- Paperback: 139 pages
- Publisher: Hanging Loose Press (October 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1882413342
- ISBN-13: 978-1882413348
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #948,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
For prolific poet and novelist Alexie (First Indian on the Moon), "Indian" culture is not a frozen set-piece, but a field of vital, co-mingling influences that includes playing basketball, watching for Sasquatch or admiring Fred Astaire. His cultural pantheon is apparent in the sixth of seven "Totem Sonnets": "Lenny/ Edgar Bearchild/ Holden Caulfield/ Tess// The Misfit/ Sula/ Mazie/ Tayo// Cacciato/ Cecelina Capture/ Hamlet/ Jim Loney// Daredevil/ The Incredible Hulk." Moving among sites of personal and historical tragedy, as well as joy (the Spokane reservation in Washington State, Brooklyn's F Train, Dachau), the first-person speaker of these poems is shadowed by remembrance and loss: "On the top of Wellpinit mountain, I watch for fires, listen to a radio powered by the ghosts of 1,000 horses, shot by the United States Cavalry a century ago, last week, yesterday." While lacking the raffish elegance of Frank O'Hara (though engaging elegies for James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are included here) and with the acknowledged influence of Ted Berrigan, Alexie, at his best, opens to us the complexity and contradiction of a contemporary multicultural identity. Repeatedly invoking the liar paradox (perhaps because "Indians... don't believe in autobiography"), Alexie poses a question for all of us: "Do these confused prayers mean/ we'll live on another reservation/ in that country called Heaven?"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The seven sections of poet/novelist Alexie's (Indian Killer, LJ 8/96) new collection are intensely elegiac, documenting ravages to a Native American identity?and, one finally feels, to contemporary American identity itself. Alexie's search for meaning gives "tragic features" of "indigenous people" a sense of nobility as they struggle to maintain dignity in a world given over to hatred of the authentic. Intergenerational native dances, powwow, drum music (entertainment and prayer), and traditional song provide somber rhythm to correlate places Alexie visits with "secrets" of Native American culture always in the back of his mind. "The reservation waits for no one," Alexie concludes. "Acre by acre, it roars past history." The legacy of American history is difficult. This worthy poetry makes an important contribution to coming to terms with it.?Frank Allen, North Hampton Community Coll., Tannersville, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
weak collection,
By adead_poet@hotmail.com "adead_poet@hotmail.com" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Summer of Black Widows (Paperback)
the poems in this collection range from merely mediocre to bad. the major theme is being indian and the wrongs done. but if you are familiar with alexie's worth than that won't surprise you. and his sister's death by fire makes an appearance in several poems. the problem is alexie never says anything new in this book. you could pick any five poems at random and that's all you need. the other poems say the same thing. there is one bright spot, the first section of his poem "Inside Dachau", but it completely falls apart after that first section. i hope that one day alexie will select his best 10 poems and the best of his short stories and put out a selected poems and prose, that way instead of having so many mediocre books, maybe we can get one book that is really good.
5.0 out of 5 stars
abstract,
By Schwanda (Shoreline, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Summer of Black Widows (Paperback)
This book seems the most abstract of Alexie's works to date. Containing the same insightful, introspective and powerful images and descriptions as his past works, this one differs in that it is slightly less "in-your-face". Keeps the reader thinking, wondering what the underlying meaning of the work could mean. This is not a spoon-fed collection of easy to read poems. Keep this one around awhile for study and contemplation. Truly inspired.
5.0 out of 5 stars
admiration and awe,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Summer of Black Widows (Paperback)
This collection of poems is woven beautifully together. Like his other books of poetry and novels this book is thought provoking, humorous, disturbing and wonderful. Once again I am left breathless at the end of one of Mr. Alexie's book wanting more. I found myself weaving in and out of the book, reading one poem then returning to a previous poem because of the way they interconnected. A truely wonderful experience and cannot wait for the next release be it novel, poetry or film by this young talented writer.
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