Read Recently #1:
The Toughest Indian in the World by Sherman Alexie
Backstory: Sherman Alexie is one of maybe a dozen authors where I try to read everything they’ve written. These days I’ve been making a concerted effort to chip away at those author’s bibliographies. Alexie begins with “A” so that’s where I started. Plus I rationalized buying the book used on a week when I was particularly low on funds that I would read it right away. That was years ago.
Notes: Was marketed as a short story collection in which Alexie examined Indians in urban settings instead of on reservations. That’s only half true. Many of the stories lead back to the fictional Wellpinit reservation featured in his earlier novel Reservation Blues and short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. A few of the stories (“Class”, “Dear John Wayne”) are as good as anything Alexie has done. A few too many of them feel wandery and less taut than they should.
Verdict: Still great because it’s Alexie but probably his weakest book.