his story, but the story of his pueblo, with its desire to maintain its integrity, to regain Dawn Lake, to unravel the troubles fomented through official lags in treating with the chiefs. Well done. (Kirkus Reviews)
The story of Martiniano, the man who killed the deer, is a timeless story of Pueblo Indian sin and redemption, and of the conflict between Indian and white laws; written with a poetically charged beauty of style, a purity of conception, and a thorough understanding of Indian values. (amazon.com)
The story of Martiniano, the man who killed the deer, is a timeless story of Pueblo Indian sin and redemption, and of the conflict between Indian and white laws; written with a poetically charged beauty of style, a purity of conception, and a thorough understanding of Indian values. (amazon.com)
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
13 people are currently reading
488 people want to read
About the author
Frank Waters
160 books38 followersFrank Waters was an American novelist, essayist, and cultural historian best known for his profound explorations of the American Southwest and Native American spirituality. Deeply influenced by his Cheyenne heritage and early experiences on the Navajo Reservation, Waters wove themes of indigenous identity, mysticism, and the clash between tradition and modernity into much of his work. His celebrated novel The Man Who Killed the Deer (1942) is considered a cornerstone of Southwestern literature, offering a powerful portrayal of a Pueblo man’s internal struggle with cultural dislocation. Over the decades, Waters produced an impressive body of work, including both fiction and non-fiction, such as Book of the Hopi, Mexico Mystique, and The Colorado, which blended mythology, history, and esoteric thought. A strong advocate for the arts, he held various editorial and academic positions and was honored with several awards. His legacy lives on through the Frank Waters Foundation, which supports writers and artists in the spirit of his creative vision.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
December 20, 2011
Stick with this one...the pace is not unlike the pace out on the Pueblo where the story unfolds. It kinda has its own rhythm. Not a book to read on a Kindle while hurrying off to work or whatever. More of a long night on the couch when a storm has knocked out the power and you're reading by candlelight sort of book. A classic Taos tale but broad enough in theme to offer something for anyone able to slip into its gentle current and float quietly down its river.
January 3, 2018
A classic of the Southwest, but it gets off to a false start with a caricature of a thug forest ranger who practically lynches the Puebloan protagonist for poaching a deer in the 1930’s. It’s an implausible shortcut that exaggerates the real life arrest of Frank Samora that inspired Waters to write what is otherwise a deeply sophisticated novel rich in poetry, philosophy, and ethnography.
Waters ruminations on the power of silence - as practiced by the Puebloans - are especially enriching. Waters fills some periods of silence with italics that convey the characters' thoughts, suspicions, and analysis. The pace of the story, like the seasons it spans, is slow and rhythmic. Drums beat throughout and ceremonies are described in detail. When Waters breaks from the story to wax philosophical, it can get a little tedious, but rewards lurk therein and the beautifully developed story is never compromised for the sake of Waters' poetic ponderings.
This book is essential New Mexico reading for many reasons, not the least of which is the influence it had on policy to return Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo from the U. S. Forest Service.
Literature and anthropology both owe gratitude to Waters for writing this when he did (it was published in 1942). Like the old men in this timeless novel, Waters and Samora both became sages, with Waters living until age ninety-two and Samora surpassing one-hundred.
Waters ruminations on the power of silence - as practiced by the Puebloans - are especially enriching. Waters fills some periods of silence with italics that convey the characters' thoughts, suspicions, and analysis. The pace of the story, like the seasons it spans, is slow and rhythmic. Drums beat throughout and ceremonies are described in detail. When Waters breaks from the story to wax philosophical, it can get a little tedious, but rewards lurk therein and the beautifully developed story is never compromised for the sake of Waters' poetic ponderings.
This book is essential New Mexico reading for many reasons, not the least of which is the influence it had on policy to return Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo from the U. S. Forest Service.
Literature and anthropology both owe gratitude to Waters for writing this when he did (it was published in 1942). Like the old men in this timeless novel, Waters and Samora both became sages, with Waters living until age ninety-two and Samora surpassing one-hundred.
