What do you think?
Rate this book
The Way to Rainy Mountain, 50th Anniversary Edition
The Way to Rainy Mountain recalls the journey of Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, and of Tai-me's people in three unique voices: the legendary, the historical, and the contemporary. It is also the personal journey of N. Scott Momaday, who on a pilgrimage to the grave of his Kiowa grandmother traversed the same route taken by his forebears and in so doing confronted his Kiowa heritage. It is an evocation of three things in particular: a landscape that is incomparable, a time that is gone forever, and the human spirit, which endures. Celebrating fifty years since its 1969 release, this new edition offers a moving new preface and invites a new generation of readers to explore the Kiowa myths, legends, and history with Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
169 people are currently reading
3533 people want to read
About the author
N. Scott Momaday
80 books574 followersN. Scott Momaday's baritone voice booms from any stage. The listener, whether at the United Nations in New York City or next to the radio at home, is transported through time, known as 'kairos"and space to Oklahoma near Carnegie, to the "sacred, red earth" of Momaday's tribe.
Born Feb. 27, 1934, Momaday's most famous book remains 1969's House Made of Dawn, the story of a Pueblo boy torn between the modern and traditional worlds, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and was honored by his tribe. He is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Dance Society. He is also a Regents Professor of Humanities at the University of Arizona, and has published other novels, memoir, plays and poetry. He's been called the dean of American Indian writers, and he has influenced other contemporary Native American writers from Paula Gunn Allen to Louise Erdrich.
Momaday views his writings, published in various books over the years, as one continuous story. Influences on his writing include literature of America and Europe and the stories of the Kiowa and other tribal peoples.
"Native Americans have a unique identity," Momaday told Native Peoples Magazine in 1998. "It was acquired over many thousands of years, and it is the most valuable thing they have. It is their essence and it must not be lost."
Momaday founded The Buffalo Trust in the 1990s to keep the conversations about Native American traditions going. He especially wanted to give Native American children the chance to getting to know elders, and he wanted the elders to teach the children the little details of their lives that make them uniquely Native American. Once the Buffalo Trust arranged for Pueblo children to have lesson from their elders in washing their hair with yucca root as their ancestors did for as long as anyone can remember.
"In the oral tradition," Momaday has said, "stories are not told merely to entertain or instruct. They are told to be believed. Stories are realities lived and believed."
Born Feb. 27, 1934, Momaday's most famous book remains 1969's House Made of Dawn, the story of a Pueblo boy torn between the modern and traditional worlds, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and was honored by his tribe. He is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Dance Society. He is also a Regents Professor of Humanities at the University of Arizona, and has published other novels, memoir, plays and poetry. He's been called the dean of American Indian writers, and he has influenced other contemporary Native American writers from Paula Gunn Allen to Louise Erdrich.
Momaday views his writings, published in various books over the years, as one continuous story. Influences on his writing include literature of America and Europe and the stories of the Kiowa and other tribal peoples.
"Native Americans have a unique identity," Momaday told Native Peoples Magazine in 1998. "It was acquired over many thousands of years, and it is the most valuable thing they have. It is their essence and it must not be lost."
Momaday founded The Buffalo Trust in the 1990s to keep the conversations about Native American traditions going. He especially wanted to give Native American children the chance to getting to know elders, and he wanted the elders to teach the children the little details of their lives that make them uniquely Native American. Once the Buffalo Trust arranged for Pueblo children to have lesson from their elders in washing their hair with yucca root as their ancestors did for as long as anyone can remember.
"In the oral tradition," Momaday has said, "stories are not told merely to entertain or instruct. They are told to be believed. Stories are realities lived and believed."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 304 reviews
January 30, 2024
To dismiss the past as merely history is to sever a personal connection to the past. What's left is a lifeless preserve of documents frozen in time. N. Scott Momaday counters this sort of lifeless narrative by fusing myth, observations and historical events into an overlapping continuum.
Rainy Mountain is located in Oklahoma. It was the destination of the Kiowa who originated in an unforgiving land to the north and east. Momaday conveys the story of their migration and cultural awakening in terms of myth as well as his own journey through that landscape. “Take me with you...and I will give you whatever you want,” beckoned Tai-ma (Location 67) They followed him to the southern Great Plains and, Oh! What gifts he gave them: a boundless land warmed by the sun, herds of buffalo that shook the earth with their movement and above all, the horse. The Kiowa would come to own more horses per capita than any other tribe. These gifts were the essentials that sparked their imagination and sense of purpose. In return they brought Tai-ma with them. He was the object of their prayers. He was in the medicine pouches they handed down from generation to generation. He was celebrated in their paramount religious ceremony, the Sun Dance.
Momaday began his trek shortly after his grandmother Aho's death. “I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind's eye, and traveled 1500 miles to begin my pilgrimage.” (Location 131) Aho's life bridged the old and the new, the glorious times of freedom and the abrupt demise of the culture. Six years before her birth the Kiowa were pursued by the U.S. Cavalry. They abandoned their stores of food. Rather than starve, they submitted to imprisonment at Ft. Still. And those beautiful horses, the pride and joy of the Kiowa? There were some 800 of them. Their terrified shrieks must have echoed as they were shot dead by the Cavalry in Palo Duro Canyon. These were the memories her parents conveyed to her. When she was seven she attended the last Sun Dance. When she was ten a pathetic attempt at a facsimilie of the dance was broken up by the Cavalry.
Momaday's memory of Aho was one of joy, not bitterness. She prayed in Kiowa, a language he didn't understand., keeping alive Tai-ma. He recalls the feasts, the stories, the dogs that roamed her homestead, and the creatures that filled the landscape. He remembers how the night sky looked and what the wind and the rain felt like. These things remind him of Kiowa stories reaching back in time as many as five generations. Momaday's narrative is not chronological. It jumps back and forth like conversations roaming from subject to subject.
