The Summer of Black Widows

Reservation Blues is neither fun nor happy; the book lives up to its title. The author shows the reader the lives of young Spokanes trying to find purpose and direction in their lives through music. The main characters are plagued by misfortune and malaise. They fail to find success. The author bravely declines to follow the standard pattern by offering the reader hope that the main characters' lives will turn out okay despite their crushing circumstances. Instead, the reader is shown the emotional equivalent of fish flopping in the bottom of a boat. Reservation Blues is not for the reader who wishes to see romance in the plight of Native Americans. This is a story unflinchingly dedicated to the tragic.

Reservation Blues is Sherman Alexie's debut novel based on the characters he introduced in his acclaimed collection of Short stories, The Lone ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.

Billed as a masterpiece of "magical realism" the book tells the tale of a group of Spoke Reservation Indians who come into possession of a magical blues guitar and ride it's powers almost to fame and fortune.

Personally, while I found the book to be absorbing and entertaining, the text often seemed to me to extend well past the outer bounds of magical realism into the realms of myth on one hand and outright fantasy on the other hand. I don't see that invoking the mysticism of Native American culture gives on unlimited elasticity with traditional genre conventions. The whole deal with the guitar, for instance--an object essentially destroyed and reborn on several occasions throughout the text, goes well beyond what I would consider to be the bounds of magical realism.

That being said, the characters are well drawn and fully fleshed out, the story is engaging and Alexie has a knack for sensing when he's pushing the bounds maybe a bit too hard and reigns himself in in time to avoid too much chaos in the story.

Alexie has often been called a writer's writer and I'm not quite sure why that is. There was nothing particularly unique to the text in terms of construction, dialog or sequencing that seemed particularly noteworthy to me. Perhaps the techniques and styles everyone refers to are too subtle for my eye but if so, they are truly subtle indeed.

Nothing of which detracts from the fact I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to trying other Alexie efforts in the future.

This is a brilliant example of Native American literature. It has a magical sense of the Indian experience. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. I had mixed emotions towards the characters and the effects. Sometimes it would make you want to laugh and other times it would make you feel saddened. It gives you the reality of the Native American people which is usually blown way out of proportion by movies and t.v. shows. After reading this novel it gave me an interest in Native American literature and other Sherman Alexie books. I would reccomend this novel to anyone looking for an adventure through an exciting cultural experience.

This reviewer will not succumb to the temptation to "soapbox" about the horror of smallpox laden blankets, misguided federal "Indian Policy," the terrors of the "termination era," and on and on. Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene, has written far above my own poor power to add or detract. (I paraphrased that appropriate quote from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.) Some of the characters are holdouts from his also excellent "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." There is no whitewash of Rez life here. It renders both the good and the bad, the happy and the sad. It summoned a vision of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" being sung by the rock group Redbone. (Ya -hey! Check out the name of the record company and the officers!)

"Reservation Blues" is bitter/sweet in all the term implies. Anger/Love, Pain/Healing, even the two faces of Comedy/Tragedy go hand in hand in this realistic and magical look at a young, Indian rock and roll band - Coyote Springs - and the people and spirits that appear in their orbit. Sherman Alexie has a deep understanding of the results of a people's total colonization; and a realistic understanding of the truth that redemption never comes easy and tragedy is a fact of life. Beyond the pleasure of reading a story well written is the pain of being given a clear-eyed look at the horror wrought by our United States' western expansion. Mr. Alexie gives you the feeling that even a war fought to extinction will never end because spirits will inhabit the land, but he also provides some hope that spirits may heal.

Sherman Alexie does such a good job with this novel. He brings the characters to life, and gives readers an understanding about what life on a Reservation might be like. Through the events that take place in the book, he shows the strengths of the characters and how they deal with occurrences other than what goes on in their daily lives.
He paints such a bright picture of the setting and even the parts of the book that seem unreal come to life as if it were a normal thing.
This book is excellent for many things: a class on ethnicity and identity, a fun summer read, or even just for gaining insight on the life of Native Americans.
This book is worth reading!