September 13, 2020
First published in 1942, this timeless novel of the American West is one of the most significant in modern times regarding Native Americans, despite the fact that it was written by an outsider, albeit one who spent a lifetime studying the various peoples who inhabit the region. It's surprising that, despite its renown, there are so few readers, as seen by the paucity of ratings and comments found here. This is especially curious, considering that the book has apparently been continuously in print for 75 years. The yellowed, well-worn copy I have is about a half-century old, but it's one of my most cherished books. I've read it several times, but I haven't rated or reviewed it here, so I thought I would rectify that omission.
The author's story is as colorful as the many novels he has written (twenty seven, I believe). Not surprisingly, he had much firsthand knowledge about his subjects and the harsh, unforgiving environments which serve as the backdrops for his stunning novels. Frank Waters was born in Colorado Springs in 1902, but he ranged far and wide, experiencing life in a myriad of contexts. he worked as a lineman at a telephone company, an information consultant at Los Alamos during the nuclear testing at the site, to the editor of a Taos bilingual newspaper. He dropped out of Colorado State University his senior year, preferring instead to travel extensively all over the Southwest. He was nominated multiple times for the Nobel Prize, and was eventually awarded multiple honorary doctoral degrees from Colorado universities. Waters's father was of Cheyenne ancestry, and as a youth, he accompanied him to local tribal ceremonies and dances, where he first learned about the beliefs of the Cheyenne people. It was in the 1930s when Waters purchased an old adobe cabin adjacent to the Taos Pueblo in Arroyo Seco, in New Mexico, where he lived for the rest of his life.
This beautifully-written novel tells the story of a man, but also his entire community, trapped between worlds. It was reportedly inspired by a real event: author Frank Waters was apparently in a tribal courtroom when a young man was on trial for killing a deer out of season. There, he witnessed firsthand the travesty of the young man's harsh reality and the impossibility of negotiating tribal law and US federal law. Martiniano is a young Pueblo Indian, educated in a government school, who kills a deer in a National Forest and is subsequently arrested. He is found guilty and is fined, but his transgression is paid for by Rodolfo Byers, a white man who runs a "trading post" in the town. This single act essentially triggers a domino effect, which leads to young Martiniano's undoing: his marriage unravels, he becomes involved with a "peyote cult," which only exacerbates his legal troubles, and he becomes increasingly despondent. Caught between his forced, "white" upbringing and his native culture, he is essentially the perpetual outsider, although not an immigrant: it is doubly tragic that this young man, who doesn't believe that he fits in anywhere, is indigenous, and, as such, has the greatest claim on the land inhabited by a diverse array of peoples, native and immigrants alike.
The story takes something of a turn when Martiniano begins to clear mountain land left to him by his father. He fights off a shepherd who attempts to appropriate his property for his own use, and, unlike previously, his tribal council supports him. Many have asserted that this event is a substitute for the general encroachment onto Indian lands by outsiders, as a primary focus of the novel is the battle over Dawn Lake, a sacred site which the Pueblo have been fighting to have returned to them, as they consider the lake to be their "tribal church." Spoiler alert: Martiniano redeems himself by coming to the aid of another member of his tribe, by engaging in the rituals and cultural practices which soothe his troubled soul and bind him to his community once again, and Congress passes a bill to compensate the tribe for the confiscated land, but thirty thousand acres of national forest is also returned to them, including Dawn Lake.
The primary thread throughout the novel is the notion of disassociation with one's own culture, and the lack of belonging to either community or place. This was, of course, a well-attested, concerted effort on the part of the US government - to destroy any ties to native language, culture and community. Native children were essentially abducted, starting in the late nineteenth century, and taken to "boarding schools," which were, in essence, nothing less than concentration camps (my relatives have told me stories of my Native American ancestor and their distant relations' experiences with these "schools," recounted firsthand by my Cherokee great-great-Grandmother). Under the guise of "converting" Native peoples to "Christianity," the Bureau of Indian Affairs partnered with these groups and conspired to remove children from their families in order to "Americanize" (!) them. They were then beaten, starved, tortured and sometimes even killed for so much as speaking their native languages or expressing any element of their culture, or individuality. These facilities operated from the nineteenth century until the 1960s, so the effects are still far-reaching, even more than a half-century later. Although is now (thankfully) a movement to attempt to reverse the damage, by teaching native languages and culture in local schools on reservations, in many cases, what was lost (songs, stories, dress, spiritual practices and ceremonies, and even cooking methods and cuisine) can simply never be recovered.
