Comment

Dec 29, 2011
This book is a compilation of short stories that seemingly relate to each other in some more obvious ways, and some ways that require interpretation to fully understand. The ‘main’ character would be Victor, but ‘main’ is used pretty loosely as there are more characters in different stories, such as Thomas Builds-the-Fire. This book does not have a specific story and plot line since it jumps into different time periods and different events. This book is mainly about Indians going through life filled with stereotypes. The author also shows the daily life of Indians and how distant people are in the reservation. Victor and Thomas both go through many difficulties that ultimately lead the reader to pick up themes that are prevalent in this book. Themes such as alcoholism and hope are very common in this book. I actually enjoyed this book a lot. The short stories were usually not too difficult to read, but understanding them is a different thing. Sherman Alexie has this unique way of changing his style of writing and his language involving his style based on a different character, who we as readers must infer since there are not always names. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about Indian life, challenges that main characters face, and just about teenage life, as this is a fiction book based on the author’s experience.