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A review by scifimagpie
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
4.0
I have to admit, this one was a rough read - not as emotionally draining and scarring as Kindred by Octavia Butler, but full of some very harsh realities.
Now, the prose is very beautiful, and I really love an interlaced and interwoven story structure. Even just for the qualities alone and the way inequality is portrayed, it's awesome.
My only caveats would be that I wondered if, like "Angela's Ashes," there was an element of performative poverty - like, kind of suffering put on display not just to make a point, but because it's expected and required (especially by the white literary establishment, which prefers its stories of people of colour to have an exotic, alien, or painful component).
There's also some ways that both white and Native women are described which felt - kind of fetishizing, I guess? Mostly all framed with a certain kind of longing and metaphor that I've gotten very used to from Establishment writers. I don't actually mind it, personally, but some people hate it.
Nevertheless, apart from those two things - it's an incredible collection. Very subtle, witty, nuanced, and full of evocative details. I think I'll definitely read more by this author, but I want to read more by other Native authors to get a fuller picture.
Now, the prose is very beautiful, and I really love an interlaced and interwoven story structure. Even just for the qualities alone and the way inequality is portrayed, it's awesome.
My only caveats would be that I wondered if, like "Angela's Ashes," there was an element of performative poverty - like, kind of suffering put on display not just to make a point, but because it's expected and required (especially by the white literary establishment, which prefers its stories of people of colour to have an exotic, alien, or painful component).
There's also some ways that both white and Native women are described which felt - kind of fetishizing, I guess? Mostly all framed with a certain kind of longing and metaphor that I've gotten very used to from Establishment writers. I don't actually mind it, personally, but some people hate it.
Nevertheless, apart from those two things - it's an incredible collection. Very subtle, witty, nuanced, and full of evocative details. I think I'll definitely read more by this author, but I want to read more by other Native authors to get a fuller picture.