It's tragic to see that in the near-century since this book was first published, little has changed (that is to say, improved) for native peoples living on reservations. Poverty is still rife, as it was then, owing primarily to a lack of funding and even resources: the land allotted to native people was considered the most useless in terms of agriculture, and was essentially the land which no one wanted. A third of Indian homes on reservations still do not have electricity or even running water... in the twenty-first century. The sense of hopelessness that pervades his novels is still experienced today, owing to the pervasive lack of health care, quality food, and quality education, which results in rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, and, even more tragically, suicide.
The young protagonist, Martiniano, was separated as a child from his parents and community, taken to one of these facilities, and, hence, has no memory or attachment to his tribe's traditions and values. Although Martiniano never fully assimilated to the "white" way of living, neither does he follow the customs of the people he left behind: he refuses to remove the heels from his shoes, or to follow other cultural practices, which would make him a more included member of the community. As such, the native Pueblo where he resides also ostracize him, believing that tribal members who were removed and raised elsewhere as children were irredeemably "tainted" by "white" values and thinking, and can never be reabsorbed back into their native communities.
The novel in general has both strengths and weaknesses: some reviewers have noted that it "starts off slow," but that's not a criticism to me. The story unfolds slowly, enveloping the reader in time and space, revealing its content in a thoughtful and gradual way, inviting the reader to meditate on the material in more than a superficial way. The prose is highly visual, and reflects a deep knowledge of and familiarity with the subject matter. Although generally respectful, there are some stereotypes which I have some difficulty with. For example, Waters portrays (perhaps over-simplistically) the tribal council, and, by extension, the entire community, for example, as a single "hive mind," which almost entirely subverts the individual to the community. This is expressed particularly in the admittedly beautiful description of the value of *silence*, which Waters claims, to an Indian, speaks louder than words. The slow speech, where no one interrupts, but simply listens, digests, meditates , is certainly worthy of reflection, and introspection, but the over-generalization also risks the application of racial and cultural stereotypes.
That said, this is a highly influential and revealing book, which touches on many complex issues surrounding native peoples in the US. For that reason alone, it's highly recommended.
-----------------------
The child born by woman out of the formless mystery of everlasting life into the narrow confines of human flesh, linked to the boundless universe with the first breath he draws, but constricted for awhile within the personal, individual being. The child born by ceremonial out of the long initiate wherein he has been awakened out of the narrow world of the flesh into the greater world of the spirit, into that conception of his oneness with the cosmic whole, the breathing deer, all that life which has gone before and will follow after, and which exists at once in one perpetual time.
And the one reborn, as man is ever reborn out of their dead selves, by life itself. For as there are many faiths and many conceptions of the one paradox by which man exists as transient flesh and enduring spirit, all these faiths stem from the one faith, the one wonder and the mystery of which we are an inseparable part. Let each man, though bereft of teacher, priest and perceptor, depend on this faith, and so be reborn by this life itself into the greater whole. And so see before him at last, through the cycles of his widening perception, the one road which is his to tread with all.
The author's story is as colorful as the many novels he has written (twenty seven, I believe). Not surprisingly, he had much firsthand knowledge about his subjects and the harsh, unforgiving environments which serve as the backdrops for his stunning novels. Frank Waters was born in Colorado Springs in 1902, but he ranged far and wide, experiencing life in a myriad of contexts. he worked as a lineman at a telephone company, an information consultant at Los Alamos during the nuclear testing at the site, to the editor of a Taos bilingual newspaper. He dropped out of Colorado State University his senior year, preferring instead to travel extensively all over the Southwest. He was nominated multiple times for the Nobel Prize, and was eventually awarded multiple honorary doctoral degrees from Colorado universities. Waters's father was of Cheyenne ancestry, and as a youth, he accompanied him to local tribal ceremonies and dances, where he first learned about the beliefs of the Cheyenne people. It was in the 1930s when Waters purchased an old adobe cabin adjacent to the Taos Pueblo in Arroyo Seco, in New Mexico, where he lived for the rest of his life.
