The Summer of Black Widows [Hardcover]

Sherman Alexie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

Poetry. Native American Studies. THE SUMMER OF BLACK WIDOWS presents poetry that has continued to grow in power, complexity, and vision. According to reviewer James R. Kincaid, "Mr. Alexie's is one of the major lyric voices of our time", and the many honors and an international following of readers from his poems, stories, and novels proves the claim. Chris Faatz from The Nation agrees, calling Alexie "a young writer who is taking the literary world by storm...a superb chronicler of the Native American experience...he is a master of language, writing beautifully, unsparingly and straight to the heart."

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 140 pages
• Publisher: Hanging Loose Press; First Edition edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882413350
• ISBN-13: 978-1882413355
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars admiration and awe, November 9, 1998

By 

jeanne ([e-mail]) (Hopkinton,MA) - See all my reviews

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars abstract, November 27, 2000

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous, powerful, original! Alexie is a brilliant star of formidable powers!, August 24, 2007

By 

Shann Ray "fan of great lit" (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Summer of Black Widows (Hardcover)

Sherman Alexie, a poet whose work is inscribed with joy, sacredness, laughter, and tears, issues in The Summer of Black Widows a vivid song of vicious and systemic harm, rageful lament, and finally the hearty buoyancy of creatively encountering the world. Face to face, skin to skin, Alexie's profound sense of tenderness gives weight and authority to the justice he speaks. An original voice, he gifts American life with a touch that heals blindness. Winner of the PEN/Hemingway award for his fiction, A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, and a multi-year winner of the World Heavyweight Poetry Bout, Alexie is known to have read at age 3 and devoured Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath at the age of 5.