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iriswindmeijer's review
4.0
I didn't have the time to finish this book for university when I needed to, but I did pick it up to finish it anyway. I really liked it, the mix of short stories and poetry are still a whole and the narrative is very interesting and engaging.
kristycreads's review
4.0
Great title for the stories told. This was okay and as usual great to listen to the author read. It is not the best thing I have read from Sherman Alexie but still I enjoyed the mesh of stories and poetry and overall found this enjoyable.
bookworm_gg's review
4.0
A collection of short stories and poems that did not disappoint. Sherman is my best discovery of the year. I'm not sure why I haven't read his work before.
adrienneraniszewski's review
3.0
There will be more Sherman Alexie in my future.
< my choice for #9 on Book Riot's 2015 Read Harder Challenge: a book by or about a person from an indigenous culture >
< my choice for #9 on Book Riot's 2015 Read Harder Challenge: a book by or about a person from an indigenous culture >
arielleali's review
3.0
The short stories in War Dances interest and repel me. The defeatest, confused protagonists seek meaning that seems to be just out of reach in modern scenarios of loss and human connection. I don't want to read any of these stories again, even though they are fascinating and well-written.
amanda_u's review
5.0
As usual, Sherman Alexie deliveres humor coupled with keen insight into what it means to be human. A delight to read. The perfect coupling of light & serious.
tora76's review
2.0
This is a collection of short stories and poems linked mainly by the fact that they're about whiny guys. I don't know. I did like a couple of the stories (especially the last one, Salt, and the title story), but the ones that left a bad taste in my mouth really left a bad taste in my mouth and kind of overpower all the rest. The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless was just gross, and I get that he was supposed to be a gross asshat guy, but I don't really need to read a story about a guy who's just wallowing in his assholishness while going "wah, wah, poor me", you know? I could go anywhere on the internet and find a million of them.[return][return]Added to that the fact that I'm not a big fan of poetry and these poems didn't do anything to change my mind, and that the writing itself wasn't that great, this was just really not the book for me. I'm glad this wasn't the first thing of his I ever read, otherwise I'd probably write him off and never read anything of his again.
lezbianna's review
3.0
i'm a die-hard alexie fan, but some of his repetition is starting to irk me. for instance, almost all of his characters are "funny," which is fine, but there always have to be other characters remarking on just how funny the character is. for instance, in "war dances," the narrator tells a joke and then: "The doctor chuckled. 'You are a funny man.'" later, he tells another joke, which makes the pharmacist laugh. Then again, he tells a joke, his wife says, "Stop being funny." it's SO freshman comp 101: show, don't tell. like he needs a laugh track or something. also, someone always has to be a basketball player/star. shut it down, as liz lemon would say.
aside from those minor faux pas(es?), alexie is a great short story teller, especially the first story, "breaking and entering" and he writes about certain male shortcomings beautifully and tragically.
aside from those minor faux pas(es?), alexie is a great short story teller, especially the first story, "breaking and entering" and he writes about certain male shortcomings beautifully and tragically.
asilrenrut's review
5.0
Enjoyed fully, especially the mix of genres (personal narrative, poetry, short fiction) and perspectives on parenting and contemporary Indian-ness. A great intro to his work; I will now commence to reading backwards. I just got his young fiction text for Christmas, and if it holds muster like WD, will try to work it into either my Intro to Lit or American Literature syllabi. (Kaplow! A Native American author!! The last frontier in high school English lit classes!)