Reservation Blues [Hardcover]

Sherman Alexie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

In a first novel by the author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson appears on an Indian reservation to lead a Catholic rock band. 40,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The characters of Alexie's acclaimed short fiction (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven)-Thomas Builds-the-Fire, Victor, Junior, the habitues of the Spokane Indian reservation-return in this superb first novel, a lyric comic tale with magical realist overtones. A stranger arrives on the reservation carrying a magic guitar, which he's been given as part of his bargain with "the Gentleman" for blues immortality. Now he's trying to lose guitar, devil and deal. Taking the instrument off his hands, Thomas soon forms an all-Indian R&B band with Victor and Junior. The group, Coyote Springs, plays small clubs and bars and eventually goes on tour. They even attract their own groupies-white women Betty and Veronica and Indian sisters Chess and Checkers Warm Water. Will they succeed and, if they do, will they lose their souls? Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur D'Alene Indian, excels at creating colorful characters, and he fills his narrative with subtle and affectionate homages to other contemporary Native American writers (Jim Northrup, Thomas King et al.). Hilarious but poignant, filled with enchantments yet dead-on accurate with regard to modern Indian life, this tour de force will leave readers wondering if Alexie himself hasn't made a deal with the Gentleman in order to do everything so well.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Alexie follows up his story collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (LJ 9/1/93), with a first novel about an all-Indian Catholic rock band called Coyote Springs.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; 1st edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871135949
• ISBN-13: 978-0871135940
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Native American

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Major Talent Tells An Important Story, January 24, 2001

By 

C. Ebeling "ctlpareader" (PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reservation Blues (Paperback)

Through the entertaining story of the rise and fall of a Spokane garage band, Sherman Alexie manages to pack the complexities and frustrations of contemporary Native American Indian life on and off the Reservation. Though his narrative is full of droll wit, his themes are profound. He speaks of the poverty, alcoholism and broken family structure that haunt reservations, of the meanness of HUD housing, surplus food and the local police. As for co-existence with whites: any white left after reading this who thinks white culture understands and treats Indians better these days is as dense as they come. The author explores how outside culture bids for the Indian soul. There is an identity crisis for sure, a rattling sense of purposelessness. Infusing the story with mythic components that extend beyond specific ethnic borders, the author expresses the anger without hate and searches for purpose and redemption. His sentence structure is deceptively straightforward. It drips with allusion and music. In a few strokes, each character becomes a fully developed individual. I hadn't read this talented writer's work before and am in awe of his voice.

Some of the other reviewers have mentioned that a movie will be made of this. It will be a challenge to deliver what the book does. What happens to the band, Coyote Springs, at the hands of the New York record company in the book is not good and I wouldn't want Hollywood to do that to this fine work. On the other hand, Alexie is knowing, so I trust he has been careful in letting it go.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding, November 30, 2004

By 

A. Bayes "a grad student" (Tempe, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reservation Blues (Paperback)

Reservation Blues, which won the American Book Award in 1995, is a touching look at modern life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. When legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson shows up on the rez with his enchanted guitar and a dark secret, Thomas Builds-the-Fire begins a journey of self-discovery and painful realization that will forever change him and his friends. After the magical guitar ends up in his hands, Thomas forms Coyote Springs, a band made up of two seemingly unmotivated drunks Victor and Junior, and two Flathead Indian sisters, Checkers and Chess. The book chronicles the bands' humble beginnings playing at the local bar on the rez to a hopeful encounter with record executives in New York City. It is within this context that Alexie is able to confront serious issues facing the Indian community today with his own subtle sense of humor.
The straight forward plot is layered with metaphorical connections to a general Indian past, while each character is forced to confront haunting personal issues. For Thomas, it is the embarrassment of his alcoholic itinerant father. For Victor, it is the sexual abuse he faced at the hand of the reservation priest. For Checkers and Chess, it is a feeling of loneliness, the search for a "good Indian man," and being seen as outcasts on a reservation not their own. Ironically, their music is the only thing which gives them a feeling of power and inner strength, yet it is the opportunities provided by this music that alienate them from their own people.
Alexie believes the problems facing Indians today are the same faced by their ancestors 100 years ago. An obvious example is the names of the record executives for "Cavalry Records," Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Armstrong; a direct link to the Generals who murdered their ancestors. Signing away your freedom in exchange for an empty promise is an idea which transcends the generations for Indians; the record contract and the peace treaty. Another problem Alexie confronts is the relationship between half-breeds and full-bloods. In his own original and comical way, Alexie uses a pick-up game of basketball which pits Thomas' father and the rez drunk, Leonard, against the half-breed Tribal police force. Insults fly, and the comedy that ensues is unforgettable.
Reservation Blues was a delight to read. Alexie is a talented writer whose gift for storytelling is enhanced by his social commentary and his humorous presentation. Few writers would be able to tackle such subject matter without the work falling into the category of a tragedy. Alexie's grasp of his people's sense of humor is unparalleled, and the jokes transcend racial and social lines. His ability to remain light-hearted when discussing suicide, alcohol, and rape is an impressive feat. It is not a surprise that he feels it is this very philosophy that gives Indians the ability to move forward and succeed. Focusing on the positive, while making light of the negative is a quality Alexie attributes to the survival of his culture. Overall, it is a story of accepting one's past in order to move forward. It is a story of hope, of survival, and of reality. Reservation Blues is more than a fictional work, it is a searing look at the political, social, and religious issues facing Indians today.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Impotence and aimlessness, January 26, 2001

By 

Michael K. McKeon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reservation Blues (Paperback)

The characters Victor Joesph and Thomas Builds the Fire who first appeared in Alexie's "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" are prominent in this novel, which serves as a sequel to the short story in which they first appeared. While the novel's beginning, with the arrival of black blues player Robert Johnson's arrival at the Spokane reservation, initially suggests a possible variation the novel quickly returns to the theme present in other Alexie works, albeit with different essential messages about the condition of American Indians today.

The story is written in the author's typical sardonic fashion, portraying ongoing hapless episodes confronting the protagonists, with the Indians reflecting on their experiences and fate in a self deprecating and defeatest fashion. However, Alexie offers a number of distinctive observations in this tale. Among them he notes how the suppression of American Indians is in part a function of how the predominant society has kept them divided. This is illustrated by descriptions of the petty tyranny of the tribal police and tribal council corrupted by their power on the reservation, narrow attitudes of territoriality taking predominance over group identity in distinctions between tribes, and how jealousy over the prospect of success helps thwart the advancement of tribal members and actually promotes alienation, failure, and self destruction.

Alexie's mordant humor comes to play in depicting the ongoing theft by the predominant culture of what little remains to American Indians, with Caucasians exploiting Native American culture and those who are "part" native American or those masquerading presuming to be representative. In a particularly ironic episode Indians visiting Manhattan are dismissed as surely being Puerto Rican, not Native American.

Touching, thought provoking and well written. It is woven with important messages about a people who are treated as if they are invisible.