Alexie has an amazing way of illuminating the heart and soul of reservation life and it's people. The sadness, the humor and the deep, deep bond are all intertwined.
You can never go wrong with one of his books.

A member of the Cour d'Alene tribe of Native Americans, Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation. His first book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, introduced the characters and setting that appear again in Reservation Blues. With irresistible humor and a very distinctive point of view, Alexie tells what happens when the guitar of a blues legend passes into the hands of Victor, a troubled guy who becomes the troublesome but extremely talented member of a rock group, Coyote Springs. The bulk of the story follows Victor and 2 friends as they try to pull themselves from the hard-scrabble poverty of the reservation to cope with the possibility of stardom.

Took me a few pages to get into the groove of this book, but glad I persisted. Very abstract and very illogical at times, but I feel the author was just trying to get a point across in a stylistic fashion.
Living near a reservation, I could see a lot of what he was trying to get to the audience, but a lot of positive aspects were totally glossed over or ignored completely.
All in all, a very good book, though perhaps a shade less than his "Flight"

With Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexie is able to wrestle with what it means to be an American Indian and show the consequences that come with the loss of identity and culture. Not only are these issues at the forefront of the novel, but they are a reality for many American Indian reservations across the country. Sometimes it takes a story to open your eyes to the struggles happening outside of your own backyard. For me, Reservation Blues was an eye-opening read.

The story begins with legendary blues player, Robert Johnson, visiting the Spokane Reservation in search of a mystical religious woman named, Big Mom. He gives his guitar to Thomas-Builds-A-Fire who starts an American Indian Catholic rock band with his friends, Victor and Junior. The only problem with Thomas' idea for a band is that none of these characters have any musical background. Thomas is a fairly religious man who has lived through a childhood of poverty while Victor and Junior are the local Reservation tough guys. This is why Robert Johnson's guitar acts as the catalyst for the entire story. It is with this initial passing of the guitar that Alexie sets up the theme of identity loss. Just as Johnson sold his soul to the Devil, Thomas and his band mates embark on a journey which leads them down a road of self discovery and assimilation.

I may have a personal bias when reviewing this novel because the love for music runs deep within my blood. Even so, Alexie's witty writing style is a delight to read. It amazes me that he can write with such humor despite the hardships he puts his characters through in the story. But don't think for a moment that Alexie does not care about the problems and themes present in his book. He may write with a self-deprecating style of wit, but the themes he presents in Reservation Blues are powerful fictional accounts of real life issues facing American Indians across the country.

This collection of poems is woven beautifully together. Like his other books of poetry and novels this book is thought provoking, humorous, disturbing and wonderful. Once again I am left breathless at the end of one of Mr. Alexie's book wanting more. I found myself weaving in and out of the book, reading one poem then returning to a previous poem because of the way they interconnected. A truely wonderful experience and cannot wait for the next release be it novel, poetry or film by this young talented writer.

This is a funny book, but be warned it may make you uncomfortable, angry or confused. There's a lot of satire and like all real satire it burns. The New Age movement, in particular Native American spirituality (imagined) and wannabees come under fire. If you are looking for instruction on how to become one with the universe and find your spirit animal, go somewhere else.

That said this is a funny book. Alexie's indians are that rare thing in literature--real people. From the names of various characters (I loved 'Betty' and 'Veronica') to wry humor about poverty, ambition and destiny without being too heavy handed, this is a 5 star story. Highly recommended.

I read this book when I was 18, and now I am 33 and I still paraphrase parts of it. I love the characters, incredibly beautifully written and has amazing symbolism throughout the book. I am not a big reader, but this book has stuck with me for years. It is the only book I have re-read and I continue recommending it to others all the time.

Sherman Alexie does an excellent job at tying different themes common to Native Americans into an entertaining novel with _Reservation Blues_. The storyline itself makes the book very difficult to put down, and I found it to be a relatively quick read. It also provides insight into modern Native American lives, which are very different from what the common stereotypes held about Native Americans. In fact, in part of the book, the main character encounters people who did not know Native Americans were even still around. Alexie's use of humor helps the book to not only flow and be incredibly engaging, but also helps to expose the use of humor among Native Americans, further dispelling stereotypes of the "stoic" Indian. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in stories dealing with "battling" with the devil and one's own identity.