This beautifully-written novel tells the story of a man, but also his entire community, trapped between worlds. It was reportedly inspired by a real event: author Frank Waters was apparently in a tribal courtroom when a young man was on trial for killing a deer out of season. There, he witnessed firsthand the travesty of the young man's harsh reality and the impossibility of negotiating tribal law and US federal law. Martiniano is a young Pueblo Indian, educated in a government school, who kills a deer in a National Forest and is subsequently arrested. He is found guilty and is fined, but his transgression is paid for by Rodolfo Byers, a white man who runs a "trading post" in the town. This single act essentially triggers a domino effect, which leads to young Martiniano's undoing: his marriage unravels, he becomes involved with a "peyote cult," which only exacerbates his legal troubles, and he becomes increasingly despondent. Caught between his forced, "white" upbringing and his native culture, he is essentially the perpetual outsider, although not an immigrant: it is doubly tragic that this young man, who doesn't believe that he fits in anywhere, is indigenous, and, as such, has the greatest claim on the land inhabited by a diverse array of peoples, native and immigrants alike.
The story takes something of a turn when Martiniano begins to clear mountain land left to him by his father. He fights off a shepherd who attempts to appropriate his property for his own use, and, unlike previously, his tribal council supports him. Many have asserted that this event is a substitute for the general encroachment onto Indian lands by outsiders, as a primary focus of the novel is the battle over Dawn Lake, a sacred site which the Pueblo have been fighting to have returned to them, as they consider the lake to be their "tribal church." Spoiler alert: Martiniano redeems himself by coming to the aid of another member of his tribe, by engaging in the rituals and cultural practices which soothe his troubled soul and bind him to his community once again, and Congress passes a bill to compensate the tribe for the confiscated land, but thirty thousand acres of national forest is also returned to them, including Dawn Lake.
The primary thread throughout the novel is the notion of disassociation with one's own culture, and the lack of belonging to either community or place. This was, of course, a well-attested, concerted effort on the part of the US government - to destroy any ties to native language, culture and community. Native children were essentially abducted, starting in the late nineteenth century, and taken to "boarding schools," which were, in essence, nothing less than concentration camps (my relatives have told me stories of my Native American ancestor and their distant relations' experiences with these "schools," recounted firsthand by my Cherokee great-great-Grandmother). Under the guise of "converting" Native peoples to "Christianity," the Bureau of Indian Affairs partnered with these groups and conspired to remove children from their families in order to "Americanize" (!) them. They were then beaten, starved, tortured and sometimes even killed for so much as speaking their native languages or expressing any element of their culture, or individuality. These facilities operated from the nineteenth century until the 1960s, so the effects are still far-reaching, even more than a half-century later. Although is now (thankfully) a movement to attempt to reverse the damage, by teaching native languages and culture in local schools on reservations, in many cases, what was lost (songs, stories, dress, spiritual practices and ceremonies, and even cooking methods and cuisine) can simply never be recovered.
It's tragic to see that in the near-century since this book was first published, little has changed (that is to say, improved) for native peoples living on reservations. Poverty is still rife, as it was then, owing primarily to a lack of funding and even resources: the land allotted to native people was considered the most useless in terms of agriculture, and was essentially the land which no one wanted. A third of Indian homes on reservations still do not have electricity or even running water... in the twenty-first century. The sense of hopelessness that pervades his novels is still experienced today, owing to the pervasive lack of health care, quality food, and quality education, which results in rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, and, even more tragically, suicide.
The young protagonist, Martiniano, was separated as a child from his parents and community, taken to one of these facilities, and, hence, has no memory or attachment to his tribe's traditions and values. Although Martiniano never fully assimilated to the "white" way of living, neither does he follow the customs of the people he left behind: he refuses to remove the heels from his shoes, or to follow other cultural practices, which would make him a more included member of the community. As such, the native Pueblo where he resides also ostracize him, believing that tribal members who were removed and raised elsewhere as children were irredeemably "tainted" by "white" values and thinking, and can never be reabsorbed back into their native communities.
The novel in general has both strengths and weaknesses: some reviewers have noted that it "starts off slow," but that's not a criticism to me. The story unfolds slowly, enveloping the reader in time and space, revealing its content in a thoughtful and gradual way, inviting the reader to meditate on the material in more than a superficial way. The prose is highly visual, and reflects a deep knowledge of and familiarity with the subject matter. Although generally respectful, there are some stereotypes which I have some difficulty with. For example, Waters portrays (perhaps over-simplistically) the tribal council, and, by extension, the entire community, for example, as a single "hive mind," which almost entirely subverts the individual to the community. This is expressed particularly in the admittedly beautiful description of the value of *silence*, which Waters claims, to an Indian, speaks louder than words. The slow speech, where no one interrupts, but simply listens, digests, meditates , is certainly worthy of reflection, and introspection, but the over-generalization also risks the application of racial and cultural stereotypes.
