The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 26 February 2001
by Sherman Alexie
This reader doesn't know that much about Native American culture, and maybe a little less about the problems they face today. Yet, here in this compelling and tiny (84 page) book, Sherman Alexie paints a vivid and troubled portrait of life on the reservation. The book is chock-full of poems and microscopic stories that are densely packed with emotion, frustration, despair, love, and hope. The hopeful legend of Crazy Horse permeates the mood of the book, amid drunken forays, brutal rivalries, basketball games on and off the reservation, and the powwows that bring people together, but which often involve ambivalent feelings toward the presence of white tourists. This is a culture formed by the BIA, bars, pawn shops, beat-up old cars, and the weight of legend. There are frequent reminders that outsiders could never know the complex of feeling involved in this culture (and who are we to doubt that?). Don't watch Dances with Wolves and think you've come to understand Native culture. Read Alexie and see something real and immediate come to life.
Also by Alexie: [Indian Killer] [Ten Little Indians]