Fictional(?) account of life on an Indian reservation in the Inland Northwest. Depressing story, thus "Reservation Blues" is a very appropriate title. Undoubtedly, reflects conditions - largely foreign to middle class America.
Some say he is a brilliant storyteller. Some think his works are disturbing. The language can be filthy - but, unfortunately, many in society do use such language. Those who like Alexie may also like sordid daytime soap operas and trashy gossip mags - cheap thrills to spice up their otherwise drab lives - you know, titillating the PTA bookclub types.
Alexie's poetry is definitely good. Even if you are put off by the story, you really have to admit that he can spin a tale (or Is it real?). However, sometimes the story seems to start to sound too familiar - you know, "Murder She Wrote" dejà vu like, but of course much more seedy ... and, unfortunately for Reservation dwellers (prisoners?), much closer to reality (the same old thing: Chief Not Much Hope).
Maybe those who are repulsed by his writings feel guilty about their relatively blessed lives??? You gotta admit that Native Americans (Alexie prefers the term Indian) really did get a lousy deal.
How about a FDR-like New Deal job program, at least to try to make a difference in their lives and partial, better late than never compensation? Not a handout. Not just feel good bleeding heart stuff so we can sleep smug at night ... Just give 'em a break. We can put men on the moon and precision bomb Bagdad, but we can't fix deplorable conditions that we caused? Would it really kill us to give back a fraction of the land we stole? How about removing a hydroelectric dam or two on the Elwha and the Skokomish?
Jeez! (a favorite utterance of the characters in the book). I'm sorry, I somehow digressed from the book .... or maybe not!

This book seems the most abstract of Alexie's works to date. Containing the same insightful, introspective and powerful images and descriptions as his past works, this one differs in that it is slightly less "in-your-face". Keeps the reader thinking, wondering what the underlying meaning of the work could mean. This is not a spoon-fed collection of easy to read poems. Keep this one around awhile for study and contemplation. Truly inspired.

Sherman Alexie uses mysticism and abstractionism in order to tell this magnificent story. In this book Alexie take the reader on a journey with Thomas Builds-the-Fire and his band made up of other reservation Indians. Through out the book the character shortcomings are made clear and understandable. Their emotional baggage eventually ends up causing their downfall.
The main characters are Junior and Victor, the local reservation bullies. Junior once was a promising student who left the reservation to peruse an education but soon failed and came back and got a job driving. Victor is Junior constant companion and only true friend who tends to cause trouble. Chess and Checkers Warm Water who are members of the band from a near by tribe, who join the band after their first concert. They also have the emotional damages that is caused by being "a lesser people." Finally there is Thomas the cornerstone of the book and group. Thomas is a lovable, and somewhat crazy, man who has always been the wimp who Victor and Junior pick until he starts the band and his strength and love comes in order to lead the band.
This book is a thought provoking and exciting story.

Every page of Alexie's Reservation Blues reads with the kind of portent and quake found in Alexie's great poems of love, fire, and loss. Humor and wisdom are interwoven to create a braiding effect as sharp with irony as it is quiet and confident with revelation. Alexie has expressed the anger and desire of an entire generation, unequivocally spat in the face of the elitist regime, and blessed society with a sacred sense of laughter, wholeness, and delight. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway award for The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, named as one of Granta's 20 Best American Novelists Under 40, poet, playwright, and basketball aficionado, Alexie's art is a grace to behold.

This is the first book my bookclub read. We all have enjoyed it. It is a very easy to read and entertaining book. The basic message prevalent throughout the book is to make the reader aware of the abuse to Native Americans in the past and the continued oppression of Native Americans on today's reservations. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Native American writing. (...)

A beautifully and symbolically rendered account of the Native American experience that models the style of Vonnegut's _Slaughterhouse Five_. This is a funny, tragic, and down to earth accounting of an internal colonization.

Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues was hilarious. The story starts with guitarist Robert Johnson (You know him right?) giving his, out of this world guitar to the Spokane Indian Thomas-Builds-The-Fire. Thomas.... then starts his own first new rock group "Coyote Springs" with other two funny characters Victor and Junior. Then the fame, love, tragedy takes place. For more details, read the book!

I had never read Sherman Alexie before, but I will be sure to read more in the future. He combines mythology, satire, lots of verbal riddles/puns, a little history and some laugh-out-loud lines in the voice of a first American that you can almost hear telling the story. I loved Thomas and understood the ironies of reservation life better through all of the characters. God could be an armadillo.

I read this novel in my high school philosophy class when we were talking about social injustices. This book really meant a lot to me because even though the novel itself deals with the Spokane Indian tribe, on a deeper level, it can relate to everybody -- since every person has their own heritage which they should be proud of. This book taught me that if you want to know where you're going in life, you have to know where you came from.
Reservation Blues also deals with the impact of music on one's life. For the characters in the novel, music brings back memories (although sometimes painful). It's amazing how powerful music can really be.
In addition to all of this, Alexie adds a humorous touch to the novel as a whole, making it even more enjoyable.

Well to start off i have never read any books like this. Some parts were amusing, and some parts were dispurbing. Sherman Alexie is a very skilled writer, and i would like to read more of his books. Sometimes I find myself confused at what he is writing. Some things seem so random, I don't know if there is some deep and phiosophical meaning or he is just throwing it in to make the readers confused and go searching for something that isn't there. Through out the book, I was sort of uncofortable. The Sherman Alexie does something that makes me feel bad about being white. I don't know if he ment to do this but it makes me feel ashamed to have ansestors that ran the natives out of there land. Also he talks about things that would seem unacteptable to most people. For example: One of the women characters has a dream about sleeping with a cathloic priest. Now i am not cathloic, nor am i even religious, but something about that made me also feel uncomfortable. I don't think i would recomend this book for all people. Either it if full of metaphors so deep that I can't understand it, or it is full of meaningless stuff that i can't understand, I can't tell. If you like books that do that to you then go for it, but also at the same time, even if you don't like the deep philosophical stuff, this book is worth reading, I don't how much truth is behind it, but I think it gave me a greater understanding about how Native American life is, or might be.

A touching story of people trying to find a better life on and off their reservation. Through poetry and narrative, the reader gains insight into the complicated lives of the American Indian. The characters live their lives as if it were the lyrics of a blues song.

Sherman Alexie's style is like that of no other writer I have read. Perhaps if Indians had not suffered so badly in America we would have more writers like him, with happier tales to tell. I highly recommend this book for its lyricism, its imagery, the way it gets into your heart and your brain in different ways.

Alexie has an amazing ability to evoke humor and horror simultaneously. His magical realism is just that. The painful, stark realities of reservation life and the ugly history that has led to the present situation are not blunted by Alexie's comic timing. How many times did I laugh out loud while crying inside?

Sherman Alexie, a poet whose work is inscribed with joy, sacredness, laughter, and tears, issues in The Summer of Black Widows a vivid song of vicious and systemic harm, rageful lament, and finally the hearty buoyancy of creatively encountering the world. Face to face, skin to skin, Alexie's profound sense of tenderness gives weight and authority to the justice he speaks. An original voice, he gifts American life with a touch that heals blindness. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway award for his fiction, A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, and a multi-year winner of the World Heavyweight Poetry Bout, Alexie is known to have read at age 3 and devoured Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath at the age of 5.

Reservation Blues is a lyrical and thought provoking book.A little too lyrical and thought provoking for me. Quite frankly I want a book that is entertaining and accessible ( and a little mindless.)
I'd suggest this for book clubbers not the coach potato readaholic.
While Sherman Alexie is an excellent author I will not read another of his books even if it has a blues title and has Robert Johnson as a superfluous character.