The living Kiowa culture was gone by 1875. “Yet it is within the reach of memory still, though tenuously now, and moreover it is even defined in a remarkably rich and living verbal tradition which demands to be preserved for its own sake. The living memory and the verbal tradition which transcends it were brought together for me once and for all in the person of Ko-sahn.” (Location 110) She was 100 years old when she visited, shortly after Aho's death. She was one of the few living people who had witnessed and remembered the Sun Dance in all of its vitality.
This was a book that demanded I grow before I could appreciate it. My epiphany came when I heard a Navajo story narrated on youtube by a Navajo elder. Suddenly, I understood the importance of the oral tradition with its unique aesthetic.
NOTES
N. Scott Momaday’s daughter Jill produced a documentary film reprising the journey: https://www.pulitzer.org/news/n-scott...
PBS aired a profile on N. Scott Momaday as part of their “American Master’s series: https://www.pbs.org/video/n-scott-mom...
The fine black-eared horse Gaapiatan owned was probably a “Medicine hat” horse, mentioned in Steve Price’s “America’s Wild Horses.” He says the Comanche prized them, and the Comanche were a great influence on the Kiowa according to Momaday.
The Palo Duro horse massacre is referred to in Larry McMurtry’s “Comanche Moon.” Along with the Kiowa, the Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho had congregated there and were routed by the Calvary. Wikipedia gives the number of horses slaughtered as between 1500 and 2000.
George Catlin’s portrait of Kotsatoah, described in the book, is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/ko...
The book includes a number of black-and-white illustrations by the author’s father Al Momaday. They are a powerful accompaniment to stories such as the legend of Devil’s Tower and of Man-ka-ih, the clay horse monster. These are some of the works of the artist: http://www.artnet.com/artists/al-moma...
Obituary from Albuquerque Journal https://www.abqjournal.com/news/natio...
Rainy Mountain is located in Oklahoma. It was the destination of the Kiowa who originated in an unforgiving land to the north and east. Momaday conveys the story of their migration and cultural awakening in terms of myth as well as his own journey through that landscape. “Take me with you...and I will give you whatever you want,” beckoned Tai-ma (Location 67) They followed him to the southern Great Plains and, Oh! What gifts he gave them: a boundless land warmed by the sun, herds of buffalo that shook the earth with their movement and above all, the horse. The Kiowa would come to own more horses per capita than any other tribe. These gifts were the essentials that sparked their imagination and sense of purpose. In return they brought Tai-ma with them. He was the object of their prayers. He was in the medicine pouches they handed down from generation to generation. He was celebrated in their paramount religious ceremony, the Sun Dance.
Momaday began his trek shortly after his grandmother Aho's death. “I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind's eye, and traveled 1500 miles to begin my pilgrimage.” (Location 131) Aho's life bridged the old and the new, the glorious times of freedom and the abrupt demise of the culture. Six years before her birth the Kiowa were pursued by the U.S. Cavalry. They abandoned their stores of food. Rather than starve, they submitted to imprisonment at Ft. Still. And those beautiful horses, the pride and joy of the Kiowa? There were some 800 of them. Their terrified shrieks must have echoed as they were shot dead by the Cavalry in Palo Duro Canyon. These were the memories her parents conveyed to her. When she was seven she attended the last Sun Dance. When she was ten a pathetic attempt at a facsimilie of the dance was broken up by the Cavalry.
Momaday's memory of Aho was one of joy, not bitterness. She prayed in Kiowa, a language he didn't understand., keeping alive Tai-ma. He recalls the feasts, the stories, the dogs that roamed her homestead, and the creatures that filled the landscape. He remembers how the night sky looked and what the wind and the rain felt like. These things remind him of Kiowa stories reaching back in time as many as five generations. Momaday's narrative is not chronological. It jumps back and forth like conversations roaming from subject to subject.
The living Kiowa culture was gone by 1875. “Yet it is within the reach of memory still, though tenuously now, and moreover it is even defined in a remarkably rich and living verbal tradition which demands to be preserved for its own sake. The living memory and the verbal tradition which transcends it were brought together for me once and for all in the person of Ko-sahn.” (Location 110) She was 100 years old when she visited, shortly after Aho's death. She was one of the few living people who had witnessed and remembered the Sun Dance in all of its vitality.
This was a book that demanded I grow before I could appreciate it. My epiphany came when I heard a Navajo story narrated on youtube by a Navajo elder. Suddenly, I understood the importance of the oral tradition with its unique aesthetic.
NOTES
N. Scott Momaday’s daughter Jill produced a documentary film reprising the journey: https://www.pulitzer.org/news/n-scott...
PBS aired a profile on N. Scott Momaday as part of their “American Master’s series: https://www.pbs.org/video/n-scott-mom...
The fine black-eared horse Gaapiatan owned was probably a “Medicine hat” horse, mentioned in Steve Price’s “America’s Wild Horses.” He says the Comanche prized them, and the Comanche were a great influence on the Kiowa according to Momaday.
The Palo Duro horse massacre is referred to in Larry McMurtry’s “Comanche Moon.” Along with the Kiowa, the Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho had congregated there and were routed by the Calvary. Wikipedia gives the number of horses slaughtered as between 1500 and 2000.
George Catlin’s portrait of Kotsatoah, described in the book, is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/ko...
The book includes a number of black-and-white illustrations by the author’s father Al Momaday. They are a powerful accompaniment to stories such as the legend of Devil’s Tower and of Man-ka-ih, the clay horse monster. These are some of the works of the artist: http://www.artnet.com/artists/al-moma...
Obituary from Albuquerque Journal https://www.abqjournal.com/news/natio...
April 18, 2022
The Way to Rainy Mountain is a collection of myths from Native American culture, images with Native American styles, and experiences from the author's own travels and memories. This turned out to be a super quick but interesting read. It's not my usual choice for literature, but anyone interested in Native American culture and heritage should think about picking up a copy of this.
