I had heard of Sherman Alexie around the blogosphere for his YA novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. But while I enjoy YA, it’s not my favourite, can’t-miss genre, so I wasn’t completely sold. Then, in late August, I read his short story “War Dances” and loved it. I knew I wanted to read more Alexie, and I discovered he’s actually written lots of books, ranging from poetry to short stories to novels. I’m a novel girl at heart, so I plumped for his first one Reservation Blues and then ended up saving it for Dewey’s Read-a-Thon (which was last Saturday).

And can I just say:

Ohmigoditwassogood! Why is Alexie more widely known?! I want to read everything he’s ever written right now!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s expand a little on it, shall we? Reservation Blues revolves around four young men from a Spokane Indian reservation who end forming a band after legendary 30s Blues singer Robert Johnson shows up one day and gives them his guitar. The book follows the band’s journey from its humble beginnings to trying to get a record cut. I happen to love the blues, so the premise was quite fun for me. However, this book is about so much more than music.

It’s about being in your early 20s, and not really sure what this whole ‘adulthood’ thing is.

It’s about love, and it’s about sex.

It’s about religion, both of the Western and Indian varieties, and it’s about dreams and “more things in heaven and earth.”

It’s about universal themes, but it’s also about the specific Indian experience in the late 20th century.

In short, it’s about life! Alexie’s writing is beautiful. Each chapter begins with one of the band’s songs, and even though I’m not a huge poetry reader, these songs make me want to seek out Alexie’s poetry collections. And he’s so good at making his characters come to life! Even the ones that, at the beginning, I wanted to smack upside the head, but the end Alexie makes me sympathise with completely. And the plot? It’s just marvelous! The ending is a mix of strong hope and heart-break that took my breath away.

Have I gushed enough yet? Are you rushing out to get your hands on this book? No? Well, let me also add, that in addition to all of this, Alexie can do humour! I laughed more than once while reading the book, and during the read-a-thon I shared a passage I found particularly amusing. Since I already returned the book to the library, and so can’t share any other quotes, I’ll include it:

Arnold came to the reservation in his yellow VW van, expecting tipis and buffalo, since he had never been told otherwise. He was genuinely shocked when the Indians in his congregation spoke English.
“Buffalo?” asked Bessie, the oldest Catholic on the reservation. “What do you mean, buffalo? You really thought there were going to be buffalo here?”
“Yes,” he said, “I was looking forward to it.”
“Oh, Father,” Bessie said and laughed. “There weren’t any buffalo here to begin with. We’re a salmon tribe. At least, we were a salmon tribe before they put those dams on the river.”
“What about the buffalo? I mean, Indians were always hunting buffalo on television.”
“It was those dang Sioux Indians. Those Sioux always get to be on television. They get everything.”

 

And guess what? Alexie recorded soundtrack for the novel! And you can listen to it for free on Rhapsody without signing up or anything.

Well, this turned out to be one of my shorter reviews. But I hope I’ve shared my love for the book, and encouraged you to give Alexie a try.

I loved how music was central to the story, and it made me want more! So what’s your favourite book that features musicians?