Ok, so I know I said that I would do Top 5 books of the year, but the problem with that is that though I've took the time to read and review a lot on my blog (and get into the habit of posting on a regular basis), I've read books that sort of did double duty. I reviewed a lot on my blog that I used for my lesson plans and though they are good literary novels, I'm not sure I would rank it as one of my top books of this year.
As I reviewed my past posts, a few books, but most importantly, 2 authors caught my eye that I thought were very noteworthy and I'm so glad that I discovered them this year. In order to be genuine to this blog and most importantly, to myself, I thought I would discuss both of them instead of arbitrarily listing 5 books that I sort of liked.
2. Sherman Alexie
I discovered this author last year when my co-teacher assigned one of his books for her American Literature class. I've read 2 books by him, and I would like to read more when I get the chance. The first book I read by him is Reservation Blues, a book I acquired when a teacher retired at the end of June. I enjoy Alexie's voice and his style. He's a realist, with humor, depression, alcoholism and poverty all rolled into life on the Reservation. He shows the decline of the characters in the book with such gentleness, and also handles the plight of their circumstance due to systematic racism with the same sort of factual gentleness.
My husband has a copy of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and I read that one next. Even though he uses some of the same characters from Reservation in The Lone Ranger (or really, he uses characters from The Lone Ranger in Reservation), it's not overdone. They are familiar faces in much of the same circumstances. The Lone Ranger are a bunch of short stories about life on the Reservation, with folklore and mythology thrown in. It was his first book published, and I can't wait to read his other books next.
1. Octavia Butler
I think one of the reasons I enjoyed my last 3 months as an English teacher was because of this book. My husband taught this book to his 9th graders at the beginning of the year, and when I was struggling to rewrite my curriculum for the second half of the year, he suggested this book to me. Butler's writing is just phenomenal and Kindred, a stand alone book, is wonderful as it is horrifying. It allows a fresh take on the Antebellum South, as if it were if someone of color traveled back in time. This slave narrative really hits home for what actual slavery was like, and what our country was built from. Like Alexie, Butler also discusses racism but shows it through the lens of Kevin and Dana, an interracial couple in the 1970s.
I then read some of her other books, such as Parable of the Sower, Dawn and Adulthood Rites. I love her weird science fiction, and even more importantly, I love the diversity of her characters. The books that I've read so far have a majority of strong, female characters and they feel genuine because they are treated like people who make mistakes but ultimately power through.
However, unlike Alexie's books, Butler's books are finite. I look forward to reading them, but I dread the day when I read her last one.
These two authors really affected my literature and novel choices this year. Their gifts with words and their insight, whether it's folklore on the Spokane Reservation mixed in with realism and fiction or it's a science fiction story about the future of the world in the lens of a woman of color, has stayed with me.
What authors did you really enjoy this year? What authors did you discover? Comment below, or tweet me!
Showing posts with label Sherman Alexie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sherman Alexie. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Friday, September 25, 2015
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Some of you may have read my review on Alexie's other book, Reservation Blues, but this book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, a collection of short stories, was his debut to the literary world.
It was a unique sensation, reading short stories about very familiar characters in Reservation Blues, but it was like seeing old friends again. It's probably why I like series so much. You become invested in characters and you wonder how they are doing and you wonder what is going to happen to them next. As a reader, I'm curious to understand their character development and how other characters react to them.
With this edition, he wrote an introduction. Normally I don't read introductions to books. They are usually by other people, and I never know what the heck they are talking about. Believe me, I know the importance of an introduction (kinda, sorta) but for some reason... I read a few paragraphs and then I skip to the start of the book. Maybe I'm impatient?
Anyway, I read the introduction to the book. I really like Alexie's voice and I'm envious to how well he conveys it. He writes about his break out in the literary world with his first publication, The Business of Fancydancing and the rollercoaster ride that came with it. He tells the story about an agent who told him that his stories needed work, which he didn't like, and eventually went with another agent, who published his stories quickly. I'm not sure why he decided to divulge that information? Is it to stick it to the agent that told him he should rewrite some of his work?
Here is a hot take, I liked Reservation Blues much more. Reservation Blues is much more polished than Tonto, but I'm not sure if I feel that way because Reservation Blues is a novel and Tonto is a collection of short stories, so it's meant to feel a bit disjointed, but I also noticed that Alexie was trying out his writing style. What did he like? What didn't he like? What was he good at?
I don't blame the agent for wanting to take it slow, but I do understand Alexie's gut instinct to jump when he needed too.
Now onto the book.
My favorite character in both Reservation Blues and The Lone Ranger is Thomas Builds-the-Fire. I loved his stories, and it was very interesting to me to read the dynamic between him and the rest of the tribe. He told stories about the present, about the past and about the future, and there is this theme of deep regret, anger and shame on the Spokane Indian Reservation about exactly that. Many try their best to deny and forget.
Thomas doesn't do that. He has been beaten up by Victor, a childhood acquaintance and the other members of the community refuse to listen to Thomas anymore. However, he doesn't become bitter or angry, or change the way he is. He still tells stories (not out loud) and in one short story, even accompanies Victor to pick up his deceased father.
