Sherman Alexie is One Fine Poet!

Bufkinite@evpl — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:59:00 GMT

Another post to this blog mentioned Sherman Alexie's book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, which I checked out, read, and thoroughly enjoyed.

"I want more," I said to myself, and set out to discover more about this writer.

Wow! I didn't realize I'd already crossed paths with Alexie's writing when I saw the movie Smoke Signals. Alexie wrote the screenplay to that movie, which was adapted from his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. I thought Smoke Signals was one of the most refreshing and honest looks at life on "the rez" that I'd ever seen.

Then, just last week, I stumbled upon another book of Alexie's while looking up another poet answering a reference question, and decided to check it out and take it home. The book is called One Stick Song, and is a mixture of poetry and short prose, and is well worth the hour it'll take you to read it from cover to cover. The short prose piece that begins the book, "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me," made me realize just how much of the longer book The Absolutely True Diary...etc., was autobiographical, even though the book is called a novel. The title poem really does read like a song, and I could hear men playing the Big Drum in rhythm with the poem. Part sad, part funny, part melancholy, all beautiful - even when dark, gritty, and awful. Quite an accomplishment.

There are a number of books in the EVPL collections that are either by Alexie, or include contributions by him. Check them out! I'd love to see Sherman Alexie come to Evansville!

Search results matching tags 'poetry', 'books', 'fiction', and 'Sherman Alexie'

Sherman Alexie is One Fine Poet!