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The Way to Rainy Mountain | 
 enlarge | Author: N. Scott Momaday
Creator: Al Momaday
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.99
You Save: $13.96 (93%)
New (34) Used (118) Collectible (9) from $0.99
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 2792
Media: Paperback
Pages: 98
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.4
ISBN: 0826304362
Dewey Decimal Number: 970.3
EAN: 9780826304360
ASIN: 0826304362
Publication Date: September 1, 1976
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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Product Description
First published in paperback by UNM Press in 1976, The Way to Rainy Mountain has sold over 200,000 copies. This re-designed edition includes a new Preface.BR The paperback edition of The Way to Rainy Mountain was first published twenty-five years ago. One should not be surprised, I suppose, that it has remained vital, and immediate, for that is the nature of story. And this is particularly true of the oral tradition, which exists in a dimension of timelessness. I was first told these stories by my father when I was a child. I do not know how long they had existed before I heard them. They seem to proceed from a place of origin as old as the earth.BR The stories in The Way to Rainy Mountain are told in three voices. The first voice is the voice of my father, the ancestral voice, and the voice of the Kiowa oral tradition. The second is the voice of historical commentary. And the third is that of personal reminiscence, my own voice. There is a turning and returning of myth, history, and memoir throughout, a narrative wheel that is as sacred as language itself. from the new PrefaceBR Written with great dignity, the book has something about it of the timeless, of that long view down which the Kiowa look to their myth-shrouded beginnings. New York TimesBRP I know nothing quite like this book, and nothing of the Indian that is at once so authentic and so moving. Wallace Stegner
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 A powerful voice January 24, 2007
H. JensenHof
Mr. Momaday's voice in his collection of stories is priceless. He tells of the Kiowa's legends, follows them up with facts, and includes his own reflections on what it means to be Kiowa, Indian/Native American, human. The inclusion of his father's artwork makes this an even more impressive volume. br / br /I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Momaday at a Western Writers Conference where he gave readings from this collection. And, not being a writer myself I felt out of place. It was Mr. Momaday's voice (think James Earl Jones), and his notice of me (the only other Indian/Native American in the auditorium) that mesmerized me. I've been a fan ever since.
Beautifully Written Story January 24, 2004
grasshopper4 (Arkansas)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
In his writing, Momaday creates a vibrant sense of how stories are expressed through living words within vital communities. His brillant blending of mythology, folktales, oral history, historical descriptions, and personal reflections all connect in a fascinating story about finding one's way in life's journeys. The writing is so vivid and the book is so animated that patient readers will connect with what Momaday presents, provided that they choose to share in the reflective silence that he offers on the way to Rainy Mountain.
A timeless journey March 4, 2002
Diane Schirf
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday; illustrated by Al Momaday. Highly recommended.pRainy Mountain, a single knoll [that] rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, is an old landmark for the Kiowa people. It is a land of bitter cold, searing heat, summer drought, and great green and yellow grasshoppers. It is a land of loneliness, where the Kiowa were drawn after a long journey from the northwest through many types of lands.pThe Way to Rainy Mountain is about the journey-in myth, in drawings by Momaday's father Al, in reminiscences, and in historical snippets. All reveal aspects of Kiowa culture, life, philosophy, outlook, spirituality, and sense of self-the beauty and the desolation, how the introduction of the horse revolutionized Kiowa life, the story of Tai-me, and the richness of the word and the past. It is a literal journey as well; Momaday, in Yellowstone, writes, The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and they were bent and blind in the wilderness.pThis is a small gem of a book, beautifully written, illustrated, and designed. It has moments of insight, beauty, and sadness, as the ending of the Sun Dance, telling as the sun is at the heart of the Kiowa's soul-a soul that survives in every word and drawing of The Way to Rainy Mountain.pDiane L. Schirf, 3 March 2002.
 Unique January 6, 2001
Edward Bosnar (Zagreb, Croatia)
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
This book is deceptively short: it can be read in about an hour, but you find yourself going back and reading its various passages and thinking about them long afterwards. Momaday tells a story of the Kiowa Indians by tying in three aspects: folklore, actual historical events and his own family history. The book's format underscores this, with the first, folkloric item printed on one page, and the historical and personal reflections in separate paragraphs on the facing page, all set in different fonts. Not meant to be a comprehensive account of the Kiowas, it is rather an attempt to express the author's own feelings and his own view of his heritage. In this he largely succeeds, as he writes poetry in a simple yet powerful prose form. The only shortcoming for me were the illustrations (done by Momaday's father), which seemed to add little to the overall narrative. Otherwise, "The Way to Rainy Moutain" is a very unique and worthwhile book.
rich in history and image May 27, 2000
Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLOGY and DEEP CALIFORNIA (Bay Area, CA USA)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Momaday spins together pieces of Kiowa myth and image interweaved with tales he heard as a boy. Poetic, tragic, unforgettable.
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