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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 HILLERMAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | 813.54 HIL | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Este libro, que se publicou por primeira vez en 1948, ten hoxe a consideración dun clásico da literatura. Baseada nunha lenda mexicana, conta a historia dunha perla, grande coma un ovo de gaivota, tan fermosa e perfecta como a lúa, que un día cambia dun xeito radical a vida de Kino e da súa familia. Dende entón, o propio Kino, a súa muller Juana e Coyotito, o fillo de ambos, vanse ver afectados pola posesión desta perla. A sorte desta familia humilde é seguida polo lector co dramatismo que Steinbeck lle imprime ao seu relato.
Summary
When Tony Hillerman looks back at seventy-six years spent getting from hardtimes farm boy to bestselling author, he sees lots of evidence that Providence was poking him along. For example, when an absentminded Army clerk left him off the hospital ship taking the wounded home from France, the mishap put him on a collision course with a curing ceremony held for two Navajo Marines, thereby providing the grist for a writing career that now sees his books published in sixteen languages around the world and often on bestseller lists. Or, for example, when his agent told him his first novel was so bad that it would hurt both of their reputations, he nonetheless sent it to an editor, and that editor happened to like the Navajo stuff.
In this wry and whimsical memoir, Hillerman offers frequent backward glances at where he found ideas for plots of his books and the characters that inhabit them. He takes us with him to death row, where he interviews a man about to die in the gas chamber and details how this murderer became Colton Wolf in one of his novels. He relates how flushing a solitary heron from a sandbar caused him to convert Joe Leaphorn from husband to widower, and how his self-confessed bias against the social elite solved the key plot problem in A Thief of Time.
No child abuse stories here: The worst Hillerman can recall is being sent off to first grade (in a boarding school for Indian girls) clad in cute blue coveralls instead of the manly overalls his farm-boy peers all wore. Instead we get a good-natured trip through hard times in college; an infantry career in which he "rose twice to Private First Class" and also won a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart; and, afterward, work as a truck driver, chain dragger, journalist, professor, and "doer of undignified deeds" for two university presidents. All this is colored by a love affair (now in its fifty-fourth year) with Marie, which involved raising six children, most of them adopted. Using the gifts of a talented novelist and reporter, seventy-six-year-old Tony Hillerman draws a brilliant portrait not just of his life but of the world around him.
Author Notes
Tony Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma on May 27, 1925. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army and was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart after being severely injured during a raid behind German lines. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1948.
From 1948 to 1962, he covered crime and politics for newspapers in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, eventually working his way up to the position of editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican. He taught at the University of Mexico and went on to chair the journalism department for more than 20 years. He retired in 1985.
His first novel, The Blessing Way, was published in 1971. During his lifetime, he wrote 29 books, including the popular 18-book mystery series featuring Navajo police officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, two non-series novels, two children's books, and nonfiction works. He received numerous awards during his lifetime including the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery Novel for Dance Hall of the Dead in 1974, the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award for Skinwalkers in 1987, the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award in 1991, the Navajo tribe's Special Friend Award, France 's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the 2002 Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award, the Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction Book for Seldom Disappointed, and the Wister Award for Lifetime achievement in 2008. He died from pulmonary failure on October 26, 2008 at the age of 83.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Correction: Due to an editing error, our review of Tony Hillerman's Seldom Disappointed (Forecasts, Sept. 24) erroneously stated that Hillerman's brother, Barry, died in WWII. In fact, he survived the war and lived for many decades. PW regrets the error. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
