Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this as I have other books by Alexie. I find his writing and characters to be heartbreaking and beautiful and inspiring.
Undoubtedly the darkest road-trip narrative I've read, but by far one of the best.
Reservation Blues attempts to find a place in the present for a group of Spokane American Indians while reconciling the vast pain of their past. The contradiction and catch-22 of an American Indian seeking the American dream, a dream founded from the colonial imposition into native lands, sets the story in hopeful motion and leaves it in a darker and more uncertain, yet still moving trajectory.
Alexie has an incredibly insistent voice that pierces through all of his works; a voice that can weave together multiple storylines and methods of story-telling, but still resonate with his distinctive humor, dark irony and anger, and unfailingly hopeful heart. Despite Reservation Blues's cross-cultural, mythical, and supernatural elements, the novel remained grounded in a historical reality that often became too painful and piercing to bear.
Overall a great & engaging read that sings as much of the story of the past as it does the present.
Reservation Blues attempts to find a place in the present for a group of Spokane American Indians while reconciling the vast pain of their past. The contradiction and catch-22 of an American Indian seeking the American dream, a dream founded from the colonial imposition into native lands, sets the story in hopeful motion and leaves it in a darker and more uncertain, yet still moving trajectory.
Alexie has an incredibly insistent voice that pierces through all of his works; a voice that can weave together multiple storylines and methods of story-telling, but still resonate with his distinctive humor, dark irony and anger, and unfailingly hopeful heart. Despite Reservation Blues's cross-cultural, mythical, and supernatural elements, the novel remained grounded in a historical reality that often became too painful and piercing to bear.
Overall a great & engaging read that sings as much of the story of the past as it does the present.
I honestly don’t know how to review this book. Sad, deep, funny, poetic. Heavy. Very heavy. A lot to think about.
Not my favorite Sherman Alexie, but still an enjoyable novel. I like how his characters seem to make brief appearances from one novel to another.
Good book. Not as engaging as Alexie's two collections of short-stories I've read, but an interesting narrative that goes deeper than the average piece of fiction. Stories came out of each of the main character's childhoods, lives of ancestors, dreams, and reservation tropes. Interesting ideas of dominance and guilt. Also-- of course, there are the lines that Alexie writes that, as one critic put it, simultaneously want to make you laugh and cry. Looking forward to reading the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.
I enjoyed this book, but was a little disappointed for reasons I can't quite figure out. Alexie does humor and sarcasm better than most, and I liked all the references to real-life Indians being a disappointing shadow of their silver screen images. Thomas is a great character--perfectly flawed.
I'm a white woman in social work, new to Manitoba, learning to be an Indigenous ally. I'm interested in books like Reservation Blues that are written from an insider perspective. Too often, Indian experience, culture and spirituality have been appropriated by white people and filtered through white perspectives (e.g., Avatar). So that was the first reason I chose to read this book.
It's impossible not to get drawn into a relationship with the main character, storyteller Thomas Builds-the-Fire. He is humble, aware of his own failings, yet shows unexpected leadership qualities which emerge when he starts to realize his rather modest vision -- to form an Indian rock band with two other misfits who have all too often tormented and bullied Thomas. Actually, most of the characters are misfits, yet together they form a community. Alexie writes very poignantly, but with gentle insider humour, about the realities destroying Native people. He really shows the strengths of these people, who despite the horrendous impacts of colonization have a spiritual core that calls them to heal, a communal strength, and who use humour to deal with adversity.
I loved the Indian version of "magical realism" in this book, which brought alive the spirituality of the Spokane people of the novel. Big Mom, the music, the stories -- these are some of the means by which Spokane spirituality are woven into the fabric of this story.
As a white social worker, I run the risk of seeing alcoholism and similar problems as something needing to be addressed in order for people to be able to live good lives. At one level, this is true. But Alexie shows an acceptance of these realities and a love that shines through in how he depicts the richness of his characters' experiences, despite the harmful forces that are part of their context.
This is a book that stayed with me and continues to enrich me. I want to read more by this author.
It's impossible not to get drawn into a relationship with the main character, storyteller Thomas Builds-the-Fire. He is humble, aware of his own failings, yet shows unexpected leadership qualities which emerge when he starts to realize his rather modest vision -- to form an Indian rock band with two other misfits who have all too often tormented and bullied Thomas. Actually, most of the characters are misfits, yet together they form a community. Alexie writes very poignantly, but with gentle insider humour, about the realities destroying Native people. He really shows the strengths of these people, who despite the horrendous impacts of colonization have a spiritual core that calls them to heal, a communal strength, and who use humour to deal with adversity.
I loved the Indian version of "magical realism" in this book, which brought alive the spirituality of the Spokane people of the novel. Big Mom, the music, the stories -- these are some of the means by which Spokane spirituality are woven into the fabric of this story.
As a white social worker, I run the risk of seeing alcoholism and similar problems as something needing to be addressed in order for people to be able to live good lives. At one level, this is true. But Alexie shows an acceptance of these realities and a love that shines through in how he depicts the richness of his characters' experiences, despite the harmful forces that are part of their context.
This is a book that stayed with me and continues to enrich me. I want to read more by this author.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's a really fun premise, and I adore Thomas Builds-the-Fire, but the story goes way over the top in places. I preferred the Robert Johnson storyline to the band's exploits, which got tedious.