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I was originally required to read this book for my English class, but I ended up really enjoying it. Sherman Alexie is an outstanding author and I plan on reading more of his work. I think everyone should read it!!
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"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" is a great collection of short stories and the perfect starting point for those unfamiliar with the works of Sherman Alexie. Alexie was born and raised on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington, and many of these stories are based off of real experiences from his time there. The topics this book covers range from alcoholism, relationships between a father and son, and traditional American Indian culture, something that these people are losing more and more as the years go by.
The stories mainly follow a Spokane Indian named Victor. The stories in the book are all independent of each other, they only share people and setting. In some of the stories, Victor is a little boy witnessing the evils of alcoholism and its effects on the people living on the reservation. In some others, he interacts with his father. Some of the stories also include a character named Thomas Builds-the-fire, a childhood friend of Victors who is known, but not necessarily liked, on the reservation for his ability to tell stories in the vein of traditional Indian storytelling. His presence in the collection gives us the voice of traditional Indian culture, which is not often seen these days in contemporary literature.
If you can read this review, I would recommend this book to you. Alexie is a brilliant writer. If you are unfamiliar with the current state of American Indian life, Alexie's prose will take you on a very enjoyable, and informative, ride. If you are already a fan of Alexie, this work is one of his darker and it would be the one that helped launch his very successful writing career. Five stars!
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The most important thing to realize before jumping into The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven--or even reading anything by Sherman Alexie--is that the author is Native American, and his humor and presentation does nothing to soften his portrayal of the gritty reality still found on many reservations. Native Americans are a serious people who rarely take themselves seriously. We are not the grim stoics or the tragic figures of past lore. Sherman Alexie brings together past and present perceptions and presents them in a fashion of the Native American colored by their own culture AND that of the West (as in West v. East, not western expansion).
This book is a collection of short stories, with the general basis of location being their common theme, and anyone looking for a further connection is sure to be disappointed. One could assume before opening an anthology of Stephen King that the stories are going to be unrelated--or if there is a connection, that it is loosely based. I do not see why it should be any different for this collection. Take each story as it is.
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Have your students read this book. Alexie's prose is beautifully simple with a rhythm they can sway to. Have them use his text as a model for their own personal narratives...and enjoy.
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This collection is a touching look at what life in Indian country can be like. Smart and touching, it was one of those books that was impossible to put down, and left me feeling like I knew the characters. A must read!
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