Reservation Blues is basically a book written to stereotype Native Americans. If you respect Native American culture, this is probably not the book for you. It stereotypes a race of people more than any other book I have ever read, and because the author, Sherman Alexie, is a Native American, it makes the stereotypes even more believable. This is not to say that it is a bad book. In fact, it is quite a good book with a distinct, original, and refreshing voice filled with tongue-in-cheek humor. As far as the story goes, it is a good story with believable characters that are easy to connect with. The problem though is that it never reaches a climax. It goes up and up but falls short of any real climax point. The ending is unfulfilling with the struggles of the characters never finding a true resolution. The story ultimately leaves the reader with a half-baked feeling. Reservation Blues isn't a must read, but if you are looking for a new style of writing or a book to read in the meantime, I would recommend this book.

This collection of poems is woven beautifully together. Like his other books of poetry and novels this book is thought provoking, humorous, disturbing and wonderful. Once again I am left breathless at the end of one of Mr. Alexie's book wanting more. I found myself weaving in and out of the book, reading one poem then returning to a previous poem because of the way they interconnected. A truely wonderful experience and cannot wait for the next release be it novel, poetry or film by this young talented writer.

Incredible is the talent of Sherman Alexie. In this masterfully written story of a rock band and dreams, love and blind hate, unbridled humor and memories, Alexie blends reality with a world that, though doesnt exist can be understood by any human being. This story is about life, and is written in such a way that reading it is one of the most rewarding and moving experiences one can hope for when devouring a book. Music and imagination permeate it's very puncuation and the results are spectacular.

A fabulous, enjoyable read! Alexie entertains readers while sharing anecdotes about daily life for Native Americans. The book is wonderful for recreational reading or literary anaylsis--there is truly something for everyone in the book! The humor Alexie throws in at unexpected places makes the book unpredictable, and makes it even more fun to read--you can't wait to see what he's going to write next. The novel is also quite thought provoking. Highly recommended!

I think that this book shows reality, it shows how the Indians really have it in the reservations. Athough a fictional novel, it really stimulates us. This book makes people really think and look at Indians in a whole different perspective. It kind of shows us what really goes on in the reservations. I enjoyed reading it, and Alexie really shows he has skills I would love to read more of his work.

This is among the worst novels I ever read. The writing style is clunky, plodding and repetitive, it's disorganized and lacks narrative thread, it's packed with hokey mysticism and aimless dream sequences, the characters are wooden, and it seems generally devoid of insight in to the human condition. I'm interested in the subject of Native American culture, but the clunky amateurish self-indulgent fatuous writing style was too much of a barrier for me to gain anything even remotely like insight from the book.

This is Alexie's worst text. His storyline is an adaptation of Damn Yankees. The character names are pop culture at best, i.e. Chess and Checkers, Betty and Veronica and Wally and the Beav. I was waiting for Rocky and Bullwinkle and Alvin, Simon and Theodore to show up. The story takes forever to develope and is miles behind his masterpiece "Indian Killer".

The story that is made up, Ernest Hemingway said, can be truer than the account of actual events. In Reservation Blues Sherman Alexie has used the elements of outrageous fantasy to limn the realities of modern Indian life - and not just Indian life; because, as Thomas Builds-the-Fire observes: "Ain't nothing gone wrong on the reservation that hasn't gone wrong everywhere else."

Sherman Alexie writes another poignant novel about tragedy and triumph on the reservation. This book is thought provoking and heartbreaking. Irony and sarcasm gets the point across loud and clear, as only a Native American can express. You can't help but root for the underdogs (Thomas and Victor) as they try to make the American Dream come true for them.

I didn't enjoy this book at all. It began to go downhill -- steeply -- when the broken guitar repaired itself and then began to play itself.
If you like reading fairy tales, then it may appeal.
For me, it reads like the kind of experimental writing college kids are asked to write, or the kind of writing their profs write to show that they are different.
Another example: A Fedex delivery person lands and leaves via the addressee's roof.
Too much suspension of disbelief required, at least for me.
For the record, the movie "Pow-Wow highway is one of my favorites. Mysticism appears there, as well, but artfully handled.

A fast reading book is usually a shllow one, but that's not the case with Reservation Blues. Alexie weaves a musical tale of good, evil, magic, and change while giving the reader a rolling good time. I laughed out loud with Lester Falls-Apart and saw too many familiar faces in Junior. Stunning.