September 24, 2012
This is my favorite passage from the book, page 26 of the first edition:
"The sun's child was big enough to walk around on the earth, and he saw a camp nearby. He made his way to it and saw that a great spider--that which is called a grandmother--lived there. The spider spoke to the sun's child, and the child was afraid. The grandmother was full of resentment; she was jealous, you see, for the child had not yet been weaned from its mother's breasts. She wondered whether the child were a boy or a girl, and therefore she made two things, a pretty ball and a bow and arrows. These things she left alone with the child all the next day. When she returned, she saw that the ball was full of arrows, and she knew then that the child was a boy and that he would be hard to raise. Time and again the grandmother tried to capture the boy, but he always ran away. Then one day she made a snare out of rope. The boy was caught up in the snare, and he cried and cried, but the grandmother sang to him and at last he fell asleep. Go to sleep and do not cry. Your mother is dead, and still you feed upon her breasts. Oo-oo-la-la-la-la, oo-oo."
Though we have many advanced technologies, and we think the age of the legendary passed away long ago, we are still caught up in it in our minds, hunting for meaning. And yet too often we are ensnared by the grandmother spider. She is jealous of our mother and our father, the sun.
"The sun's child was big enough to walk around on the earth, and he saw a camp nearby. He made his way to it and saw that a great spider--that which is called a grandmother--lived there. The spider spoke to the sun's child, and the child was afraid. The grandmother was full of resentment; she was jealous, you see, for the child had not yet been weaned from its mother's breasts. She wondered whether the child were a boy or a girl, and therefore she made two things, a pretty ball and a bow and arrows. These things she left alone with the child all the next day. When she returned, she saw that the ball was full of arrows, and she knew then that the child was a boy and that he would be hard to raise. Time and again the grandmother tried to capture the boy, but he always ran away. Then one day she made a snare out of rope. The boy was caught up in the snare, and he cried and cried, but the grandmother sang to him and at last he fell asleep. Go to sleep and do not cry. Your mother is dead, and still you feed upon her breasts. Oo-oo-la-la-la-la, oo-oo."
Though we have many advanced technologies, and we think the age of the legendary passed away long ago, we are still caught up in it in our minds, hunting for meaning. And yet too often we are ensnared by the grandmother spider. She is jealous of our mother and our father, the sun.
May 2, 2018
Rainy Mountain is a touchstone for writing about the Great Plains. Momaday is Kiowa, of course, and he won a Pulitzer prize, of course, and his personal voice is celestial, but laying aside all that (as if it were possible), an author or aspiring author of the Great Plains has to go here. Go to the book, and if at all possible, go to Rainy Mountain, physically.
Having taught from and written about Rainy Mountain for many years, I must control myself and not spill a river of commentary into a review, but here are a few takeaways for writers of the plains.
1. Place, memory, identity. Center yourself somewhere. You may be wonderfully sophisticated, you may jet around the world, you may have seen it all, but center yourself, somewhere. Be conscious of your sense of place, grounded in memory, and how it defines you and your work.
2. Orality. Think about how your work sounds. Read it aloud to yourself, or your Labrador retriever. Consider cadence, think about what kind of a person you are, verbally. Cultivate the talent of reading your work to others.
3. Mixing genre. Master your home genre, and as you master the craft, mix it up, at the right time, intentionally. Cather does this. Stegner does this. Momaday is in a league of his own.
Having taught from and written about Rainy Mountain for many years, I must control myself and not spill a river of commentary into a review, but here are a few takeaways for writers of the plains.
1. Place, memory, identity. Center yourself somewhere. You may be wonderfully sophisticated, you may jet around the world, you may have seen it all, but center yourself, somewhere. Be conscious of your sense of place, grounded in memory, and how it defines you and your work.
2. Orality. Think about how your work sounds. Read it aloud to yourself, or your Labrador retriever. Consider cadence, think about what kind of a person you are, verbally. Cultivate the talent of reading your work to others.
3. Mixing genre. Master your home genre, and as you master the craft, mix it up, at the right time, intentionally. Cather does this. Stegner does this. Momaday is in a league of his own.
November 3, 2010
N. Scott Momaday dedicated The Way to Rainy Mountain “in wonder, in faith, and in love” to his mother and father. This heartfelt depiction of the Kiowa Indian oral tradition encompasses all aspects of mythical tradition, historical accounts, and Momaday’s personal experience of his culture. Momaday uses three authorial voices taken on to effectively translate his multi-faceted view of Kiowa tradition. These contrasting voices add an interesting element to the tone of the piece.
The voice of his father, which is synonymous with the ancient myth of the Kiowas, is the reasoning behind N. Scott Momaday’s inspiration and need for sharing this history. The father voice lends a religious and cultural context to the overall theme. The second voice is one of a historical perception. This voice seems to add a balance to the mythical story weaving of the oral tradition by grounding the audience with time and fact; the factual evidence is perhaps another way in which an analytical reader can respect or understand the significance of the oral tradition. Momaday finally incorporates his unique experience, growing up as a Kiowa. His childhood memories add an almost mournful tone to the peace, as he reflects on something that was once whole and is now only in the hearts of the few remaining Kiowas.
The memory of his grandmother’s death is perhaps his most thought provoking memory, as he explains the cycle of life; this can be readily paralleled to the culture of the Kiowa people. This cycle brings his grandmother back to a childlike state, releasing her spirit into the earth; likewise, the novel seems to bring the Kiowa back to life with the retelling of myth and history. The people, however far from what they once were, live on through the pages. The text is certainly lovely from a literary standpoint, containing descriptive pros and vivid memories; however, the mythic voice sections evoke an even more impactful tone when read aloud. Momaday has created a wonderful preservation through literature that should be enjoyed and shared.
The voice of his father, which is synonymous with the ancient myth of the Kiowas, is the reasoning behind N. Scott Momaday’s inspiration and need for sharing this history. The father voice lends a religious and cultural context to the overall theme. The second voice is one of a historical perception. This voice seems to add a balance to the mythical story weaving of the oral tradition by grounding the audience with time and fact; the factual evidence is perhaps another way in which an analytical reader can respect or understand the significance of the oral tradition. Momaday finally incorporates his unique experience, growing up as a Kiowa. His childhood memories add an almost mournful tone to the peace, as he reflects on something that was once whole and is now only in the hearts of the few remaining Kiowas.
