Comments on: Without using the words "man" or "good," can you please define what it means to be a good man?

Without using the words "man" or "good," can you please define what it means to be a good man?

Non Prosequitur — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:36:10 -0800

War Dances: "I wanted to call my father and tell him that a white man thought my brain was beautiful". Sherman Alexie doing his thing in The New Yorker, excerpted from his upcoming book (early review; interview 1, 2.)

By: glaucon

glaucon — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:48:21 -0800

What a great read. I love his writing.

By: Non Prosequitur

Non Prosequitur — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:00:42 -0800

it really bothers me that he suggested a dying cockroach would have "existential dread." i thought a thumping (or at least subconscious) death-wish was a component of existential dread. also, why is this in the fiction section? i guess he wants to be ethical about embellishments. another good short read by him is Indian Education.

By: sputgop

sputgop — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:12:09 -0800

This is excellent.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:12:18 -0800

Wonderful.

By: Hop123

Hop123 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:23:04 -0800

thank you for posting this! This is delightful!

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:29:29 -0800

That was great.

By: fontophilic

fontophilic — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:32:10 -0800

I wanted to throw my phone into a wall, but I said goodbye instead and glared at the tumorless people and their pretty tumorless heads. <3

By: Jody Tresidder

Jody Tresidder — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:37:40 -0800

That was superb. (I had no time to spare for such a long piece, no time at all, far too busy...and suddenly I was at the end.) Thanks.

By: newmoistness

newmoistness — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:38:49 -0800

This is great. I've never really much enjoyed or appreciated Sherman Alexie before, but this has completely won me over, so thanks for posting.

By: penduluum

penduluum — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:43:22 -0800

Just to add a new adjective to the chorus: that was outstanding.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:58:18 -0800

Yep, excellent read. Thanks.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:04:16 -0800

Thanks for this. Some of his books I've liked and some I haven't liked as well. I like this story very much.

By: rtha

rtha — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:08:26 -0800

Stories like this are the reason I haven't given up on the New Yorker's fiction entirely.

By: kalimac

kalimac — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:21:34 -0800

(j) You also agree that the entire third stanza of this poem sounds like a Bruce Springsteen song, and not necessarily one of the great ones. Dear Mr Alexie, Please consider me, henceforth, your bitch. Love, Me

By: ooga_booga

ooga_booga — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:42:35 -0800

Sherman Alexie is one of my favorite authors. I got to see him read in the basement of a small church in the Lower Haight a couple of years ago when he was promoting Ten Little Indians. The man is a poet and it informs his prose writing as well. Here's some of his poetry: Mystery Train Missed Connections Rattle Survivorman for the New Yorker Some non-poetry pieces he's done: An article he wrote for Time, When the Story Stolen is Your Own An article he wrote about Seattle vs. Sonics trial Someone Else's Genocide I Hated Tonto (Still Do) Superman and Me Some of my Best Friends And one of my favorite bits from Smoke Signals: Victor & Thomas singing John Wayne's Teeth while on a bus.

By: Non Prosequitur

Non Prosequitur — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:51:59 -0800

Thanks folks. rtha, I liked their fiction issue last year; some pieces I enjoyed were Lostronaut (Jonathan Lethem), Another Manhattan (Donald Antrim), and Some Women (Alice Munro). One I liked this year was Idols (Tim Gautreuax). But except for Some Women—sadly available to subscribers only—they're pretty grim.

By: salishsea

salishsea — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:54:49 -0800

There were 100 Indians and only 50 pieces of fry bread! Sherman...you are the best of what we are!

By: sperose

sperose — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:59:57 -0800

I've never heard of this dude before, but I believe the phrase "fuck all the way off" needs to be in my vocabulary.

By: rtha

rtha — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:10:19 -0800

I remember going to see Smoke Signals when I lived in DC, at the theater in Dupont Circle. The friend I went with and I were virtually the only people laughing at the funny parts, I guess because no one else in the audience knew anyone who'd grown up on a rez. By the end, though, everyone was united in tears. He's a hell of a story teller, whatever medium he uses. I liked the Business of Fancydancing a whole lot too.

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:10:21 -0800

I write some amusing little things. Well crafted, even. I'm nothing compared to this writer. Thanks for introducing me.

By: infinitywaltz

infinitywaltz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:23:48 -0800

Great stuff, nice guy. Discovered The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a fairly crap "Introduction to Native American Literature" class, loved everything he's done since.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:39:17 -0800

I've always thought Sherman Alexie had a beautiful brain.

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:07:16 -0800

One of the books I treasure (in that it meant enough for me to bring it to Japan at the expense of other things from home) is a signed copy of The Summer of Black Widows. Not only is it stunning poetry, it also shows that basketball can be poetry. I love his writing, I love the man for being so passionate. He was one of the loudest voices speaking out against the relocation of the Seattle Supersonics, louder and more strident than many, including former players like Gary Payton.