Having grown up on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho, I find many of the names and experiences of the characters in Reservation Blues and "Tonto" like reliving moments of my youth. The mixture of despair and contemplative joy (never taking happiness just for granted) rends the readers emotions. I appreciate Sherman's ability to relate to those of us who are white who grew up on the rez and are sometimes confused about who we are. Read the book with your mind open, there are many tales being told within the one

Alexie has created a wonderful tapestry of humor and tragedy that allows the reader to feel emotions of every character. The characterization is excellent and the setting is perfect. If you want to feel how it is to be a Native American dealing with contemporary issues, read Reservation Blues.

Alexie's flowing prose makes this an indispensible addition to anyone's library espeically if they are fans of postmoderist literatre. His contribution isn't overpowering, but rather lures you in to a world that magic is created through music, or maybe it's vice versa.

This book moved me to both laughter and tears. A better novel I have not read in years, with the possible exception of Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River. I consider this book a must read. A life-changing book.

Alexie's ability to paint the characters in his work is only surpassed by the caliber of their authenticity. Sherman is not a Native American William Faulkner as other authors of the genre (like N. Scott Momaday) and in Reservation Blues, that serves him well.

This is a review I have meant to write for a very long time. I am finally daring to do so.

I first read this book as a very young girl, underneath my covers with a flashlight. And then about a year ago I had the chance to see Sherman Alexie speak at a community college--I went on a whim, not connecting who he was, but while there I realized he was the writer of a great deal of excellent poetry I revere and this book, Reservation Blues, that I had loved and allowed myself to live in as a little girl.

Browsing the Goodwill book section a few weeks later I found an old copy of this book and snapped it up, a very happy book-lobster. I re-read it after 10 years.

I hated it this time around. It wasn't the writing, the writing was the same boggling mind-trail Alexie is so excellent at revving through. It was a single phrase that slashed at me, the sentence was attributed to Big Mom, the wise character, Watcher, and strange Savior of the book, aimed at Victor, a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.

"...you should forgive the priest who hurt you when you were little...that poor man hasn't even forgiven himself yet."

I re-read that part and my mouth sort of fell open, and I felt betrayed by Alexie, who I felt didn't understand what he was doing when he wrote the book.

I realize that when someone writes a book they largely write for themselves and of their own experiences in a vicarious way. I am all too aware of how many Indians were raped by priests, and the deep anger alot of Indians have towards white and half-white people as a result of the genocides. I think the power of forgiveness is a wonderful tool for healing for SOME people. But not all.

I feel strange criticizing and hating this sentence. I want so badly back into the rest of the book, but am unable to step back in. I was locked out of his beautiful world with those words, because those words are used to hurt people in institutions of religion, used to silence and place the burden of guilt on victims of brutal sexual assault, and used to dumb down followers.

Forgiveness is a main theme in all of Alexie's writing, and I have come to expect this of him. I don't resent the theme as long as it is clearly separated from the abusive machinations of institution. Usually he manages. He fails here, slipping the theories in willy-nilly without a clue. I think he is trying to hit all the major problems Indians face in one book, and not having personally been raped in the church (which I am willing to state quantitatively based on the way he glibly throws around religious language and talks about Catholicism, a wonderful freedom that victims of CSA do not have) he fails here, and manages to pour salt on the wounds (albeit with such innocence and such a good heart that it hurts MORE for all its damned arrogant innocence).

Victor is not a well-fleshed out character and his abuse, his reactions to that abuse, is never delved into aside from the single event. There is no analyzation of his reactions. His "tough-guy" fasod mostly remains in place throughout, slipping to reveal the outlines of the soul beneath only a few times.

Alexie only seems to understand the full-on anger reaction to abuse, he doesn't understand the deep guilt that victims of CSA have, nor does he understand the type of pain in having a "safe" spirituality spout out a flat forgiveness line that rings in tune with the corporate rapists of religious institutions. (And so few are sorry. And if this priest were sorry, why didn't he try to make amends? Why didn't he pay for counseling? Why didn't he turn himself in? What's that? He cared about himself more? He had 60 more victims? He doesn't want to go to jail? He's narcissistic and can't stand the thought of not being God's right hand? Ah. Yes.)