The memory of his grandmother’s death is perhaps his most thought provoking memory, as he explains the cycle of life; this can be readily paralleled to the culture of the Kiowa people. This cycle brings his grandmother back to a childlike state, releasing her spirit into the earth; likewise, the novel seems to bring the Kiowa back to life with the retelling of myth and history. The people, however far from what they once were, live on through the pages. The text is certainly lovely from a literary standpoint, containing descriptive pros and vivid memories; however, the mythic voice sections evoke an even more impactful tone when read aloud. Momaday has created a wonderful preservation through literature that should be enjoyed and shared.
August 12, 2016
"A word has power in and of itself. It comes from nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin to all things. By means of words can a man deal with the world on equal terms. And the word is sacred" (33).
*sigh* Words are life. Be still my English/literature loving heart.
Oral folklore of Native Americans and poetry all in one book? You best be believin' I dig that! :D Plus he writes about my mountains (the Rockies) and I think we are connected in our love affair with them. I just need gorgeous mountains in my life! :D
"Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk" (83).
Erika's Amazon Link
*sigh* Words are life. Be still my English/literature loving heart.
Oral folklore of Native Americans and poetry all in one book? You best be believin' I dig that! :D Plus he writes about my mountains (the Rockies) and I think we are connected in our love affair with them. I just need gorgeous mountains in my life! :D
"Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk" (83).
Erika's Amazon Link
March 19, 2022
Uno de esos libros que se cruzan en tu camino y tienes la sensación de que te va a gustar.
Son historias del pasado y son evocadoras y maravillosamente narradas. Historias tristes en las que el paso del tiempo pesa, en la que la nostalgia es contagiosa.
Narrada maravillosamente. Me sentí parte del paisaje y de los habitantes de estas leyendas, de estas historias....
Mi opinión
https://blog.paseandoamisscultura.com...
Son historias del pasado y son evocadoras y maravillosamente narradas. Historias tristes en las que el paso del tiempo pesa, en la que la nostalgia es contagiosa.
Narrada maravillosamente. Me sentí parte del paisaje y de los habitantes de estas leyendas, de estas historias....
Mi opinión
https://blog.paseandoamisscultura.com...
July 31, 2013
I wish every tribe had an N. Scott Momaday recording oral traditions this way. Momaday weaves together three narratives: The stories, historical perspectives, and personal memories. The end result is much more a family history than a collection of Native American tales. And that, unfortunately, was its weakness for me. Unless I believed that Momaday's ancestors were the most important people in the tribe's past, their story simply has too much predominance for my taste. There were other great people, some of whom are mentioned in passing but never expanded upon, whose stories I'd also like to hear.
That said, the narratives are truly compelling. One walks away from this book feeling as though one has gotten to know the Kiowa Indians, and that is no small feat in a text this sparse. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Native American history and legends.
That said, the narratives are truly compelling. One walks away from this book feeling as though one has gotten to know the Kiowa Indians, and that is no small feat in a text this sparse. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Native American history and legends.
September 23, 2010
Like one long dream-memory for me. As I read, I thought many times, "I've been there and felt that!" Or "yes, my grandmother's hands were that way, too!" or "I remember my grandmother doing that when I was a child"...
The book reminded me that the Wichita Mountains is good medicine for everyone.
I also enjoyed Louise Erdrich's essay, "The Names of Women" included in the back, about "all the mothers going back into the shadows, when women wore names that told us who they were."
The book reminded me that the Wichita Mountains is good medicine for everyone.
I also enjoyed Louise Erdrich's essay, "The Names of Women" included in the back, about "all the mothers going back into the shadows, when women wore names that told us who they were."
January 1, 2022
Many Kiowa kids had the misfortune to be sent to White boarding schools – the kind just for Native American kids - so everything genuinely American could be bleached out of them and everything European substituted. They lost the Kiowa language, Kiowa religion and ended up with fragments of tribal tradition, stories of “the old days” when the Kiowa were a strong and proud people and completely independent in life and action. While author Momaday personally avoided this situation, Kiowa traditions were already seriously frayed by the time he was born, leaving memories of his childhood and stories told by the old people of what had been and no long was.
Momaday relates these fragments in “Rainy Mountain,” small pieces of tradition that remained for him to pick up from family members and history, with a coherent and complete description now lost and buried in graves across southwestern Oklahoma. He begins with the Kiowa origin myth, of people emerging from a hollow log out into the Great Plains and then further on down to their historic position in the southern Plains.
Facing pages are divided into three parts. The first part on the left hand are Kiowa legends; on the right-hand page are historical notes on top and lower down are fragments of personal memories usually from his childhood. They follow each other only in a loosely parallel way, tiny vignettes of the myths, the historical notes and Momaday’s reminiscences of the life of his family and what he learned about them, especially his grandmother.
Momaday won a Pulitzer Prize for his former book, “House Made of Dawn,” a story of a soldier returned from WW II suffering in a Native way from what we would today call PTSD. With “Rainy Mountain” Momaday delves into where the Kiowa know they came from and how they got to the foreign land of Oklahoma. Hidden from the reader is the blood shed all along the way, in part from their traditional warfare, in part from intervention from aliens with long knives.
In outline the book takes the form of isolated fireside tales which the reader is invited to personally piece together to form the whole picture. For non-Natives, a little time spent searching background information is rewarding to fill in the vacunae.
Last notes: Art is by Momaday’s artist father. So complete was the devastation of Kiowa culture that by 2012 there were only 20 fluent speakers of Kiowa, by 2021 most of them are dead.
Momaday relates these fragments in “Rainy Mountain,” small pieces of tradition that remained for him to pick up from family members and history, with a coherent and complete description now lost and buried in graves across southwestern Oklahoma. He begins with the Kiowa origin myth, of people emerging from a hollow log out into the Great Plains and then further on down to their historic position in the southern Plains.
Facing pages are divided into three parts. The first part on the left hand are Kiowa legends; on the right-hand page are historical notes on top and lower down are fragments of personal memories usually from his childhood. They follow each other only in a loosely parallel way, tiny vignettes of the myths, the historical notes and Momaday’s reminiscences of the life of his family and what he learned about them, especially his grandmother.