That said, this is a highly influential and revealing book, which touches on many complex issues surrounding native peoples in the US. For that reason alone, it's highly recommended.
-----------------------
The child born by woman out of the formless mystery of everlasting life into the narrow confines of human flesh, linked to the boundless universe with the first breath he draws, but constricted for awhile within the personal, individual being. The child born by ceremonial out of the long initiate wherein he has been awakened out of the narrow world of the flesh into the greater world of the spirit, into that conception of his oneness with the cosmic whole, the breathing deer, all that life which has gone before and will follow after, and which exists at once in one perpetual time.
And the one reborn, as man is ever reborn out of their dead selves, by life itself. For as there are many faiths and many conceptions of the one paradox by which man exists as transient flesh and enduring spirit, all these faiths stem from the one faith, the one wonder and the mystery of which we are an inseparable part. Let each man, though bereft of teacher, priest and perceptor, depend on this faith, and so be reborn by this life itself into the greater whole. And so see before him at last, through the cycles of his widening perception, the one road which is his to tread with all.
March 13, 2024
Full cultural immersion into Pueblo Indians' world. Nothing will be explained up front but the reader will come to understand. For instance, if the reader doesn't know what a kiva is or its role in Pueblo life you will learn about it. Not because the author has anyone explain it outright but rather through the reader's experience of daily Pueblo life as experienced and observed by the characters themselves.
Frank Waters' "The Man Who Killed the Deer" is a mixture of reality, mysticism, and religion with a touch of magical realism. The reader is transplanted into the midst of Pueblo culture and life mostly through the life of the titular "Man" called Martiniano. We also observe, learn, and sense the Pueblo world through other characters occasionally as well. But the frame of reference is always from within the Pueblo culture. It is not a fawning, rose-colored-glasses approval of Pueblo life and religion. People are people. The details of how the powerful keep others in line vary but the fact that the powerful will use their power thusly translates across cultures quite easily.
In the end "Man" is a deeply moving experience. I finished with a well formed alternative view of many of my culture's mainstays (e.g. materialism, capitalism, the "taming" of nature, etc.). Not necessarily a better one, but a very different one. Waters' ability to write such different characters and ideas so intimately coherent they thoroughly transport a (Western) reader into a wildly different and beautiful space is unsurpassed.
I would recommend "The Man Who Killed the Deer" to anyone interested in Native American culture or who enjoys a "loner vs. nearly everyone" story. Also for anyone seeking a spiritual "boost" that isn't Christian based.
Frank Waters' "The Man Who Killed the Deer" is a mixture of reality, mysticism, and religion with a touch of magical realism. The reader is transplanted into the midst of Pueblo culture and life mostly through the life of the titular "Man" called Martiniano. We also observe, learn, and sense the Pueblo world through other characters occasionally as well. But the frame of reference is always from within the Pueblo culture. It is not a fawning, rose-colored-glasses approval of Pueblo life and religion. People are people. The details of how the powerful keep others in line vary but the fact that the powerful will use their power thusly translates across cultures quite easily.
In the end "Man" is a deeply moving experience. I finished with a well formed alternative view of many of my culture's mainstays (e.g. materialism, capitalism, the "taming" of nature, etc.). Not necessarily a better one, but a very different one. Waters' ability to write such different characters and ideas so intimately coherent they thoroughly transport a (Western) reader into a wildly different and beautiful space is unsurpassed.
I would recommend "The Man Who Killed the Deer" to anyone interested in Native American culture or who enjoys a "loner vs. nearly everyone" story. Also for anyone seeking a spiritual "boost" that isn't Christian based.
May 12, 2014
Always a little dicey writing about Native Americans when you're not, but this is a classic all the same.
