Rating: Five Stars*****
Genre: Western
Awards: Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award: Best First Book of Fiction Citation Winner
Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award
The Best American Short Stories 1994 includes "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"
Summary: A collection of twenty- two interlinked tales are alcohol laden and conveys themes of family life, tragedy, and mythicism. A couple of most memorable stories include one told from a son's perspective about a father who used to come home drunk and fight with his mother, as well as blast Jimi Hendricks playing the Star Spangled Banner on cassette tape. Another is about the trial of a compulsive story teller "Thomas Builds-the-Fire" who his peers are embarrassed of in other stories for his tall tales, but once in jail vows to be silent for an accused murder.
Evaluation: The interlinked stories are some of the most unique, and grimly funny fiction that reveal the life of living on a reservation. Alexie is one of the best storytellers around.
Read-a-likes: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Young Adult) and other books by Sherman Alexie
No comments:
Post a Comment