Momaday won a Pulitzer Prize for his former book, “House Made of Dawn,” a story of a soldier returned from WW II suffering in a Native way from what we would today call PTSD. With “Rainy Mountain” Momaday delves into where the Kiowa know they came from and how they got to the foreign land of Oklahoma. Hidden from the reader is the blood shed all along the way, in part from their traditional warfare, in part from intervention from aliens with long knives.
In outline the book takes the form of isolated fireside tales which the reader is invited to personally piece together to form the whole picture. For non-Natives, a little time spent searching background information is rewarding to fill in the vacunae.
Last notes: Art is by Momaday’s artist father. So complete was the devastation of Kiowa culture that by 2012 there were only 20 fluent speakers of Kiowa, by 2021 most of them are dead.
April 3, 2018
Breathtaking. Gotta read it again.
February 26, 2022
"The journey began one day long ago on the edge of the northern Plains."
Book 5 in 2022
I never exactly know where to start with school books. I definitely would not have picked this up if it had not been assigned, however, for once I don't think reading this for school hindered my enjoyment, if anything it increased it.
Now clearly I didn't love this book, and I don't have a whole lot to say, but if I hadn't read this for school I don't think I would have liked it at all. N. Scott Momaday is a poet and that showed heavily in this book. Now I have nothing against poetry, I just have a hard time understanding it. Yes, it can be beautiful and flow wonderfully, I would just rather get to the point. And this book was one big metaphor filled with other tiny little metaphors. If I had read this on my own, being a person who can occasionally struggle with the deeper meaning of things and takes them too literally, I would have been left so confused. I finished this and had no idea what I had just read. I could literally tell you nothing about it, except it's written unconventionally, which I liked, and required deeper thinking which I wasn't in the mood for. However, this is where school helped. Through the discussions we had as a class (which I reluctantly participated in) I began to understand why this book was written and what it was doing. Now you may ask, "What was it about?" To that, I would say "Give me a minute to think on it." I still have difficulty pinpointing what exactly this book was about, but I could tell you why it was written and why it was important. Which I won't because I recommend taking a little to think about it on your own or talking to someone else about it.
Yes I believe it was important and I would recommend it, I just didn't find it super effective for me. Like I said, on my own, I would have strongly disliked it for being confusing. It's a good book to read with others and to discuss, but if you struggle with interpreting things that are definitely not laid out on a platter for you, then it's not great. It's an important book, but I feel it could have been told in a way that could get through to a wider audience.
Book 5 in 2022
I never exactly know where to start with school books. I definitely would not have picked this up if it had not been assigned, however, for once I don't think reading this for school hindered my enjoyment, if anything it increased it.
Now clearly I didn't love this book, and I don't have a whole lot to say, but if I hadn't read this for school I don't think I would have liked it at all. N. Scott Momaday is a poet and that showed heavily in this book. Now I have nothing against poetry, I just have a hard time understanding it. Yes, it can be beautiful and flow wonderfully, I would just rather get to the point. And this book was one big metaphor filled with other tiny little metaphors. If I had read this on my own, being a person who can occasionally struggle with the deeper meaning of things and takes them too literally, I would have been left so confused. I finished this and had no idea what I had just read. I could literally tell you nothing about it, except it's written unconventionally, which I liked, and required deeper thinking which I wasn't in the mood for. However, this is where school helped. Through the discussions we had as a class (which I reluctantly participated in) I began to understand why this book was written and what it was doing. Now you may ask, "What was it about?" To that, I would say "Give me a minute to think on it." I still have difficulty pinpointing what exactly this book was about, but I could tell you why it was written and why it was important. Which I won't because I recommend taking a little to think about it on your own or talking to someone else about it.
Yes I believe it was important and I would recommend it, I just didn't find it super effective for me. Like I said, on my own, I would have strongly disliked it for being confusing. It's a good book to read with others and to discuss, but if you struggle with interpreting things that are definitely not laid out on a platter for you, then it's not great. It's an important book, but I feel it could have been told in a way that could get through to a wider audience.
October 28, 2016
My son brought this home & I ended up reading it because of the hype that it was supposed to be a very important book. I like that he tells the legends of an American Indian tribe of his ancestors & then tells us the facts that they were based on &/or that are able to be researched. Learning about the tribe & their beliefs was interesting. The personal narrative from him was more like reading a diary to be passed down to your kids, so that part was boring to me.
My son had to read this for class & answer questions. The school came up with stupid questions & very little points for a lot of weird ways to show how the three writings work together. Simple questions, in regards to the legends & how they were proven by the facts, would have helped him remember more about this Indian tribe & their ways.
My son had to read this for class & answer questions. The school came up with stupid questions & very little points for a lot of weird ways to show how the three writings work together. Simple questions, in regards to the legends & how they were proven by the facts, would have helped him remember more about this Indian tribe & their ways.
March 20, 2022
MARAVILLA (5/5)
•
N. Scott Momaday, ganador de un #Pulitzer (por otra novela), nos acerca en este libro a sus orígenes y el de sus antepasados: el pueblo Kiowa.
Publicado por primera vez en 1969, este libro nos acerca a la cultura kiowa. Y lo hace de forma original, usando tres tipos de narración: las leyendas, la historia y la actualidad.
Es un texto cortito que me ha gustado mucho. Viene acompañado de algunas ilustraciones. Historia, mitos, leyendas… muy recomendable.
•
🗯Pequeñas pinceladas sobre el viaje de los antepasados kiowas del autor. Desde sus comienzos, en Montana, hasta su actual asentamiento en Oklahoma.
•
¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? Un interesante texto acerca de los indios kiowas norteamericanos.
•
Erratas encontradas: 2 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}.
•
FRASES SUBRAYADAS:
➰«No sabemos cuál fue la primera historia, ni quién la contó, pero sabemos que, de alguna forma, tenía que ver con la condición humana, y que la persona que la narró fue un hombre o una mujer que creía en el poder de la palabra».
