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meekorouse's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh.. Usually I enjoy Sherman Alexie but a few of the stories were so horribly offensive. Sure they're fiction, but I just didn't appreciate them.
boureemusique's review against another edition
5.0
This is the best book I've read in a long time. And I got to listen to Alexie read it himself. These are (some of) the themes that are important to Alexie, infused in his life and this collection of poems and short stories: truth, music, identity, rage, sex, storytelling itself, nationalism/imperialism/capitalism, grief, loss. Maybe I love Alexie and everything he touches because all of these things are fascinating to me too.
Not all, but many of my strongest friendships were cultivated after I had very strong and very negative first impressions of the people I now consider loved ones. Something about them rubs me the wrong way. They say that you fight or complain most about the things in other people that you see reflected in yourself. So maybe it's a namaste situation. Late in my undergraduate career, I took a lit class and we read Alexie's "Indian Killer." It was well written but I HATED it because it made me both feel both angry and extremely impotent, and then angry at my impotence. And angry at him for not giving me a way out.
Alexie lays his own emotions and musings bare. I love watching his mind work and I empathize and ache with some of his pain. He's on the slowly growing list of authors whose entire ouevres I will read because I'm in love.
Not all, but many of my strongest friendships were cultivated after I had very strong and very negative first impressions of the people I now consider loved ones. Something about them rubs me the wrong way. They say that you fight or complain most about the things in other people that you see reflected in yourself. So maybe it's a namaste situation. Late in my undergraduate career, I took a lit class and we read Alexie's "Indian Killer." It was well written but I HATED it because it made me both feel both angry and extremely impotent, and then angry at my impotence. And angry at him for not giving me a way out.
Alexie lays his own emotions and musings bare. I love watching his mind work and I empathize and ache with some of his pain. He's on the slowly growing list of authors whose entire ouevres I will read because I'm in love.
brettp's review against another edition
5.0
Finished "War Dances" by Sherman Alexie. A collection of short stories with a Native American slant that opens strong and has many quotable lines.
lizlogan's review against another edition
4.0
I always enjoy Sherman Alexie although at times, I get a little tired of the regurgitation of his life story and the same characters. He takes "write what you know" to extremes, but he does it very well.
canislatrans's review against another edition
4.0
Alexie really put me into the heads of his characters, and I suppose his own, in the more autobiographical bits. He writes very directly, and his stories, and several of his poems, have an uncanny mixture of dark comedy and dead seriousness. Very much worth reading, especially for grumpy middle-aged men. I speak here with some authority.
jramm's review against another edition
3.0
This: http://billmoyers.com/segment/sherman-alexie-on-living-outside-borders/
And this:
Another Proclamation - Sherman Alexie
When
Lincoln
Delivered
The
Emancipation,
Who
Knew
that, one year earlier, in 1862, he’d signed and approved the order for the largest public execution in the United States History? Who did they execute? “Mulatto, mixed-bloods, and Indians.”
Why did they execute them? “For uprising against the State and her citizens.” Where did they execute them? Mankato, Minnesota. How did they execute them? Well, Abraham Lincoln thought it was good.
And
Just
To
Hang
Thirty-eight
Sioux
simultaneously. Yes, in front of a large and cheering crowd, thirty-eight Indians dropped to their deaths. Yes, thirty-eight necks snapped. But before they died, thirty-eight Indians sang their death songs. Can you imagine the cacophony of thirty-eight different death songs? But wait, one Indian was pardoned at the last minute, so only thirty-seven Indians had to sing their death songs. But, O, O, O, O, can you imagine the cacophony of that one survivor’s mourning song? If he taught you the words, do you think you would sing along?
And this:
Another Proclamation - Sherman Alexie
When
Lincoln
Delivered
The
Emancipation,
Who
Knew
that, one year earlier, in 1862, he’d signed and approved the order for the largest public execution in the United States History? Who did they execute? “Mulatto, mixed-bloods, and Indians.”
Why did they execute them? “For uprising against the State and her citizens.” Where did they execute them? Mankato, Minnesota. How did they execute them? Well, Abraham Lincoln thought it was good.
And
Just
To
Hang
Thirty-eight
Sioux
simultaneously. Yes, in front of a large and cheering crowd, thirty-eight Indians dropped to their deaths. Yes, thirty-eight necks snapped. But before they died, thirty-eight Indians sang their death songs. Can you imagine the cacophony of thirty-eight different death songs? But wait, one Indian was pardoned at the last minute, so only thirty-seven Indians had to sing their death songs. But, O, O, O, O, can you imagine the cacophony of that one survivor’s mourning song? If he taught you the words, do you think you would sing along?
bookfarmer's review against another edition
3.0
After listening to an audiobook of Alexie's prize-winning young adult book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I wanted to read more of Alexie's work. This collection includes both poems and stories. Most offer an enjoyable read, I especially liked "The Senator's Son" and the title story, "War Dances." Many of his other books received better reviews, and I plan to seek those out, but this provided a taste of the writer's strengths and weaknesses.