By: semmi

semmi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:37:38 -0800

Thanks for posting this and the other links.

By: jammy

jammy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:44:41 -0800

excellent piece - thanks for posting this

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:15:33 -0800

Alexie is fantastic.. period. I heard him on the radio a few months back and was amused to hear that he really pushes some buttons (not in a positive way) in the "traditional" NA community. He is not a fan of the rez culture to say the least, and that gets up some people's noses. Aside from that, he has that quality of humor and tragedy to his writing that makes you laugh and cry, sometimes in the same paragraph.

By: motty

motty — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:17:35 -0800

Thank you.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:28:06 -0800

Hey ya! I'm a huge fan, so thank you for posting this. A new book from Sherman Alexie is cause to celebrate. I'm biased, because I work in Native American communities maybe, but I think he's the best fiction writer currently working.

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:51:03 -0800

Very nice. Thanks for posting this.

By: darksasami

darksasami — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:11:25 -0800

I really dislike the feeling of being in, or at least vaguely adjacent to, a community of people who have earned a fair amount of my respect for having intelligence, sophistication, and general non-vapidity, and still being the only one who hated it. It suggests strongly that there's something wrong with me.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:34:31 -0800

What You Pawn I Will Redeem, my fave, and my Seattle fave (and there are contenders not by Alexie in that slot). Both writers are so, so close to my heart. I cannot explain it, but that we are of an age, and read, and have read. Alexie is a complete redeemer, though. He restores my faith in the world, in myself, without bullshit, when I read him. I have a kind of a hard time with this, being irreligious.

By: OolooKitty

OolooKitty — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:11:38 -0800

After exploring a lot of these links, I'm wondering how I spent so much of my life not reading Sherman Alexie. I was aware of him, and had read some of his poetry, but have for some reason never gone out and acquired one of his books. I am planning to remedy that ASAP. Thanks!

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:12:17 -0800

Man, I haven't read anything by Sherman Alexie since high school and this makes me wonder why the hell not.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:42:07 -0800

Wow. That was a really good read. Thanks for introducing me to that.

By: molecicco

molecicco — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:45:24 -0800

[A brain] fondled by three thousand fingers. Fantastic.

By: Non Prosequitur

Non Prosequitur — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:07:55 -0800

darksasami, I don't think you have to feel odd about it, especially if you can articulate what turns you off about the piece. The stylistic aspects are definitely a bit gimmicky (I originally wrote "does his shtick" which I replaced with "does his thing") & he comes off with a bit of sass and annoying self-regard. What I personally responded to regardless of all that is that it captivated me as a tale of decay, hope and generation, told by a guy who doesn't flinch at putting things under a microscope, and in the end acquits himself well on the 'musing about human experience' level. Well there's more than that; it's a wonderful fusion of his personal story and insight and raw talent at the craft of prose.

By: Houstonian

Houstonian — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:48:55 -0800

I've not read anything by him before. Thank you for introducing this to me!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:43:09 -0800

Exactly what OolooKitty said - I was aware of Alexie (Has he done something for NPR? TAL, or TTBOOK?), but wasn't familiar with his work - definitely a situation I am going to recitfy. Great post, thanks!

By: dylanjames

dylanjames — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:01:07 -0800

My father felt a strong kindred spirit in Sherman Alexie. The bedside awkwardness in this story ("I know where I am. I'm cold.") touches a deep nerve to my own experience in that situation. My dad loved to tell the story about watching Smoke Signals with a mixed Indian / white audience. His observation that there was a lot of humor in the movie that the Indians laughed loudest at (the only-backwards-driving car, for example). Reading this story kicked off a healthy bout of next-stage grieving for my dad's passing. This very issue was sitting in my pile of unread New Yorker's, now clipped for posterity. Many thanks.

By: everichon

everichon — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:03:47 -0800

I usually skip the NYer fiction, but this was truly badass. Thanks!

By: Edgewise

Edgewise — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:10:44 -0800

Damn, that sucked hard. No, just kidding, thanks for introducing me to Alexie, Non Prosequitur. Great read.

By: Hello Dad, I'm in Jail

Hello Dad, I'm in Jail — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:21:19 -0800

Shouldn't that be "impulse-control-poor?

By: Hello Dad, I'm in Jail

Hello Dad, I'm in Jail — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:21:57 -0800

By: cda

cda — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:27:42 -0800

Companion reading: Forgiving our Fathers by Dick Lourie (the poem read at the end of Smoke Signals).

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:26:20 -0800

Alexie was profiled on the Newshour's poetry series last night.