Alexie had no right to fling these theories out in such disarray, in the mouth of someone looked up to as a God-figure. The character Big Mom fills is a vast one, so her dialogue had better be good. He was essentially speaking for God. Shame on him!

I generally mock reviews that say, "this book is bad because the theory is bad." Well, here I am, hating a book with excellent writing for bad theory.

Mr. Alexie, tell you what, I'll stay out of the sweat lodges and your spirituality if you'll stay away from my spirituality, and refrain from telling me my spiritual path.

This is a review I have meant to write for a very long time. I am finally daring to do so.

I first read this book as a very young girl, underneath my covers with a flashlight. And then about a year ago I had the chance to see Sherman Alexie speak at a community college--I went on a whim, not connecting who he was, but while there I realized he was the writer of a great deal of excellent poetry I revere and this book, Reservation Blues, that I had loved and allowed myself to live in as a little girl.

Browsing the Goodwill book section a few weeks later I found an old copy of this book and snapped it up, a very happy book-lobster. I re-read it after 10 years.

I hated it this time around. It wasn't the writing, the writing was the same boggling mind-trail Alexie is so excellent at revving through. It was a single phrase that slashed at me, the sentence was attributed to Big Mom, the wise character, Watcher, and strange Savior of the book, aimed at Victor, a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.

"...you should forgive the priest who hurt you when you were little...that poor man hasn't even forgiven himself yet."

I re-read that part and my mouth sort of fell open, and I felt betrayed by Alexie, who I felt didn't understand what he was doing when he wrote the book.

I realize that when someone writes a book they largely write for themselves and of their own experiences in a vicarious way. I am all too aware of how many Indians were raped by priests, and the deep anger alot of Indians have towards white and half-white people as a result of the genocides. I think the power of forgiveness is a wonderful tool for healing for SOME people. But not all.

I feel strange criticizing and hating this sentence. I want so badly back into the rest of the book, but am unable to step back in. I was locked out of his beautiful world with those words, because those words are used to hurt people in institutions of religion, used to silence and place the burden of guilt on victims of brutal sexual assault, and used to dumb down followers.

Forgiveness is a main theme in all of Alexie's writing, and I have come to expect this of him. I don't resent the theme as long as it is clearly separated from the abusive machinations of institution. Usually he manages. He fails here, slipping the theories in willy-nilly without a clue. I think he is trying to hit all the major problems Indians face in one book, and not having personally been raped in the church (which I am willing to state quantitatively based on the way he glibly throws around religious language and talks about Catholicism, a wonderful freedom that victims of CSA do not have) he fails here, and manages to pour salt on the wounds (albeit with such innocence and such a good heart that it hurts MORE for all its damned arrogant innocence).

Victor is not a well-fleshed out character and his abuse, his reactions to that abuse, is never delved into aside from the single event. There is no analyzation of his reactions. His "tough-guy" fasod mostly remains in place throughout, slipping to reveal the outlines of the soul beneath only a few times.

Alexie only seems to understand the full-on anger reaction to abuse, he doesn't understand the deep guilt that victims of CSA have, nor does he understand the type of pain in having a "safe" spirituality spout out a flat forgiveness line that rings in tune with the corporate rapists of religious institutions. (And so few are sorry. And if this priest were sorry, why didn't he try to make amends? Why didn't he pay for counseling? Why didn't he turn himself in? What's that? He cared about himself more? He had 60 more victims? He doesn't want to go to jail? He's narcissistic and can't stand the thought of not being God's right hand? Ah. Yes.)

Alexie had no right to fling these theories out in such disarray, in the mouth of someone looked up to as a God-figure. The character Big Mom fills is a vast one, so her dialogue had better be good. He was essentially speaking for God. Shame on him!

I generally mock reviews that say, "this book is bad because the theory is bad." Well, here I am, hating a book with excellent writing for bad theory.

Mr. Alexie, tell you what, I'll stay out of the sweat lodges and your spirituality if you'll stay away from my spirituality, and refrain from telling me my spiritual path.