"Storyteller" is a short story from the book "Storyteller" by Leslie Marmon Silko https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310150/storyteller-by-leslie-marmon-silko/ .  The book is a collection of works by the author.  She received the  MacArthur Foundation Grant in 1981.  She grew up on the edges of the Laguna Pueblo reservation in New Mexico and wrote down a lot of the things she heard growing up as well as many original compositions and stories and put them in this book.  The book was first published in 1981 by Penguin books.

I'd like to cover this story in particular out of the whole collection because it is a powerful and memorable story that will stick with the reader for decades.  The writing style is unusual and may take a couple read-throughs to unravel the non-traditional timeline of the story.  The way the story is narrated, to me, reflects quite clearly the protagonists state of mind and follows the protagonists thought processes carefully.   The story may trigger some people because it deals with sexual assault, abuse, violence and vengeance themes.  The vengeance in the story is not done through violent action by the protagonist, though, but rather a series of unfortunate events for one of the perpetrators in the story.  I have never read or seen a story that can quite touch the meandering thought processes that follow serious abuse and some of the confusion and guilt that goes along with being a survivor of such things as perfectly as this story does.   My first reading was haphazard after the first couple of pages. I sought to find some meaning in the piece and trying to understand what the narrator was showing me. I remember that my mind latched onto the most dramatic scenes. I reread the story a second time immediately after my first reading. This time I looked for clues. Even though I clarified much, some of the things I read the second time didn't make sense. For instance, I noticed that there was a recurring image of dogs in the story which seemed to indicate the use some sort of symbol. However, I was not sure what the symbolism meant, so I concluded that further understanding depended upon understanding the use of symbols by the author. I put the story aside for a few days before reading it again. I felt I would get more out of further readings if I let the story get a little cold and unfamiliar. That way I could look at it with a fresher and less frustrated eye. When I finally read the story a third and fourth time, the meaning began to clarify for me. On my third reading, I read to understand the metaphors and symbols, and on my fourth, I read to link my insights together in order to understand the theme.

Storyteller is not light reading.  It is not an easy story to unravel.  I have learned through "The Storyteller" that some stories can be worth the struggle to seek a focus as opposed to just being handed the theme near the beginning. Some complex stories, such as this one, can yield more reward in one package than many simpler stories in many packages.   And the story is infinitely relatable to me and my own background.  I completely recommend anything by this author.  She is a master storyteller, beyond a shadow of a doubt.