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lsparrow's review against another edition
3.0
this collection of poetry feels like it would be best as performance rather than read from the page.
dimples0508's review against another edition
4.0
Kreitzer told me to read this, I like Sherman Alexie's prose and some things in this book of poems were pure gold.
foofers1622's review against another edition
4.0
Such raw emotion with these poems and short stories. I did recognize a few names from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
wildgurl's review against another edition
5.0
The Business Of Fancy Dancing: Stories and Poems
By Sherman Alexie
1992
Hanging Loose Press
Published in 1992, selling over 10,000 copies, this is a collection of poems, many which have previously been published. Sherman Alexies writing is always Native American based, his undeniable talent for language, usage of words always make his work hard to put down. His sense of humor is excellent, I find myself laughing or chuckling out loud frequently and makes his work even more engaging. It brings his fable like stories to point.
Fancy dancing is competitive pow wow dancing created by Native Americans veterans from WW II as a form of entertainment. Newer cultures and fashion styles often compete with the elder more traditional dances.
This collection tells of the constant struggle with his feelings of powerlessness growing up in a white man's world. His humorous but purposeful poems are unforgettable. Check him out.
By Sherman Alexie
1992
Hanging Loose Press
Published in 1992, selling over 10,000 copies, this is a collection of poems, many which have previously been published. Sherman Alexies writing is always Native American based, his undeniable talent for language, usage of words always make his work hard to put down. His sense of humor is excellent, I find myself laughing or chuckling out loud frequently and makes his work even more engaging. It brings his fable like stories to point.
Fancy dancing is competitive pow wow dancing created by Native Americans veterans from WW II as a form of entertainment. Newer cultures and fashion styles often compete with the elder more traditional dances.
This collection tells of the constant struggle with his feelings of powerlessness growing up in a white man's world. His humorous but purposeful poems are unforgettable. Check him out.
crystal_reading's review against another edition
4.0
This is an interesting collection of poems and brief essays/short stories. I think it was intentional, but the written word begs the reader to wonder about the truthfulness of what is on the page. There was a continual question about what is autobiographical and what is fiction and does that matter. Does the reader need to know where that line is drawn? Does it affect us if something is strictly true or fabricated? Do we need the story to have actually happened for us to interact with it?
amittaizero's review against another edition
4.0
Alexie's style walks the bridge between tragedy and black comedy with grace. Even in the deepest moments of sadness his voice remains passionate - it's a passion not for sharing his life, or res life, with us Others but for survival. Alexie is a storyteller, and a bitterly sweet one.
missprint_'s review against another edition
4.0
After reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian last summer, I decided to work my way through Alexie's oeuvre since I had already also read and enjoyed Reservation Blues. Two short story collections and one novel later, I was done. Not in that my task was completed but in that I couldn't take anymore. Then The Business of Fancydancing came into my possession after waiting about six months for it. Unwilling to let the book go after waiting so long for it, I decided to see what the first page was like. Ten hours later I had finished it.
The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems is Alexie's first published work (from 1991). As the subtitle suggests, the book is considered a collection of stories and poems. However, since most of the stories are less than five pages I think a fair argument could be made that the five stories are actually prose poems instead of stories. That might just be me though.
Like any of Alexie's other writing, this collection includes instances of beauty as well as sadness. In the opening story "Travels" a hungry youth is told to make a jam sandwich by taking two slices of bread and jamming them together (unless a wish sandwich is more to his liking). This image recurs often in the collection.
After reading The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and [b:The Toughest Indian in the World|52877|The Toughest Indian in the World|Sherman Alexie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924179s/52877.jpg|3021], I must admit I had my doubts about Alexie's short stories--they never seemed as engaging as his novels. That isn't a problem here even though all of the stories are much shorter than anything found in his later collections. Very like the poems, Alexie's stories here are bare bones. Instead of full stories (in the sense of having a conventional plot) most are vignettes painting brief, eloquent pictures of what life can mean for a Spokane Indian on and off the reservation.
The bulk of The Business of Fancydancing is comprised of poems. The English major in my wants to make some kind of comparison to illustrate what these poems are like, but no quick comparisons come to mind. Suffice it say, the lines are long and the poems deeply grounded in the concrete. One of my favorites in the collection is "Distances" which is literally a series of vignettes along with aphorisms like "Remember this: 'Electricity is lightning pretending to be permanent.'"
Familiar characters who turn up in one of Alexie's later story collections as well as [b:Reservation Blues|6159|Reservation Blues|Sherman Alexie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398195783s/6159.jpg|1781] also make their first appearances here. Thomas Builds-The-Fire, a personal favorite, even has a story all to himself.
I don't know how illustrative this book is of Alexie's current style since his latest work has been novels, but that detail aside The Business of Fancydancing is a superb collection of poetry and serves as a good introduction to Sherman Alexie and his unique style/themes without the visceral, harsh details so often found in his newer writing.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems is Alexie's first published work (from 1991). As the subtitle suggests, the book is considered a collection of stories and poems. However, since most of the stories are less than five pages I think a fair argument could be made that the five stories are actually prose poems instead of stories. That might just be me though.
Like any of Alexie's other writing, this collection includes instances of beauty as well as sadness. In the opening story "Travels" a hungry youth is told to make a jam sandwich by taking two slices of bread and jamming them together (unless a wish sandwich is more to his liking). This image recurs often in the collection.
After reading The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and [b:The Toughest Indian in the World|52877|The Toughest Indian in the World|Sherman Alexie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924179s/52877.jpg|3021], I must admit I had my doubts about Alexie's short stories--they never seemed as engaging as his novels. That isn't a problem here even though all of the stories are much shorter than anything found in his later collections. Very like the poems, Alexie's stories here are bare bones. Instead of full stories (in the sense of having a conventional plot) most are vignettes painting brief, eloquent pictures of what life can mean for a Spokane Indian on and off the reservation.
The bulk of The Business of Fancydancing is comprised of poems. The English major in my wants to make some kind of comparison to illustrate what these poems are like, but no quick comparisons come to mind. Suffice it say, the lines are long and the poems deeply grounded in the concrete. One of my favorites in the collection is "Distances" which is literally a series of vignettes along with aphorisms like "Remember this: 'Electricity is lightning pretending to be permanent.'"
Familiar characters who turn up in one of Alexie's later story collections as well as [b:Reservation Blues|6159|Reservation Blues|Sherman Alexie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398195783s/6159.jpg|1781] also make their first appearances here. Thomas Builds-The-Fire, a personal favorite, even has a story all to himself.
I don't know how illustrative this book is of Alexie's current style since his latest work has been novels, but that detail aside The Business of Fancydancing is a superb collection of poetry and serves as a good introduction to Sherman Alexie and his unique style/themes without the visceral, harsh details so often found in his newer writing.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
spiderfelt's review against another edition
4.0
I have a reluctant relationship with poetry, unsure how to interpret the lines that end mid-sentence and the sentences that jump across stanzas. However, in order to complete my blackout, I needed a book of poetry. My library offered some familiar names, but I ultimately settled on this collection because Sherman Alexie has never let me down. Poetry continues to mystify, while Alexie does what he does best. #bookbingonw2016
laurend's review against another edition
5.0
First thing I ever read by SA. Amazing! Maybe 1998? Don't remember when I found him.