Awards
2003 LA Times Book Of The Year Finalist
Synopses & Reviews
Sherman Alexie's
Ten Little Indians, a massively acclaimed national best-seller, "serves up nine seamless stories formed in the gut and delivered from the heart, depicting Native Americans caught in contemporary cultural crosshairs" (
Elle).
In Alexie's first story, "The Search Engine," Corliss is a rugged and resourceful student who finds in books the magic she was denied while growing up poor. When she discovers the poetry of a fellow Native who vanished thirty years earlier after winning the Pulitzer Prize, she makes it her mission to find him. Although he does not prove to be the man Corliss needs him to be, his devastating story will help her in her own struggle to belong.
In "The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above," an intellectual feminist Spokane Indian woman saves the lives of dozens of white women all around her to the bewilderment of her only child, now a grown man who looks back at his life with equal parts fondness, amusement, and regret. "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" starts off with a homeless man recognizing in a pawn shop window the fancy-dance regalia that was stolen fifty years earlier from his late grandmother. As he tries to raise $1,000 in twenty-four hours to buy back the outfit, the man's misadventure combines bittersweet wit and touching earnestness as only this author can.
Even as they often make us laugh, Sherman Alexie's stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candor that cut to the heart of the human experience. The result is a short-story collection that has been hailed as Alexie's "best in years" (Austin American-Statesman) and "proves once again that he is a fearless writer" (Rocky Mountain News).
Review
"Alexie reveals himself to be a more fearless writer than one might ever have imagined; the stories are bold, uncensored, raucous, and sexy....[E]ven the most culturally sheltered reader is transported." Ken Foster, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
Review
"A slam dunk collection sure to score with readers everywhere....Fluent, exuberant and supremely confident, this outstanding collection shows Alexie at the height of his powers." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"A funny, irreverent, sardonic but sentimental, rebellious voice....Alexie is the bad boy...mocking, self-mocking, unpredictable, unassimilable, reminding us of the young Philip Roth." Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books
Review
"My favorite kind of fiction is the kind that manages to be simultaneously smart, funny and sad....Sherman Alexie has produced nine stories of just this sort. Each has moments of wisdom. Each has moments of hilarity. Each carries us through moments of sadness." Karen Joy Fowler, The Washington Post
Review
"Comedy, pathos, heartfelt characterizations, and agendas transformed into thoughtful narratives: Alexie's strongest book in years." Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)
Review
"The world's first fast-talking, wisecracking, mediagenic American Indian superstar....There is an anger in Sherman Alexie's work that hasn't been seen since James Baldwin..." Bruce Barcott, Mens Journal
Synopsis
Even as they often make readers laugh, Alexie's stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candor that cut to the heart of the human experience. The result is a short-story collection that has been hailed as Alexie's "best in years" (Austin American-Statesman).
Synopsis
Alexie is one of the most acclaimed and popular writers today. Now, with Ten Little Indians, he offers 11 poignant and emotionally resonant new stories about Native Americans who, like all Americans, find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads.
Synopsis
Sherman Alexie is one of our most acclaimed and popular writers today. With Ten Little Indians, he offers nine poignant and emotionally resonant new stories about Native Americans who, like all Americans, find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads, faced with heartrending, tragic, sometimes wondrous moments of being that test their loyalties, their capacities, and their notions of who they are and who they love.
In Alexies first story, “The Search Engine,” Corliss is a rugged and resourceful student who finds in books the magic she was denied while growing up poor. In “The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above,” an intellectual feminist Spokane Indian woman saves the lives of dozens of white women all around her to the bewilderment of her only child. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” starts off with a homeless man recognizing in a pawn shop window the fancy-dance regalia that was stolen fifty years earlier from his late grandmother.
Even as they often make us laugh, Alexies stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candor that cut to the heart of the human experience, shedding brilliant light on what happens when we grow into and out of each other.