Sherman Alexie, author of Reservation Blues, gives readers another opportunity to pick up a book and read short stories, a dying breed of narrative with Ten Little Indians. He makes use of his own unique narrative style in order to create a body of work that will move readers.
Synopsis of Ten Little Indians
Sherman Alexie is a part of an elite group of dying authors who can be successful in short fiction, long fiction, and poetry writing. Ten Little Indians is an exceptional work of short stories that gives readers nine moving short stories about a variety of different people at a variety of different crossroads in their lives.
“The Search Engine” is a particularly moving story about young Native American woman, Corliss, who is the first person in the history of the Washington State University Library to check out a book of poetry by Spokane Indian author, Harlan Atwater. Corliss is intrigued with this book of poetry and tries to find Harlan Atwater because as a Spokane Indian herself, neither she nor her family had ever heard of him. Corliss searches for this man in order to answer a pertinent question about her culture: Is there such thing as a successful Native American poet? Better yet, is there such thing as a successful Native American at all? Once Corliss and Harlan meet, they learn that where one grows up has a devastating effect on a person’s identity.
In “Lawyer’s League,” Alexie tells the story of Richard, a Native American lawyer who aspires to be President of the United States. He is invited to join an amateur basketball league, where he is confronted by a racially charged man on the other team. Richard starts a fistfight with this man and ultimately goes home wondering why he even decided to run for President in the first place. He learns that all men are mirrors and reflect their upbringing.
Review of Ten Little Indians
As a whole, Ten Little Indians reflects Sherman Alexie’s thoughts on the effects of white culture on the Native American population. He uses Native American protagonists in order to show that the Indian is more complex than just the crying Indian on the side of the road. While Ten Little Indians cannot be directly compared to Reservation Blues it can be said that the stories in this compilation are significantly more poignant and culturally relevant than the fantastical story told in Reservation Blues.
Readers will be impressed with Sherman Alexie’s powerful, lyric storytelling and his diverse and complex characters searching for their identity, their capacity as human beings, and just where their loyalties lie. In short, Ten Little Indians could single-handedly bring back the power of the short story compilation to mass market readers simply for its engaging stories and culturally relevant messages.
To visit Sherman Alexie's official website, click here
Alexie, Sherman. Ten Little Indians. Grove Press Books, 2003. 243 pages. ISBN: 9780802141170
 |