➰«Hay cosas en la naturaleza que suscitan un silencio sobrecogedor en el corazón del hombre […]».
➰«Una palabra tiene poder en sí misma y por sí misma. Surge de la nada hasta ser sonido y significado; da origen a todas las cosas. Mediante las palabras un hombre puede enfrentarse al mundo en igualdad de condiciones. Y la palabra es sagrada».
➰«En los calendarios kiowas está la prueba gráfica de que la vida de las mujeres era dura […]».
•
Lectura para 5 de los #24retosdelectura:
3.- En que la naturaleza esté muy presente
9.- Con menos de 120 páginas
10.- Con una «y» en en título
19.- Ambientado en Estados Unidos
20.- Libro publicado (el original al menos) en el siglo XX
•
#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #booklover #instalibros #bookworm #bookstagram #NørdicaLibros #NørdicaEditorial #kiowas #TheWayToRainyMountain
•
#Libros / para #blogloqueleo / #ElCaminoARainyMountain @nordica_libros #NScottMomaday @nscottmomaday / #ColecciónOtrasLatitudes / Traducción: #BrunoMattiussi
•
#HastaElTotoDelCoronavirus
•
N. Scott Momaday, ganador de un #Pulitzer (por otra novela), nos acerca en este libro a sus orígenes y el de sus antepasados: el pueblo Kiowa.
Publicado por primera vez en 1969, este libro nos acerca a la cultura kiowa. Y lo hace de forma original, usando tres tipos de narración: las leyendas, la historia y la actualidad.
Es un texto cortito que me ha gustado mucho. Viene acompañado de algunas ilustraciones. Historia, mitos, leyendas… muy recomendable.
•
🗯Pequeñas pinceladas sobre el viaje de los antepasados kiowas del autor. Desde sus comienzos, en Montana, hasta su actual asentamiento en Oklahoma.
•
¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? Un interesante texto acerca de los indios kiowas norteamericanos.
•
Erratas encontradas: 2 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}.
•
FRASES SUBRAYADAS:
➰«No sabemos cuál fue la primera historia, ni quién la contó, pero sabemos que, de alguna forma, tenía que ver con la condición humana, y que la persona que la narró fue un hombre o una mujer que creía en el poder de la palabra».
➰«Hay cosas en la naturaleza que suscitan un silencio sobrecogedor en el corazón del hombre […]».
➰«Una palabra tiene poder en sí misma y por sí misma. Surge de la nada hasta ser sonido y significado; da origen a todas las cosas. Mediante las palabras un hombre puede enfrentarse al mundo en igualdad de condiciones. Y la palabra es sagrada».
➰«En los calendarios kiowas está la prueba gráfica de que la vida de las mujeres era dura […]».
•
Lectura para 5 de los #24retosdelectura:
3.- En que la naturaleza esté muy presente
9.- Con menos de 120 páginas
10.- Con una «y» en en título
19.- Ambientado en Estados Unidos
20.- Libro publicado (el original al menos) en el siglo XX
•
#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #booklover #instalibros #bookworm #bookstagram #NørdicaLibros #NørdicaEditorial #kiowas #TheWayToRainyMountain
•
#Libros / para #blogloqueleo / #ElCaminoARainyMountain @nordica_libros #NScottMomaday @nscottmomaday / #ColecciónOtrasLatitudes / Traducción: #BrunoMattiussi
•
#HastaElTotoDelCoronavirus
October 25, 2024
A very compelling combination of folktales, history and memoir, A Way to Rainy Mountain was full of stories I was unfamiliar with, and for that I’m grateful. Hearing about a short-lived, unique, indigenous culture was rewarding and I feel better informed and better able to honor the cultures that came before.
April 17, 2022
I like the intersection of ancient stories handed down from generation to generation with historical commentary and Momaday's own memories from his childhood.
February 8, 2024
Had to read this for one of my classes. Though it isn't a book I would personally go out go my way to reading, I felt immersed in the way Momaday intricated language and experience.
April 19, 2024
so beautiful beautiful writing probably one of best books i’ve read for this class
December 25, 2018
Okay, so I read this book for school and I can't quite remember when it was I read it, so I am just going to say September or November (shrugs).
So I don't really like assigned readings, and I initially had the impression that this was a different book, but I still went into it fairly interested. I had never read a book where there were three different narrative voices. The factual voice, the author's own experience and his fathers voice (from what I can understand). But for the most part, unfortunately, I could not understand this book.
I know it is written in a way where there are stories told in oral tradition that are not always supposed to define the word logic (I thought the stories were quite enjoyable and really cool by the way), but that is not where I really went off in terms of being confused while reading.
The place I did go off was when I felt that the author didn't really explain a lot of the names and history he used (mostly in the books factual narrative). I mean, he did, but I feel that the way it was executed, in my experience, it just felt very blurry and felt like I was being thrown in the thick of things, like I was just expected to know a wide array about the Kiowa tribe before jumping in, when really that was one of the reasons the teacher assigned this book, so we could know more about the Kiowa tribe.
So while that gave me some sour experiences while reading, I can say that the big words the author used and the deep metaphors and details really made the words jump off the page. It made me think without entirely feeling like I couldn't understand the context at all. I like the big themes the author used. Some of my favorites, the universe being one specifically. But while I liked some of the detail, I also felt that the way this was executed got in the way. I felt blurry about this, like I had to have traveled to where the author was standing to really get a big picture of it, which I feel is the opposite of what the book was trying to portray. The world-building felt very disheveled. Some of the details about history even got me confused, and in parts I was left wondering if something had even happened at all, or if it was just me overthinking things.
So, there was good details, but much of it just ended up messy in my opinion, like a ball of yarn raided by a cat.
And the way the facts were executed on the page made me feel inexperienced, like I was being glanced over and expected to know (to which I am when it comes to the history of the Kiowa, inexperienced, even though I wanted to learn).
When the author mentions some of the people in the book, I even forgot who they were and so I had to flip back.
