The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Hardcover

Alexie, Sherman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871135485 ISBN 13: 9780871135483

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993

Synopsis

The acclaimed native American poet captures a fictional portrait of the characters, themes, and language of the Spokane Indian Reservation. By the author of I Would Steal Horses. 25,000 first printing. National ad/promo. Tour.

About this title

About the Author:

Alexie is a poet, novelist, and screenwriter. He has won the Pen/Faulkner Award, Stranger Genius Award in Literature, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, and the Malamud Award.

From Kirkus Reviews:

With wrenching pain and wry humor, the talented Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian--and previously a small-press author (The Business of Fancydancing, a collection of poetry and prose-- not reviewed--etc.)--presents contemporary life on the Spokane Indian Reservation through 22 linked stories. Here, people treat each other (and life) with amused tolerance--although anger can easily erupt in this environment of endemic alcoholism and despair. The history of defeat is ever- present; every attempt to hold onto cultural tradition aches with poignancy: Thomas-Builds-the-Fire is the storyteller everyone mocks and no one listens to; Aunt Nezzy, who sews a traditional full- length beaded dress that turns out to be too heavy to wear, believes that the woman ``who can carry the weight of this dress on her back...will save us all.'' Meanwhile, young men dream of escape--going to college, being a basketball star--but failure seems preordained. These tales, though sad and at times plain- spokenly didactic, are often lyrically beautiful and almost always very funny. Chapters focus on and are narrated by several different characters, but voices and perspectives often become somewhat indistinguishable--confusing until you stop worrying about who is speaking and choose to listen to the voice of the book itself and enter into its particular sensibility. Irony, grim humor, and forgiveness help characters transcend pain, anger and loss while the same qualities make it possible to read Alexie's fiction without succumbing to hopelessness. Forgiveness seems to be the last moral/ethical value left standing: the ability both to judge and to love gives the book its searing yet affectionate honesty. (First printing of 25,000; First serial rights to Esquire and Story) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0871135485
• ISBN 13: 9780871135483
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 223