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bookishheather 's review for:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
by Sherman Alexie
A fabulous set of short stories, including a few that will probably stick in my brain for a while.
Immediately after finishing this book I started seeking out literary criticism of it. (Here are a few reviews archived from major sources.) While reading, I had so many questions about the overall structure of the book, how the stories were connected. Throughout the first half the main character seems to be Victor, but each story switches whether Victor is in first- or third-person. After "The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire," my confusion broadened. Was Thomas telling the story of the rest of the book? Was the character in "Indian Education" that has juvenile diabetes the same one as in "Witnesses, Secret and Not?" There were small details that seemed to suggest connection to other stories. Unfortunately, trying to figure this out as I read took up a fair amount of my brain's bandwidth. It didn't impact the perspective of the book for me, but after seeing a suggestion by Kirkus Reviews (see previous link) to "stop worrying about who is speaking and choose to listen to the voice of the book itself" I feel perhaps a little foolish.
Another reason I really enjoyed the book was the connection to the northwest—places I know, and people I maybe do not. Situated right between Spokane and Grand Coulee Dam, one character ends up at Gonzaga, mentioning that the school was originally founded to educate tribes but has since come to be populated from people well outside the region. Another character disappears to Arlee for a time, and a gathering in Browning is the setting for at least one scene. I really enjoyed getting to know these characters that Alexie says represent the lives of his immediate and tribal families.
Since this is the first book by Alexie I've read, I'm pretty eager to get to the next on my stack.
Immediately after finishing this book I started seeking out literary criticism of it. (Here are a few reviews archived from major sources.) While reading, I had so many questions about the overall structure of the book, how the stories were connected. Throughout the first half the main character seems to be Victor, but each story switches whether Victor is in first- or third-person. After "The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire," my confusion broadened. Was Thomas telling the story of the rest of the book? Was the character in "Indian Education" that has juvenile diabetes the same one as in "Witnesses, Secret and Not?" There were small details that seemed to suggest connection to other stories. Unfortunately, trying to figure this out as I read took up a fair amount of my brain's bandwidth. It didn't impact the perspective of the book for me, but after seeing a suggestion by Kirkus Reviews (see previous link) to "stop worrying about who is speaking and choose to listen to the voice of the book itself" I feel perhaps a little foolish.
Another reason I really enjoyed the book was the connection to the northwest—places I know, and people I maybe do not. Situated right between Spokane and Grand Coulee Dam, one character ends up at Gonzaga, mentioning that the school was originally founded to educate tribes but has since come to be populated from people well outside the region. Another character disappears to Arlee for a time, and a gathering in Browning is the setting for at least one scene. I really enjoyed getting to know these characters that Alexie says represent the lives of his immediate and tribal families.
Since this is the first book by Alexie I've read, I'm pretty eager to get to the next on my stack.