A review by jdvough
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday

3.0

Ironically, weeks after reading The Night Watchman, a Pulitzer winning novel about Native American culture, our book club chose to read House Made of Dawn, a Pulitzer winning novel about Native American culture. While acknowledging the quality of writing of the first book, I had to give it a lower rating based on lack of personal interest. Not in a way that Native American literature is not important or even gripping at times, but in a way that says I like sappy science fiction or adventure novels much more. House Made of Dawn was even less to my liking because much of it was written in a poetic prose. As uncultured as I am, any poetry more profound than Dr. Suess is lost on me, and I often do not get the pleasure or inspiration that others do from reading it. Therefore much of this story was a bit foggy. I understood the narrative but the poetic descriptions of people, places and attitudes was truly lost on me. For that reason the three star rating is mine alone, and I again acknowledge that most people would probably rate it much higher. I can see the quality and import, I am just not the person to appreciate those things.