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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
As with any short story collection, I enjoyed some stories more than others, but with this one I generally enjoyed them all. Alexie's writing in this book was beautiful, one story even brought me to tears. The characters were vibrant, layered & real. Though there were so flaws, all the stories were fragmented, disjointed, and random. But I enjoyed the fact that in a way they were all connected, I enjoyed see characters In different stages of their life and how they've changed or stayed the same. Some stories focused on characters family and showed how they were the same.
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Anyhoo, I recommend this collection to everybody, one of the best books I've been forced to read for school.
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Anyhoo, I recommend this collection to everybody, one of the best books I've been forced to read for school.
Great collection of pseudo fictional short stories. They illuminated parts of Indian life I had no idea about. Often heavy, but still can find humor in the dark. I would recommend it to anyone trying to expand their authors
Dammit, Sherman Alexie, making me cry and making me thank him for the privilege of crying while reading his beautiful, beautiful stories. I don't know how he can write about so much sorrow and injustice - REAL sorrow and injustice - but make the experience of reading it as tender as it is painful. But he does. Required reading, in my opinion.
This book is a collection of intertwined short stories, and I didn't realize until I started reading it that it was the basis for the movie Smoke Signals (which is a good movie, watch it if you haven't already). The stories take place on a Spokane reservation in Washington and primarily follow the life of a character named Victor from his boyhood to old age, as he watches and participates in life on the reservation. I really enjoyed Alexie's storytelling style and it was also pretty cool to round out what I'd seen in Smoke Signals (which really just focuses on the events in a couple of the stories) with all these other stories about the characters I met in that movie. I'd like to read more of Alexie's works.
Wish this were longer the main character was interesting.
When I first read this book a decade ago, it gutted me. And it still guts me. Sherman Alexie’s work is hauntingly beautiful.
I am really struggling while I read this, and that struggle makes me sad. I know I should find this brilliant, and riveting. Yet, I find myself unable to get into the narrative. While I think this book is very important, and represents voices that need to be heard, I am so mad I don't love it. I am trying to take it slow, read one story a day, and maybe that is an error on my part. They stories are loosely linked, and perhaps the structure works best when read all the way through, or as close together as possible. I know several people who use this in a classroom setting, I can see how it would generate much-needed conversation. Of course, I will finish this, and sit with it for awhile. Maybe there will be a delay and I will feel a belated impact.
I think my main problem with this is the same problem I had with Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. I just don't like tall-tales, and that exaggerated style of story-telling. This is totally my problem, and not a reflection on the talent and skill of these authors.
I think my main problem with this is the same problem I had with Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. I just don't like tall-tales, and that exaggerated style of story-telling. This is totally my problem, and not a reflection on the talent and skill of these authors.
It's hard to believe this book is almost 30 years old. It must have been a revelation and I feel like I can still see its influence today. Very funny in parts, and deeply painful.
This was extremely depressing and interesting (as well as well-written!). I appreciated the cute photos at that end of the book and now I've gotta watch Smoke Signals!