I asked a person how they felt about this book. I told them I felt it was confusing. And they said that they didn't believe it was a generalized thing (the oral tradition, the childhood memories, etc.) And that it wasn't supposed to be this big logical, easy to understand thing. And I don't expect it to be an easy to understand thing, but
How I felt: I think you can write a piece about oral tradition and the Kiowas in many different narratives, but that doesn't mean there is an excuse to leave behind a clear execution of the facts, or of the details, in the midst.
Not my favorite story, but I appreciate what the author was trying to do and I still take some of it with me. It just felt extremely messy. I will give it a three because some of the details the author wrote are just outstanding. I like the details about the people coming out of the log, the abandoned house, his childhood, and otherworldly things like the grandmother spider (that was really cool).
So I don't really like assigned readings, and I initially had the impression that this was a different book, but I still went into it fairly interested. I had never read a book where there were three different narrative voices. The factual voice, the author's own experience and his fathers voice (from what I can understand). But for the most part, unfortunately, I could not understand this book.
I know it is written in a way where there are stories told in oral tradition that are not always supposed to define the word logic (I thought the stories were quite enjoyable and really cool by the way), but that is not where I really went off in terms of being confused while reading.
The place I did go off was when I felt that the author didn't really explain a lot of the names and history he used (mostly in the books factual narrative). I mean, he did, but I feel that the way it was executed, in my experience, it just felt very blurry and felt like I was being thrown in the thick of things, like I was just expected to know a wide array about the Kiowa tribe before jumping in, when really that was one of the reasons the teacher assigned this book, so we could know more about the Kiowa tribe.
So while that gave me some sour experiences while reading, I can say that the big words the author used and the deep metaphors and details really made the words jump off the page. It made me think without entirely feeling like I couldn't understand the context at all. I like the big themes the author used. Some of my favorites, the universe being one specifically. But while I liked some of the detail, I also felt that the way this was executed got in the way. I felt blurry about this, like I had to have traveled to where the author was standing to really get a big picture of it, which I feel is the opposite of what the book was trying to portray. The world-building felt very disheveled. Some of the details about history even got me confused, and in parts I was left wondering if something had even happened at all, or if it was just me overthinking things.
So, there was good details, but much of it just ended up messy in my opinion, like a ball of yarn raided by a cat.
And the way the facts were executed on the page made me feel inexperienced, like I was being glanced over and expected to know (to which I am when it comes to the history of the Kiowa, inexperienced, even though I wanted to learn).
When the author mentions some of the people in the book, I even forgot who they were and so I had to flip back.
I asked a person how they felt about this book. I told them I felt it was confusing. And they said that they didn't believe it was a generalized thing (the oral tradition, the childhood memories, etc.) And that it wasn't supposed to be this big logical, easy to understand thing. And I don't expect it to be an easy to understand thing, but
How I felt: I think you can write a piece about oral tradition and the Kiowas in many different narratives, but that doesn't mean there is an excuse to leave behind a clear execution of the facts, or of the details, in the midst.
Not my favorite story, but I appreciate what the author was trying to do and I still take some of it with me. It just felt extremely messy. I will give it a three because some of the details the author wrote are just outstanding. I like the details about the people coming out of the log, the abandoned house, his childhood, and otherworldly things like the grandmother spider (that was really cool).
Read
November 14, 2025I had to read this book for class bc my teacher made me!!!! (I’m the teacher.)
February 6, 2017
Momaday's collection of short Kiowa fables (each followed by a paragraph long bit of history and a parable of reflection) reads like a collection of prose poems. Interesting, some of them quite compelling, but overall, a hit or miss collection in that regard. Still, its insights into Kiowa culture are quite interesting.
September 16, 2025
Apologies for the retroactive review— I spent the day trying to gather my thoughts about this one. First of all, Chris Walker gifted me this book for graduation. It’s about the Kiowa people, who walked over 1200 miles from the mountains of Montana to Rainy Mountain, Oklahoma. The book is the retelling of the Kiowan pilgrimage through their cultural myths. A group of people go for a long walk across the country…you can see why Chris chose this book for me.
I made a list of the most striking aspects of “Rainy Mountain”— animism, oral tradition, non-humans and humans depicted as familial relationships. For the sake of not subjecting my seven loyal goodreads followers to a dissertation about this book, I’m going to focus on one aspect: teleology.
What the hell is teleology? Sure. It’s the branch of philosophy that asks, “What is the goal or end purpose of things?” The classic white/indo-European pilgrimage/wilderness story (think Wild by Cheryl Strayed, or even Into the Wild by John Krakauer, Walden by Thoreau, The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, etc.) follows a well defined arc. The main protagonist leaves their home, goes on a heroic journey of personal and introspective “transformation” and then returns home (or dies).
The journey itself, the thru-hike or extended retreat into the wilderness, is distinctly separate from the “real world” both physically and temporally. Strayed does not spend her entire life hiking the PCT. Thoreau does not live in his cabin by Walden Pond forever. There’s an understanding that the journey itself must come to an end, that eventually, all of our heroes go “home.” Embedded in these canonical (white) narratives, is a teleology rooted in closure. The journey serves a purpose and concludes when that purpose is fulfilled.
“Rainy Mountain” offers a different ending, a different teleology. While mythology is often understood as something that happened long ago, Momaday reveals that myth is continually created throughout the journey. The Kiowas live their myths in the present instead of recalling them as figments of the past. The pilgrimage undertaken by the Kiowas is not a discrete episode or a temporary escape; it is a condition, a state of being. The Kiowas are always becoming, evolving, moving, making myths, creating their culture in real time.
At the same time, Momaday does not ignore the historical reality. The Kiowa people, as a sovereign and autonomous nation, largely ceased to exist in the form they once knew by the end of the 19th century, following forced relocation, warfare, and assimilationist policies. In that sense, the literal journey of the Kiowas did reach a kind of end. But, the “journey” of the Kiowa people migrated into language, into memory, into the act of storytelling. The purpose of the journey, then, is that it never ends. The purpose of the journey, is that the Kiowa people are walking forever.
I made a list of the most striking aspects of “Rainy Mountain”— animism, oral tradition, non-humans and humans depicted as familial relationships. For the sake of not subjecting my seven loyal goodreads followers to a dissertation about this book, I’m going to focus on one aspect: teleology.
