This is Sherman Alexie's first book of short stories. Many of these stories will be familiar to fans of Alexie's film, Smoke Signals because the movie was based on stories from this collection and parts of his novel, Reservation Blues.
I love this collection and I love Sherman Alexie. These stories are filled with poetry, beauty, and magic. They are also filled with poverty, alcoholism, and pain, and many of the stories dwell on the relationships between fathers and sons.
For most of us this is a glimpse into a foreign world of hud houses, government checks, and low expectations. It is disturbing because the reservation is not a foreign world, it is right here, in our own back yard. This is not to imply however that these stories exist merely as social statements. Alexie is an artful craftsman, full of sly humor and his work most definately stands on its own.
Sherman Alexie is the Raymond Carver of our generation and this book is a good introduction to his fiction. Highly reccomended.

Released on Saturday, March 15, 2003 at Dana's Party in Seattle, Washington USA.

I am bringing this to release tonight at a party given by fellow bookcrosser, xacharias.

I haven't read anything by Sherman Alexie, so this will be a first.

This is a compilation of stories set mostly on the Spokane Indian reservation, full of quirky characters and underrealized dreams. Full of alcoholism, sports, car wrecks. Sherman Alexie is a wonderful, colorful writer and it is a pleasure to read his work. Thanks to tamarabk who introduced me to his stories!

Released on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 at BookCrossing Meetup at Sleepers In Seattle in Seattle, Washington USA.

I'm bringing this book to release at the BookCrossing Meetup at Sleepers In Seattle, 4741 California Avenue SW in West Seattle. The Meetup starts at 7 PM. Check out Meetup on the right side of the BC pages for more information. Hope to see you there!

Picked this up at the Bookcrossing Meetup in West Seattle 7/9. I was very excited to come across this book, as I've been meaning to read him for a couple of months. This one is promised to Waylon when I'm finished.

Errr. Well, I'm not as big a fan of this book as other folks apparently were. To be brutally honest, the title was the best part for me. Sherman Alexies' stories tend to be a bit too nebulous for me; sometimes it's really hard to say just what a particular story was actually about. After I read the collection of stories, I was left with a feeling of unease, of dissatisfaction...a general malaise that slowly ate away at me, day after day, month after month, like a giant satanic tapeworm. So, I decided to quit my job, shave my head, and move to Namibia. Ha ha- just kidding! I didn't really shave my head.

I'll give credit where it's due, though- "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" is a great book title.

I love Sherman Alexie -- he's an amazing speaker if you ever get the chance to hear him -- so I grabbed this out of Whelan's hands before he could even set it on the table at last night's BookCrossing Meetup. Hopefully it'll live up to the real thing, even tho Whelan hated it. (And by the way, I've been to Namibia -- it's gorgeous, not at all about malaise.)