March 9, 2022
Frank Waters is a western historian and sociologist who has incorporated his deep knowledge of the peoples of the Southwest in this wonderful lyrical book. His tempo and pacing are as slow as the thoughtful meditative reflections of the Pueblo elders. This story reflects a world largely lost in the 20th Century but the challenges of being caught between cultures remain for those required to assimilate. It is a beautifully wrought, sensitively written insight into the Pueblo culture that was still trying to hold to their old ways before Casinos and other external influences seeped too far in to be eradicated.
April 9, 2022
This novel captures very poetically the relation between traditional Pueblo culture and the land it is so deeply a part of. We moved to Taos this winter and our home faces the mountain central to this story.
The beauty and power of this land is palpable and seems to owe its depth to the millennium the Taos Pueblo has been here -essentially unchanged. More than anything I have read previously, this gem of a book slowly evokes a visceral sense and feeling for this earth based culture that for all its simplicity has held on to its worldview despite the encroachment of our technologically powered materialistic juggernaut. May it continue to bless this earth for another 1000 years.
The beauty and power of this land is palpable and seems to owe its depth to the millennium the Taos Pueblo has been here -essentially unchanged. More than anything I have read previously, this gem of a book slowly evokes a visceral sense and feeling for this earth based culture that for all its simplicity has held on to its worldview despite the encroachment of our technologically powered materialistic juggernaut. May it continue to bless this earth for another 1000 years.
June 23, 2012
Brilliant in every way. Thoughtful. My copy of this book is over 40 years old. So, definitely a book to keep and re-read.
Compelling, enlightening. I read this years ago so this is a re-read with a wiser head. Beautifully crafted.
Since I have now finished re-reading, I can recommend this book to anyone interested in the creative mind, the individual in society, native culture and the nature of the artist – these are Frank Waters's principal themes.
Compelling, enlightening. I read this years ago so this is a re-read with a wiser head. Beautifully crafted.
Since I have now finished re-reading, I can recommend this book to anyone interested in the creative mind, the individual in society, native culture and the nature of the artist – these are Frank Waters's principal themes.
January 5, 2015
beautifully written. a must for anyone interested in pueblo indians.
November 13, 2017
It gets off to a very slow start and you have to get used to the rhythm and pacing but it's a great book full of symbolism.
April 1, 2023
I wanted to learn more about the life of Pueblo Indians while visiting New Mexico recently. I visited a couple of pueblos (Nambé and Ohkay) one day and spent several hours at the Pueblo Indian Museum in Albuquerque on another, both of which were memorable experiences. I was disappointed that I was unable to visit Picuris or Taos pueblos due to ongoing pandemic-related closures, but I'll probably try to go back at some point.
Perhaps the most illuminating activity in my bid to learn more about Pueblo culture was to read the novel The Man Who Killed the Deer. The author, Frank Waters, was a collaborator on Book of the Hopi, a documentary of sorts, which I also intend to read. This novel gave me a good sense of what life might be like for members of the 19 Pueblos, or rather what it might have been like in the 1940s when the book was written.
Martiniano, the protagonist, lives on the fringes of his community in a way I am familiar with as a person who does the same thing in reference to the Mormon culture I grew up in and am surrounded by here in Utah. He participates and, more often, declines to participate on his own terms yet is fully Indian in terms of the dreams and signs which he experiences in his life and which he willingly embraces for reasons he never fully understands.
The author's approach to writing is poetry in a way that most novels aren't able to replicate. The ending was satisfying in that it tied things together for our protagonist in a way that made sense yet which did not attempt to explain any of what went on in Martiniano's life. The experience of reading it reminded me that I don't have any real understanding of the why and how behind ritual and belief. But I'm comforted by the notion that the same is true for everyone else, as well, including believers and practitioners. Belief is ultimately something that is felt more than understood.
Perhaps the most illuminating activity in my bid to learn more about Pueblo culture was to read the novel The Man Who Killed the Deer. The author, Frank Waters, was a collaborator on Book of the Hopi, a documentary of sorts, which I also intend to read. This novel gave me a good sense of what life might be like for members of the 19 Pueblos, or rather what it might have been like in the 1940s when the book was written.
Martiniano, the protagonist, lives on the fringes of his community in a way I am familiar with as a person who does the same thing in reference to the Mormon culture I grew up in and am surrounded by here in Utah. He participates and, more often, declines to participate on his own terms yet is fully Indian in terms of the dreams and signs which he experiences in his life and which he willingly embraces for reasons he never fully understands.