What the hell is teleology? Sure. It’s the branch of philosophy that asks, “What is the goal or end purpose of things?” The classic white/indo-European pilgrimage/wilderness story (think Wild by Cheryl Strayed, or even Into the Wild by John Krakauer, Walden by Thoreau, The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, etc.) follows a well defined arc. The main protagonist leaves their home, goes on a heroic journey of personal and introspective “transformation” and then returns home (or dies).
The journey itself, the thru-hike or extended retreat into the wilderness, is distinctly separate from the “real world” both physically and temporally. Strayed does not spend her entire life hiking the PCT. Thoreau does not live in his cabin by Walden Pond forever. There’s an understanding that the journey itself must come to an end, that eventually, all of our heroes go “home.” Embedded in these canonical (white) narratives, is a teleology rooted in closure. The journey serves a purpose and concludes when that purpose is fulfilled.
“Rainy Mountain” offers a different ending, a different teleology. While mythology is often understood as something that happened long ago, Momaday reveals that myth is continually created throughout the journey. The Kiowas live their myths in the present instead of recalling them as figments of the past. The pilgrimage undertaken by the Kiowas is not a discrete episode or a temporary escape; it is a condition, a state of being. The Kiowas are always becoming, evolving, moving, making myths, creating their culture in real time.
At the same time, Momaday does not ignore the historical reality. The Kiowa people, as a sovereign and autonomous nation, largely ceased to exist in the form they once knew by the end of the 19th century, following forced relocation, warfare, and assimilationist policies. In that sense, the literal journey of the Kiowas did reach a kind of end. But, the “journey” of the Kiowa people migrated into language, into memory, into the act of storytelling. The purpose of the journey, then, is that it never ends. The purpose of the journey, is that the Kiowa people are walking forever.
March 19, 2022
Si esteu disposats a viatjar lluny sense aixecar el cul del sofà, aquest pot ser el vostre llibre. O per amenitzar un bon berenar. "El camino a Rainy Mountain" és únic, per la seva forma i pel seu contingut. És una de les darreres novetats de @NórdicaLibros: un petit homenatge al passat, al llegat cultural i a la lluita. I a la tribu índia dels kiowes, un grup nòmade, caçador i que mama d’una mitologia pròpia que dona gust descobrir.
Aquest llibre és un viatge en tots els sentits. Per una banda, és un recorregut sentimental dels indis kiowes d'ençà que comencen prop de Montana fins que s'acaben assentant a Rainy Mountain, a Oklahoma. I també és un viatge intens per la seva mitologia, la natura i les creences.
I ens ho expliquen tres veus: la de l’autor (criat en una reserva de kiowes), la dels seus avantpassats i el narrador neutre que contextualitza cada mite, cada record. I això és molt enriquidor com a lector.
És, per tant, una experiència literària més que una mera lectura. I ho és gràcies a una fantàstica edició que la fa amena i molt visual.
Aquest llibre és un viatge en tots els sentits. Per una banda, és un recorregut sentimental dels indis kiowes d'ençà que comencen prop de Montana fins que s'acaben assentant a Rainy Mountain, a Oklahoma. I també és un viatge intens per la seva mitologia, la natura i les creences.
I ens ho expliquen tres veus: la de l’autor (criat en una reserva de kiowes), la dels seus avantpassats i el narrador neutre que contextualitza cada mite, cada record. I això és molt enriquidor com a lector.
És, per tant, una experiència literària més que una mera lectura. I ho és gràcies a una fantàstica edició que la fa amena i molt visual.
March 1, 2025
The Way to Rainy Mountain is a journey to a sacred place in Oklahoma where the author contemplates his Kiowa legacy. The book is a composite of tales about his ancestors, his own memories, and Kiowa legend. It's a trip into the past learning about the culture and meaning of the land. Momaday employs the land itself to tell stories that are inextricably linked with who he is. The way he relates nature to his family and ancestry made the book sound very poetic.
I especially enjoyed how the book made me consider the relationship between culture and the planet. One passage that stuck with me was when Momaday explained the passing of his grandmother and how it fell into the story of his people. It made me see how important family and heritage are to who we are.
A few of the mythological sections were more difficult to follow, but they added depth to the novel and allowed me to understand Kiowa culture better. This novel helped me realize how much a person's heritage and tradition can influence their perspective. I would suggest it to anyone with an interest in Native American culture or novels that deal with identity and family.
I especially enjoyed how the book made me consider the relationship between culture and the planet. One passage that stuck with me was when Momaday explained the passing of his grandmother and how it fell into the story of his people. It made me see how important family and heritage are to who we are.
A few of the mythological sections were more difficult to follow, but they added depth to the novel and allowed me to understand Kiowa culture better. This novel helped me realize how much a person's heritage and tradition can influence their perspective. I would suggest it to anyone with an interest in Native American culture or novels that deal with identity and family.
Read
July 6, 2024he ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. pg. 81
a banger, sat by string lake in the tetons .1 miles from a grizzly bear pawing at a tree trunk. great time, learned a lot. dignified writing. rest in peace nsm
a banger, sat by string lake in the tetons .1 miles from a grizzly bear pawing at a tree trunk. great time, learned a lot. dignified writing. rest in peace nsm
June 9, 2023
2,5 stars or something? idk i just didn’t really care
i’m usually quite interested in the american indigenous people but this way of storytelling was not it for me, i barely remember anything (except for being shaken to my core by the random big ass drawing of the spider after i had a dramatic terrifying daydream about spiders)
i’m usually quite interested in the american indigenous people but this way of storytelling was not it for me, i barely remember anything (except for being shaken to my core by the random big ass drawing of the spider after i had a dramatic terrifying daydream about spiders)
November 12, 2023
Nada como los mitos nativo americanos para pasar la resaca.
April 18, 2024
required reading
February 3, 2025
An absolutely beautiful book, the structure is unique, and the storytelling is compelling. The illustrations add to the folk tales and stories told within!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 304 reviews