This story meanders a lot, which takes away from its effectiveness, IMO. That said, it's still a heart-tugging work that really digs into the pain of life on the reservation without presenting any easy solutions.

I am very disappointed as I write this review.

At first, I was disappointed in myself because I could not, did not, will not finish this book. I wanted to, believe me. Oh, there was internal struggle. I mean, I need to read this; it's this month's pick for the book club I'm in. I need to be able to discuss this. Plus, I loved--loved--Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. It's on my "guaranteed you'll love it too" list, for crying out loud. Speaking of which, Alexie's other YA novel Flight made me cry out loud. The ending of that book was beautiful! So, yes, I went into reading Reservation Blues with high hopes.

RB did not pull me in right away as I wanted it to. I kept on. I tried. But Alexie glossed over certain parts and waxed poetic on others. As I tried to get into the story and failed, I felt awful knowing I was not going to finish the book. What a terrible reader I am, I thought. I have no discipline. I'm a lazy reader (my niece has told me so and she's right).

But then I started to get mad at Alexie. He'd go on and on about some dream sequence and then another dream. God, these characters dream a lot! And it was like he was going: Here's this for you to read and THIS, but that? Oh, you want to read about that? and he threw a couple adjectives at THAT and called that scene done. And I'm the one feeling lazy?!?

So I quit. One third of the way in and I'm moving on to another book. I won't be finishing RB although I may pick up another book by ol' Sherman in the future. But you can bet that I'll expect him to draw me in within the first chapter. Just as I expect the next novel I pick up to do.

Oh, it'll be formulaic drivel, but it'll describe THIS and THAT.

I'm fast becoming a dyed in the wool Sherman Alexie fan, and Reservation Blues did not disappoint, featuring his classic alternating humor with tragedy style, wonderful prose, and a touch of mysticism. A great read!

This is some very American magical realism, what with its mash-up of the Robert Johnson crossroads legend with life on a Spokane Indian reservation and rock star ambitions. Perhaps even more American than apple pie?!??

As a concept, I love American magical realism (see also: Swamplandia!, which coincidentally is about people who like to pretend they're Indian). The execution of the book I really, really liked too. Reservation Blues is full of nightmares and alcoholism, but also, funny digs at white people and corporeal encounters with God. Alexie's writing is charming and emotional, without being over the top on either account.

There is a lot going on here thematically too. Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil for his guitar skill (a blues legend which is taken for truth in the book) runs parallel to Thomas & Friends' quest to become rock stars, using the same guitar, ultimately hoping to escape the poverty of the reservation. To achieve this dream also involves the shirking of some essential part of themselves, their cultural "soul" too. Thomas's girlfriend Chess personifies the struggle. She resents certain traits of Indian men, but she also resents the white women who make tokens of them.

All of the mysticism and themes double back on each other in true fairy tale fashion. Alexie is a Storyteller, just like Thomas. As someone with ambitions to write but who always struggles with the damn telling a good story part of it all, I appreciate how intricately every part of this book loose-threads together. But I have to say that in the world of US magical realism, I do have a preference for the crunchy, lyrical wonders of Karen Russell.

It was this novel that brought me to the world of Sherman Alexie. It's a magical and tragic and hilarious and raging world. I recommend all his books.

Sherman Alexie is a national treasure. Every paragraph of this book is a small, heart-breaking poem.

Here's a sort of "text-to-self" connection I made and posted as part of a blog entry.

I was struck by the myriad ways the book connected with my life: the central symbol of the story is a guitar that seemed to have supernatural powers and I’ve been learning to the play the guitar this year (with more success than I had thought possible); the Catholic Church is portrayed as both a positive and negative influence on the reservation and it had similar affects on my life; a minor, though important, character in the book is a Black blues singer, named Robert Johnson, and I had just recently been thinking about how you don’t see many Blacks on Indian Reservations; the main character, Thomas-Builds-the-Fire, writes poems/lyrics and so do I; any many of the life situations of Indian people on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the story remind me of Lakota friends and their plight/joy existence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Alexie speaks to me in the same way that Barbara Kingsolver is easy to read and makes so much sense. I want to read everything they both write. This story made me laugh and think, wonder and cry.

What a great story about life on the Reservation. With its subtle humor, stark honesty, and great story telling skills, this book is just a great read.

The characters R well developed, even the mysterious guitar that Robert Johnson introduced right up front, had a strongly defined role to play. Lots of dreamscapes where we get to look into the souls of the main players. And then there’s Big Mom. At first I wondered if she would turn out to be from the spirit world. And then, there she was.

5 stars.

Who doesn't love Sherman Alexie?

Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a young man with a talent for telling stories and writing poems and song lyrics, living on a Spokane reservation. One day he sees a black man on the road, carrying a guitar. It turns out to be the famed guitar player, Robert Johnson. Johnson's hands are severely scarred and burned, and he's looking for a woman who is supposed to heal him. Thomas tells him about Big Mom, and Johnson believes she is the one he seeks, so Thomas drives him to the edge of the mountain where she lives. Later, Thomas discovers that Johnson has left his guitar behind, and that's when the adventures begin. The guitar is magical, almost playing on its own and turning anyone who picks it up into a prodigy. Thomas teams up with two troubled "friends" (guys who picked on him relentlessly in school), Junior and Victor, to form a band, Coyote Springs. At this point the story focuses on the band's short but rapid rise to semi-fame as an Indian band. Along the way, they pick up two sets of back-up singers, Indian wannabes Betty and Veronica, and, later, sisters Chess and Checkers Warm Water.

While I enjoyed this novel, I don't think it compares to Alexie's best. It's a bit disjointed: the story focuses on Thomas but then goes off into the dreams, nightmares, and memories of all the other characters, too.

3.5 stars.

Some American Indians on a Washington reservation, 20ish in age, decide to start a rock band. Well, not exactly. Perhaps a demonic guitar possesses them and causes them to do that. Or perhaps a timeless old woman who lives on the mountain impels them. She's been doing that sort of thing for several hundred years.

Whatever the case, Alexie, with injections of scampish humor, depicts the lives, desires, sorrows and mores of these young people and their milieu as they try to define themselves. They reflect on their lives and what it means to be Indian, confront the attraction and repulsion of the white world around them, past and present.

Alexie has the deftness of a poet in his prose. Apparently unburdened by a drive to be seen as Clever as evinced by too many modern authors, he sneaks his memorable sentences and wit into the story to the reader's appreciation, rather than bashing one over the head with them.

The characters are nicely done, diverse, memorable and palpably real. There is a sense of the village here, with a bit of each kind, except these aren't the usual types one encounters. They have a different history and sociology which is reflected in occasionally unexpected ways.

What some would call instances of magical realism seem more reflective of Indian stories and beliefs than of any attempt at supernaturalism for its own sake. It's just part of the way the world is seen.

An offbeat read, with an underlying sense of desolation, yet well-crafted, rewarding and a pleasure to the end. Alexie weaves his story with the talent of a fine rugmaker.

ازون کتابایی که کلی نوستالژی و کنایه‌های ناب رو زنده می‌کنن. خیلی کتاب زنده‌ای بود و نویسنده اطلاعات فوق‌العاده‌ای در زمینه فرهنگ عامه و سرخ‌پوستا و موسیقی و هنر داشت.