The author's approach to writing is poetry in a way that most novels aren't able to replicate. The ending was satisfying in that it tied things together for our protagonist in a way that made sense yet which did not attempt to explain any of what went on in Martiniano's life. The experience of reading it reminded me that I don't have any real understanding of the why and how behind ritual and belief. But I'm comforted by the notion that the same is true for everyone else, as well, including believers and practitioners. Belief is ultimately something that is felt more than understood.
November 18, 2021
This novel centers on the struggle between the culture of the Indians versus the ways of the Anglo Americans and the Mexican-Americans, The protagonist is a young Pueblo Indian man who is taken from his mother and sent to the Government away-school where he is taught the ways of “modern man,” When he returns to the Pueblo, he is conflicted by the traditional ways and rites of the community and what he has been taught. He kills a deer when it is not hunting season, and becomes a trouble-maker to both the Indian elders and the government officials, and subsequently a self-imposed outcast.
As his life unfolds, he marries an Indian woman from another tribe, and they struggle to make a living in the mountainous land of the Southwest. He has dreams and nightmares about the deer he has killed, and does not participate in the dances that are at the core of the Indian traditions. He tries the peyote way, but realizes it just avoids the essence of life and the traditions that have been passed down through the generations.
Ultimately, the man is drawn back to the world of nature as the Indians see it, the world as animate, where all is alive and they are related to each other, an inseparable spiritual essence of which man is a part. The land is not as the white man sees it – a resource to be bent to his will and satisfy the needs of commerce.
This book is well worth reading to gain the perspective of those who have a true connection to the earth and all living things. That perspective is needed now more than ever, as man methodically destroys the world we live in.
As his life unfolds, he marries an Indian woman from another tribe, and they struggle to make a living in the mountainous land of the Southwest. He has dreams and nightmares about the deer he has killed, and does not participate in the dances that are at the core of the Indian traditions. He tries the peyote way, but realizes it just avoids the essence of life and the traditions that have been passed down through the generations.
Ultimately, the man is drawn back to the world of nature as the Indians see it, the world as animate, where all is alive and they are related to each other, an inseparable spiritual essence of which man is a part. The land is not as the white man sees it – a resource to be bent to his will and satisfy the needs of commerce.
This book is well worth reading to gain the perspective of those who have a true connection to the earth and all living things. That perspective is needed now more than ever, as man methodically destroys the world we live in.
February 16, 2021
I appreciated the exploration of Pueblo spirituality and its intersections with outside cultures, from mainstream American materialism to Mexican Catholicism to the Peyote Road of the Native American Church. This is a kind of coming of age story, in which a young man who was sent to "away school" returns to feel alienated in his native culture. His search for faith is a multilayered story in which the depiction of the cultural misunderstandings is illuminating and thought-provoking. A lot of the book was ethnographic, and some of that felt gratuitous--not necessary for the plot or the characters' development. There's nothing wrong with gratuitous ethnography in itself, but it contributed to some general clunkiness in the narrative.
November 21, 2018
A terrific story, can I call it timeless! I had some reservations to start with due to the almost endless detail the author laid down in The Book of Hopi. This book, as I said, is a story not a description of a culture and it pulled me in from the beginning. It has tension and great characters. I gained an understanding about native American pueblo traditions, the why in addition to the what and how. The writing is simple and clear and natural. It was written almost 80 years ago but, as noted in the first sentence, it really is timeless. Five stars, no problem.
December 31, 2020
This is a difficult book, written in the 1940s about a Pueblo man who endured the Indian boarding school and is now back home. He doesn’t fit into either world and suffers in both. The writing is lyrical and timeless. It tries to give a picture of life and customs in the pueblos and how those ways are crushed under white laws.
The author lived in Colorado Springs and dedicated this book “to Mabel and Tony” — the Lujans of Taos.
The author lived in Colorado Springs and dedicated this book “to Mabel and Tony” — the Lujans of Taos.
March 5, 2024
I would like to give this a higher rating but it is not a easy read. I think I bought this some years ago
at a museum shop. It has languished on my bookshelves for years, but, I am very glad I finally read it. This is about life of a young man who was not Hopi, he was from another tribe and lived just outside the pueblo. A insight of life and how being an outsider fared for him.
at a museum shop. It has languished on my bookshelves for years, but, I am very glad I finally read it. This is about life of a young man who was not Hopi, he was from another tribe and lived just outside the pueblo. A insight of life and how being an outsider fared for him.