I'm always fascinated with stories about people who, despite being good, still have bad things happen to them. Thomas is misunderstood by the whites, and is sent to prison after telling a story about a massacre in the 1800s. It's obviously a story set in the past, but he tells it under oath, and eager to send him away, they convict him. Though the whites destroyed Indian tribes across the nation without repercussions, but as soon as a white person was killed, though 100 years ago, the Indian is put away and titled a savage.
There is a deep seated sadness with these stories that undoubtedly have to do with oppression of a people but is lost in the telling of American History. When a student sits through history class, they of course, get the spiel about Native Americans and Manifest Destiny. Most likely there is a lesson on the trail of tears. However, there is seldom mention of the now defunct residential schools, planned to wipe out native culture and the poor land that most of the tribe is on today, along with the lack of opportunity in almost everything. Alcohol is rampagant in the community and poverty is a strong bedfellow.
Alexie does a good job of showing both the beautiful and ugly sides of life of the Spokane Indian reservation and the differences between different groups of people. I suspect it would be easy to demonize whites (and rightly so) for all that they have done, but Alexie presents it as a fact, and then moves on (and rightly so). Even though white people have essentially destroyed their past way of life, it's a moot point. There are other issues to combat (or just react too). He shows the difference between the elders and the new generation, the differences between men and women, the differences between families and the differences between city Indians and reservation Indians. But he also shows just how similar they all are in their reactions and their dreams to become something more, or to go back to the way it used to be.
I'm interested in watching Smoke Signals (maybe a Which is Better? post) and reading more of his books.
It was a unique sensation, reading short stories about very familiar characters in Reservation Blues, but it was like seeing old friends again. It's probably why I like series so much. You become invested in characters and you wonder how they are doing and you wonder what is going to happen to them next. As a reader, I'm curious to understand their character development and how other characters react to them.
With this edition, he wrote an introduction. Normally I don't read introductions to books. They are usually by other people, and I never know what the heck they are talking about. Believe me, I know the importance of an introduction (kinda, sorta) but for some reason... I read a few paragraphs and then I skip to the start of the book. Maybe I'm impatient?
Anyway, I read the introduction to the book. I really like Alexie's voice and I'm envious to how well he conveys it. He writes about his break out in the literary world with his first publication, The Business of Fancydancing and the rollercoaster ride that came with it. He tells the story about an agent who told him that his stories needed work, which he didn't like, and eventually went with another agent, who published his stories quickly. I'm not sure why he decided to divulge that information? Is it to stick it to the agent that told him he should rewrite some of his work?
Here is a hot take, I liked Reservation Blues much more. Reservation Blues is much more polished than Tonto, but I'm not sure if I feel that way because Reservation Blues is a novel and Tonto is a collection of short stories, so it's meant to feel a bit disjointed, but I also noticed that Alexie was trying out his writing style. What did he like? What didn't he like? What was he good at?
I don't blame the agent for wanting to take it slow, but I do understand Alexie's gut instinct to jump when he needed too.
Now onto the book.
My favorite character in both Reservation Blues and The Lone Ranger is Thomas Builds-the-Fire. I loved his stories, and it was very interesting to me to read the dynamic between him and the rest of the tribe. He told stories about the present, about the past and about the future, and there is this theme of deep regret, anger and shame on the Spokane Indian Reservation about exactly that. Many try their best to deny and forget.
Thomas doesn't do that. He has been beaten up by Victor, a childhood acquaintance and the other members of the community refuse to listen to Thomas anymore. However, he doesn't become bitter or angry, or change the way he is. He still tells stories (not out loud) and in one short story, even accompanies Victor to pick up his deceased father.
I'm always fascinated with stories about people who, despite being good, still have bad things happen to them. Thomas is misunderstood by the whites, and is sent to prison after telling a story about a massacre in the 1800s. It's obviously a story set in the past, but he tells it under oath, and eager to send him away, they convict him. Though the whites destroyed Indian tribes across the nation without repercussions, but as soon as a white person was killed, though 100 years ago, the Indian is put away and titled a savage.
There is a deep seated sadness with these stories that undoubtedly have to do with oppression of a people but is lost in the telling of American History. When a student sits through history class, they of course, get the spiel about Native Americans and Manifest Destiny. Most likely there is a lesson on the trail of tears. However, there is seldom mention of the now defunct residential schools, planned to wipe out native culture and the poor land that most of the tribe is on today, along with the lack of opportunity in almost everything. Alcohol is rampagant in the community and poverty is a strong bedfellow.
Alexie does a good job of showing both the beautiful and ugly sides of life of the Spokane Indian reservation and the differences between different groups of people. I suspect it would be easy to demonize whites (and rightly so) for all that they have done, but Alexie presents it as a fact, and then moves on (and rightly so). Even though white people have essentially destroyed their past way of life, it's a moot point. There are other issues to combat (or just react too). He shows the difference between the elders and the new generation, the differences between men and women, the differences between families and the differences between city Indians and reservation Indians. But he also shows just how similar they all are in their reactions and their dreams to become something more, or to go back to the way it used to be.
I'm interested in watching Smoke Signals (maybe a Which is Better? post) and reading more of his books.
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