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bgg616's review
4.0
Short stories read by the author. Often amusing, interesting variety of subjects.
ronielle's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I really enjoyed this collection. I liked that it had short stories and poetry. I connected with some stories more than others. Some really knocked my socks off and others were just okay. Looking forward to reading more of his stuff.
lonecayt's review against another edition
4.0
I think I missed the full effect of the poetry, in some ways, by listening to it. Or maybe not. Without having access to the written text, I can't actually tell. It was nice to hear it all in the author's actual voice, though.
kjones31's review
4.0
Love Sherman Alexie's writing style and his brutally honest take on life. This book felt disjointed at times but was certainly worth a read.
drgus_7's review
3.0
This is not one of Alexie's stronger collections. Bigger pieces like "The Senator's Son" and "The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless" felt like they were trying to hard to be clever and were flat at the end. I remember thinking, "so what?" However, some of the poems and "Fearful Symmetry," "Roman Catholic Haiku," and "Salt" redeem the collection.
bethnellvaccaro's review
4.0
Really 3.5 stars for me, only because I'm not a fan of short stories or poetry. I have really enjoyed other books by Alexie and this didn't disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the story "War Dances" since my mom recently had brain surgery to remove a meningioma, the type of tumor the character is diagnosed with. This book is currently the One Book, One Philadelphia selection and I am going to hear him speak at the library in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to it.
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
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.