April 23, 2022
Excellent. Reminiscent of the classics John Steinbeck’s’ ‘The Red Pony.” However, this novel goes deeper and brings about a much more appreciative understanding of life within the Pablo culture. The prose is so amazing I had to read certain passages twice. Highly recommended.
August 8, 2023
Good poetic story of a Pueblo man and a white trader and a few others, with the indigenous people being given their true dignity as opposed to how whites have thought of them at the time. A glimpse at their beliefs and place in life.
September 12, 2024
This was special to me, as a descendant learning to reconnect. A great glimpse into finding the understanding in life that cannot be taught, be needs to be learned in one’s own time, their unique ripple in the Great Lake of life. I truly believe I will come back to this one multiple times to come.
December 5, 2020
Absolutely wonderful book!
March 7, 2021
A Taos Pueblo Native-American young man's struggle between his people's world and the world outside his community.
July 27, 2021
Good for the history of indians and such but very graphic and lots of inappropriate parts. I had to read it for a class so maybe that's why I didn't like it very much
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September 14, 2021A masterpiece.
April 4, 2022
A novel presented in stories. A spiritual journey with practical life lessons.
March 12, 2023
Hard going at times but worth the effort. One that sticks in the soul with ideas to muse on.
August 6, 2024
Picked this up just based on the cover, it didn't disappoint. Got me back into the regular habit of reading. It's a totally immersive experience.
December 9, 2025
The story begins at a slow pace but builds and picks up as you continue reading. Waters’ writing is extremely poetic, even artistic, in the imagery it inspires. The symbolism wraps back around several times at the end of the book and adds an unexpected profoundness to the story being told.
October 11, 2008
This is a serious look at the Native American culture as it tries to survive surrounded by ours. Martiniano is a Puebloan Indian who as a child was sent off to school as part of a government program to help the Indians better integrate. It has the effect of dislocation: he finds himself a stranger in both worlds, persecuted for his nonconformity.
The book is beautifully written, both story and symbolism. There are life lessons imparted as we follow the proud Martiniano. With time, he finds peace and location. It occurs to me that in an effort to preserve their culture, like Martiniano, the Indians are dislocated, trying to live in a past that can never return.
My favorite quotes:
p153 ...like all men he could endure the blows of adversity but not the arrows which pricked his pride and vanity. And like most men he blamed the invisible marksman rather than his own vulnerability.
p160 It is a deep truth and difficult to learn that the greatest deeds must be done by him who is content to remain unknown...
The book is beautifully written, both story and symbolism. There are life lessons imparted as we follow the proud Martiniano. With time, he finds peace and location. It occurs to me that in an effort to preserve their culture, like Martiniano, the Indians are dislocated, trying to live in a past that can never return.
My favorite quotes:
p153 ...like all men he could endure the blows of adversity but not the arrows which pricked his pride and vanity. And like most men he blamed the invisible marksman rather than his own vulnerability.
p160 It is a deep truth and difficult to learn that the greatest deeds must be done by him who is content to remain unknown...
April 10, 2012
This book is what it says on the cover, "...a beautiful book." I am sure it will speak to many people in different ways. My favorite part was the long descriptive paragraphs, crystallizing Martiniano's thought processes into recognizable and new insights, some describing nature and cycles with perfection. It is not a pat ending, so if you don't like that you might not enjoy the ending of this book. What I took from it was the writing about relationships, marriage, children, and family. The character of the trader was very interesting as he is developed. Though mostly told from a male point of view,any woman could relate to the experiences of the women in this story.
January 5, 2017
11.18.2016: recommendation of my bro. (who lives in Taos, believed to be the basis of this novel); only at Berea College Library locally...01.05.2017: first written in 1942 this is a finely written complex story of sin and redemption in the Indian (Amer.) Nation as well as the conflict between Indians and whites. Believed to be based in Taos (though in this fiction book it is called Pueblo). I would be interested in this author’s life story because his writing of Indian culture was so indepth. 1942 paperback from a friend (CG) who had it in her library; 311 pgs.; 4 out of 5 stars; finished 04 Jan., 2017/#2
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