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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first time I heard Sherman Alexie speak in 2007, he said he still thought The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven was his best stuff. Interestingly enough, until now I've read all his fiction except this one -- I don't know why I waited so long -- and now that I've read it, I completely agree.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was one of my favorite books, but unfortunately have had to lose respect for Sherman Alexie after sexual assault allegations. Encompasses you in the writing and stories with bluntness and beauty.
My favorite part of the book was the writing. I really love reading poetic, image-forward stories that describe real life and a real story.
The author circles around the concept of time a lot, thinking of the past and future always floating around our present. Either as bones or something hazier. It can be read as a part of his own, personal generational trauma, and/or as a more general approach to a broader view and understanding of how we all exist in the present.
Honestly would have personally enjoyed the book more if it wasn’t so heavy and if it had a more traditional arc to it. The stories really do read really authentically but if that’s true, it only makes the heavy content even heavier. And, not sure if I’ll agree to this opinion forever, but if I’m reading a collection of short stories I’d love them to be a bunch of different stories with different characters or have the stories commit to a set of characters with an arc. Some of the stories did that, tied together to the community, but I wouldn’t say they were generally cohesive.
Still recommend the book though, it’s a break from the more typical styles of writing.
The author circles around the concept of time a lot, thinking of the past and future always floating around our present. Either as bones or something hazier. It can be read as a part of his own, personal generational trauma, and/or as a more general approach to a broader view and understanding of how we all exist in the present.
Honestly would have personally enjoyed the book more if it wasn’t so heavy and if it had a more traditional arc to it. The stories really do read really authentically but if that’s true, it only makes the heavy content even heavier. And, not sure if I’ll agree to this opinion forever, but if I’m reading a collection of short stories I’d love them to be a bunch of different stories with different characters or have the stories commit to a set of characters with an arc. Some of the stories did that, tied together to the community, but I wouldn’t say they were generally cohesive.
Still recommend the book though, it’s a break from the more typical styles of writing.
An excellent book, telling American Indian stories in reservation realism. It's heartbreaking, heartening, real, mythical, and soulful. I loved it.
As always, Alexie is a stellar writer with a strong thematic focus narrating his experience of reservation life (and I say this specifically because there's this tendency to make the one visible minority voice the *only* minority voice). In general, as is consistent with his other works, there are no truly happy endings but some, if not many, pieces at least end with a sense of satisfaction.
That said, I found the first half of this collection to be more coherent from a prose narrative perspective; the latter half is more strongly poetic, but not always as structured.
That said, I found the first half of this collection to be more coherent from a prose narrative perspective; the latter half is more strongly poetic, but not always as structured.
I loved this book. He wrote with such honesty. It was like listening to others' stories that I've heard about growing on a reservation. The little I've seen since I've moved to one with my fiance. The things I've seen and heard. I have recommended this book to everyone that I know. And will continue to do so.
A huge favorite---so glad we get to teach this one in Into to Literature classes.
I had a hard time categorizing this book. It is definitely based on the author's experiences and yet some of the stories were mystical, so hard to call it non-fiction. It was also difficult rating it overall. Some of the stories I found to be fantastic-definitely 5 stars and others were almost unreadable probably one star. That said, I gave it 3 stars. Though, for the few gems in here, it is worth the read.