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squidjum's review
5.0
Books and beer are the best and worst defense. -Alexie Sherman
How much do we remember of what hurts us most? I've been thinking about pain, how each of us constructs our past to justify what we feel now. How each successive pain distorts the preceding. - Sherman Alexie, "Family Portrait"
bkdrgn303's review against another edition
4.0
Funny. Poignant. Tragic. Poetic. Sherman Alexie can WRITE. Highly recommended.
muzzystbrigid's review against another edition
4.0
The best descriptor of this book would be a shower of ice cold tears onto those unfamiliar with reservation life. Alexie paints a rather bleak picture of what goes on in the Spokane Indian Reservation through the perspective of many a story throughout the book.
Common themes are centered around defense mechanisms like humor and alcoholism which are employed to deal with the pain of generational trauma. Along with this, concepts such as being torn between the ways of his ancestors and how the world expects him to live are pervasive throughout.
Sherman Alexie navigates these tough topics with the guise of a distinct and beautiful prose that clearly contrasts the way things should be and the reality of his life.
A perfect summation of this would be, “Books and beer are the best and worse offense.”
Common themes are centered around defense mechanisms like humor and alcoholism which are employed to deal with the pain of generational trauma. Along with this, concepts such as being torn between the ways of his ancestors and how the world expects him to live are pervasive throughout.
Sherman Alexie navigates these tough topics with the guise of a distinct and beautiful prose that clearly contrasts the way things should be and the reality of his life.
A perfect summation of this would be, “Books and beer are the best and worse offense.”
readsewknit's review against another edition
3.0
Here's the thing: I was first introduced to Sherman Alexie last year; some of his titles were familiar to me, but once I heard him speak I read his memoir when it was released and have been working through some of his other books.
As I was reading this short-story collection, though, I heard murmurings that he might be caught up in the #metoo movement for abusing his influence in the industry in an attempt to pressure women into uncomfortable encounters when they'd originally believed his interest in their work genuine and professional. NPR did a story when Alexie's accusers came forward.
I'm not yet ready to separate those accounts from Alexie's work, so I finished this book with little enjoyment just to move on. So there's my non-review review.
As I was reading this short-story collection, though, I heard murmurings that he might be caught up in the #metoo movement for abusing his influence in the industry in an attempt to pressure women into uncomfortable encounters when they'd originally believed his interest in their work genuine and professional. NPR did a story when Alexie's accusers came forward.
I'm not yet ready to separate those accounts from Alexie's work, so I finished this book with little enjoyment just to move on. So there's my non-review review.
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
4.0
This is another book I was told about by someone that read it as a school assignment. My friend Mike introduced it to me while we were hanging out in Brigantine, New Jersey, and I finished it over that long weekend.
The stories are poignant and the writing is good -- Sherman Alexie has a distinct style that I enjoyed reading. A lot of the stories are funny and at the same time sad.
I understand that in 1998, Smoke Signals, a movie based on the book was made. I have not yet seen it.
The stories are poignant and the writing is good -- Sherman Alexie has a distinct style that I enjoyed reading. A lot of the stories are funny and at the same time sad.
I understand that in 1998, Smoke Signals, a movie based on the book was made. I have not yet seen it.
lisalikesdogs's review against another edition
4.0
I seriously love Sherman Alexie and loved the forward he wrote for my edition. Favourite stories: The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire; Jesus Christ's Half-Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation; A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result; The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor; Witnesses, Secret and Not
janellejoy's review against another edition
2.0
Some of the stories were interesting, but overall a sad tale of life growing up on the Indian reservation. Too depressing....and quite a bit of profanity.
haleyhamfan's review against another edition
5.0
There are very few authors who who are good writers. Of that group, fewer still are good storytellers. Alexie is one of this group. I love good writing but it's not often you find great storytellers. Alexie can write a damn story. He is more concerned with truth than with fact, and his stories bleed together and come alive and have this incredible structure I could spend years picking apart. This man has mastered his craft. I loved reading this.
juperez's review against another edition
5.0
A writer just starting off shouldn’t be this good, right? By far, one of the most impressive debuts by any writer I’ve ever read. Alexie’s short stories form a mosaic of shared experiences from Native Americans who reside both on and off the Rez, brutal and often unromantic.