As the sub title says this is a love story set on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona/Southern Utah. It is interesting to read about the cultural aspect of how relationships are handled within the Navajo community. The story is slow but worth the time to allow it to develop. ( )

Really good novel about a Navajo couple. Quite poetic and tries to give the flavor of their religion. I don't know how accurate it is, since the author lived among them but was not Navajo, but still worth reading for the story and appreciation of the culture. ( )

'Laughing Boy' is a work of art. And like a work of art, it plays with your mind. It is not abstract, but peculiar. Laughing Boy, the novel's protagonist, is a Navajo indigenous American attempting to straddle the world of tradition and the world of the white man. The initial starting of the novel is not a hook. It won't draw you in. But if you persist, you will discover the beauty and simplicity of La Farge's times and Laughing Boy's richness of heart. ( )

In spite of my reluctance to give 5 star ratings, I find myself unable to consider anything else for this wonderful book. In spite of being a first novel, it won a Pulitzer Prize and certainly deserved it.
I probably should not be surprised that I am giving 5 star ratings lately since I depend so heavily on the ratings and comments of others whenever I choose a book, but since those ratings have been so helpful, I feel a bit duty-bound to pay it forward.
Laughing Boy is an intense love story, not the usual go-to novel for guys, but one that is worth getting out of the male rut. The strengths of this novel are that it develops both the characters and their feelings for one another with such precision, such insightful detail and such empathy for the characters, their relationship and the struggle they face. Its other strength is its ability to so beautifully depict the Navajo culture in which the story occurs.
A few years ago, Tony Hillerman created a series of crime/suspense novels set on the Navajo Reservation and detailedly describing the Navajo culture while also telling compelling murder mystery stories. I read every one of his books as did everyone in my office. Reading Laughing Boy takes me back to that experience and give me the same feeling of authenticity that Hillerman's books did.
For anyone who has been in love, totally, unconditionally besotted with another, this book will ring true, reminding them of the early days of their passion and perhaps renewing it through its honest and detailed portrayal.
This book was written over 55 years ago yet continues to receive the type of praise that earns respect, that can make a book stay around for many years until it is finally recognized as a classic.
It is a book that readers will not only read but will also feel and remember. ( )

First published in 1929, but still eminently readable, this novel tells the story of Laughing Boy and Slim Girl, two young Navajo who earn the disapproval of his peers by marrying without family approval.

Slim Girl is one of the countless young Native Americans who was taken away from her home in early childhood and sent to one of the Indian Boarding Schools designed to "civilize" young Native Americans by denying them their cultural heritage. Now a young woman wanting to return to tribal ways, she finds herself with a foot in each culture.

Introspective and low-key, the novel nevertheless is profoundly moving as these two young people try hard to build a life, but the falseness of their relationship's foundation foreshadows heartbreak.

Slim Girl's character is particularly well-written; LaFarge manages to make her understandable, if not particularly pleasant. Taught by harsh reality to survive in any way she can, she manipulates Laughing Boy, yet underneath that manipulation is a genuine love for him. Her struggles to succeed both as a traditional Navajo wife and to accumulate the material wealth of the "American" world by which she has been brutalized make her a flawed but fascinating character. ( )