The most frequently asked question of Tony Hillerman, who has brought the Southwest and Navajo Nation culture alive for millions of readers through his mysteries starring Navajo tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, is this: How did a white man come to know so much about the Navajos? This compelling autobiography is Hillerman's answer to that question. It is also a testimony to a toughened optimism and resiliency; the title comes from his mother's favorite saying: "Blessed are those who expect little. They are seldom disappointed." As Hillerman looks over his 75 years, from his growing up during the Great Depression/Great Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, through his tour in World War II, through wire-service journalism and academia, and, finally, through his experiences as a novelist, he casts himself as a character whose many fiascoes have always contained hidden blessings. Perhaps the most terrifying moment in this whole memoir is when Hillerman's first agent tells him, in 1969, to "get rid of the Indian stuff" in his first novel. An autobiography as clear-eyed and entertaining as any of the author's mysteries. --Connie Fletcher
Kirkus Review
A warmly old-fashioned reminiscence from the dean of the American regional mystery. Blessed are those who expect little, said Hillerman's mother; they are seldom disappointed. But the reason her son is seldom disappointed, as he's at pains to point out, is that undeserved good things keep happening to him. His Oklahoma mom, whom he calls "the hero of this book," allows him to enlist in the infantry even though he's entitled to an exemption as the last son of a farm wife widowed the day after Pearl Harbor. He survives WWII with a Bronze Star; some of his friends deserved far more. He climbs the journalistic ladder in Santa Fe, then enjoys teaching and administrative jobs at the University of New Mexico for 15 years before leaving to become a full-time novelist. When it turns out that he and his wife Marie can have only one child, they're able to adopt five more. His Navajo mystery A Thief of Time, published 20 years after an agent advised him to "get rid of the Indian stuff," becomes a breakout bestseller for reasons he still can't fathom. Hillerman's self-made-success story does have its limitations. He's weak on dates, selective on inclusions (surprisingly little on his childhood, though a great deal on his war service; virtually nothing on the 1980s or the wife he obviously adores, but some shrewd analysis of his own fiction, some of it tucked into an Addendum), and incapable, for better or worse, of saying an unkind word about anybody, even corporate bodies, without changing their names (though his account of trying to work the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee series for TV is priceless). No abusive childhood, no paying of old scores, no juicy gossip, and very little revelation of anyone but the deeply decent author, who's constantly interrupting his chatty stream of anecdotes to say one more nice thing about somebody else. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Library Journal Review
Winner of both Edgar and Grand Master awards and former president of Mystery Writers of America, Hillerman (Hunting Badger and many others) has written a memoir that is sure to become another best seller. He relates his childhood in Oklahoma during the Depression, his service in World War II, his university education, his career in journalism and academia, and his eventual turn to writing mysteries. The entire book will appeal to his fans, but the first half is intensely gripping. Enlisting in the army even though he was exempt, Hillerman became an infantryman and served during the Battle of the Bulge. He tells of his experiences in battle, including being severely wounded. Like so many of his generation, Hillerman returned home, married, and carried on with his life. He relates all of his experiences with honesty and humor. This memoir is sure to provide his fans with much to consider and should also introduce him to new readers. Highly recommended for all collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/01.] Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
1 Papa's Melon--and What Happened Next | p. 3 |
2 Preparing for War | p. 16 |
3 Boy to Man | p. 23 |
4 The Second House | p. 26 |
5 Considered Educable | p. 33 |
6 Mama | p. 45 |
7 The Adventure | p. 52 |
8 Charley Company | p. 61 |
9 The Sentimental Journey | p. 66 |
10 At Last, the Real War | p. 74 |
11 Crossing the Vosges | p. 89 |
12 How to Get a Bronze Star Without Knowing Why | p. 93 |
13 Life in the Mertzwiller Convent | p. 103 |
14 The Worst (of Course) Winter Ever | p. 110 |
15 Halls of Ivy | p. 164 |
16 Now the Good Life Begins! | p. 189 |
17 Death Watch at the Morning Press | p. 195 |
18 Life in the City Different | p. 205 |
19 Stranger in the Ivory Tower | p. 216 |
20 Janet, Tony, Monica, Steve, and, Finally, Dan | p. 221 |
21 Inside the Ivory Tower | p. 232 |
22 Doer of Undignified Deeds | p. 236 |
23 Crazy Bus vs. the Organization | p. 242 |
24 The FAQs | p. 251 |
25 Life Among the Flower Children | p. 262 |
26 Back to the Dineh | p. 281 |
27 That Detour to Zuni | p. 283 |
28 Breakout Book | p. 294 |
29 Finally Finding Moon | p. 311 |
30 El Fin | p. 318 |
Addendum | p. 321 |
Bibliography | p. 332 |