What am amazing collection. I've never read an author so able to walk a tightrope between humor, sadness, and pop culture references in my life. The man is a treasure. ( )

I've loved Alexie's writing since, when, 1996? Honesty and compassion and hope are a rare combination to find. I will always love key poems and stories the best, but these are a good addition. I think too many people have been misled by his one YA book into expectations he's not going to fulfill with his grown writing. I hope they can appreciate him for what he does so well. ( )

This is an excellent collection of stories, difficult to read in that they are often unsettling, reflecting the pain of being a Native American both in the past and today. It makes the experience of being a much reviled and mistreated minority clear and shares the pain felt in that existence with those of the majority white race that caused the pain. But beyond that, the stories also give insight into what we lost, what we sacrificed by permitting this genocide to keep America from fully integrating its own cultures with those which were here long before "white men" came to the continent.
I was particularly impressed with the story, "The Senator's Son" because it so beautifully told the story of moral bankruptcy present in so many of us: we SAY we believe something, and those of us who are more thoughtful about matching our actions to our words try to "practice what we preach," but, given the right circumstances, self interest overwhelms moral imperatives for many of us.
The entire book was a lesson in morals, cultural awareness, and in the effects of oppression on both the oppressed and the oppressors and I believe this book ought to find a wide audience. We need to hear what Alexie has to say. ( )

Sherman Alexie is the master of the short-short story. Although not all of the tales are funny, some had me really laughing. I don't know if one of my favorite stories is called "War Dances"* or not but it should have been. I imagined the man in the story stomping on that dead cockroach in his driveway and I roared with laughter. There's more to his stories than this, so you will have to read them. Once again, he is the short-short story master.

*I listened to the audiobook with Sherman Alexie doing a perfect job narrating!

//
Upon second reading it was just as good. But don't read it in public as I did. It had a lot of profanity. I loved it. hee hee hee ( )

I wasn't as impressed with this volume as I wanted to be. I vastly enjoyed the stories over the poems. Now that I know so much about his personal life, I also stopped several times in the book wondering whether or not this actually happened to him...not that it really matters, but it just kept stopping me up (not to mention it makes the content a wee bit repetitive). I'm still keeping the faith, but I'm hoping for the next to woo me a little more. ( )