A review by lezbianna
War Dances by Sherman Alexie

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.