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War Dances

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War Dances by Sherman Alexie
Grove Press, 209 pp.

Sherman Alexie is as interesting a person as he is a writer. A few years back I heard him do an interview with national conservative talk show host, and Seattle-based, Michael Medved. Although Alexie declared himself somewhat left on the political spectrum, I found him to be one of the most delightful (and I'm not a guy who uses that word often, but it fits) interviews I've ever heard. While so many folks, on both sides can sound downright mean, Alexie is honest, self-deprecating, insightful, and quite funny.

Why did I start this review of War Dances with a review of Alexie's interview prowess? Well, because I found many of the reasons I liked the book are the same reasons I'd liked the interview. While at times I laughed, saddened, and even winced, I was sucked in by every word.

While the stories appear to be "all over the place," you sense there is a common thread running through the stories--and there is. And these are stories that feel so real the fact they're fiction, often feels vice versa. So real. And for me, as a Seattle cop, my day job, it rang incredibly real in one particular story.

A father is home alone, in Seattle's Central District, (my beat) working as a freelance film editor. There's a knock at the door at three in the afternoon. Determining that no one of any worth comes to anyone's door at that time of day, he ignores the knock and returns to his work. A minute or two later he hears a window break, and confronts a burglar who's broken in. The remainder of the story is fascinating, but I can tell you this specific type of burglary, this M.O., Modus Operandi, is unfortunately way too common in the neighborhood Alexie describes.

The stories in War Dances all have this sense of realism, and are uniquely compelling. The way the book is composed, longer, short stories, are interspersed with poems. I'm probably not the most qualified to judge poetry, but, like with wine, I know what I like. I respond to Alexie's poems like no one else's I read.

Normally when I read poetry I either, roll my eyes, gag, and then determine immediately, it sucks. My alternate determination is ambivalence: I truly don't know if I like it or not. Since poetry is too often associated with the realm of pretense, sometimes I think I'm supposed to like it, like I tried to like Maya Angelou's poem at the last presidential inauguration. I felt I was expected to like it, I've liked some of her other poems, I tried to like it--alas, for me, not!

I'm not sure what it is, but I find most of Alexie's poetry deeply satisfying. I may risk some pretension here myself, but I find it refreshingly honest. It feels as if the poet is truly writing for himself--damn the reader (in a nice way), but this is stuff that feels like it really means something to him, and though he may not care if it means something, or anything, to others, it does mean something to me, and I'd guess it will resonate with you too.

Blending short stories, bits of prose and poems, this new collection by Sherman Alexie is too short a read. The book feels sketchy, as if a sculptor sat down with a sketch pad, and drew exercises intended for later use. But the sketches are no less beautiful for it. Sherman Alexie's voice makes the bitter "I", sweet--well, mostly. The Short story "Ballad of Paul Nonetheless" is like something from the Savage Love podcast--a man stuck in his own lens. Another short story, "War Dances", links fragments reflecting fear, grief, and love --the last few lines are the best--anger, tears and laughter--such economy. "Breaking and Entering" written in staccato--so much so that I could not remember the stories content after the first read, details blurred in the jumbled confusion, I had to read it again. I liked it more the first time around, before digesting the ugly details. "Salt"--beautiful story and out of the bunch feels the most whole. The collection reminds me, `if the guilt doesn't get you, the shame will'. And maybe that is as it should be. If you're already a Sherman Alexie reader, you'll probably enjoy this book. If you've never read his work, I would suggest you start with one of his other books, like The Toughest Indian in the World (short stories) or The Business of fancy dancing (poetry) and read War Dances after you've read all his other adult works.

_War Dances_ is a mixed bag of Alexie's short stories and poetry. There are gems and glimpses of the brilliance that one expects from Alexie: "Fearful Symmetry" about a writer's screenplay that sufferes a death of a thousand cuts as the producer, director and corporate pointy-heads transform art into schlocky, formulaic "entertainment" and "the poem "Another Proclimation" are the strongest pieces. But intermingled are stories and poems that feel as if Alexie phoned them in. The result is an uneven reading.

There is a rhythm to the collection as successive stories and poems are loosely related and connected to each other - a story about a traveling salesman's repeated connections with another traveler ("The Balland of Pual Nonetheless") preceeds the poem "On Airplanes"; the poem "The Theology of Reptiles," introduces the short story "Catechism", about the Coeur 'd Alene and their conversion to Catholcism (and the underlying issues of Native assimilation so common to Alexie's work.) This formula works as each piece is interrelated with the next, a way of preparing the palatte for the next course.

The themes common to Alexie - alienation, guilt, the struggle of identity and wrestling with one's personal (and historic) past are all here, and all have the semi-autobiograhical feel that is indicitive of his earlier work. Fans of Alexie will not be disappointed; he is a great writer. For those who aren't familiar with his work, my recommendation for a first read would be The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. There are nuggets of brilliance in this collection, but it was too uneven to warrant five stars.

Sherman Alexie's War Dances is more of a collage than a coherent collection of short fiction. Loosely themed on issues of redemption, retribution, and the cultural framework that defines people, these stories and poems are often individually satisfying but collectively flat. Some stories, such as "The Senator's Son," "The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless," and the more experimental "War Dances," are beautifully crafted while others seem tossed off in an effort to increase the page count. Likewise, the poetry often seems undeveloped, although the lamentation of cultural loss is keenly and poignantly expressed in "Ode to Mix Tapes."

Despite the unevenness, Alexie's talent carries the successes to levels most short story writers cannot achieve, and for this reason, this collection is worth reading. Alexie's wry wit is always in evidence, even in his less successful pieces, and his observations are always keen. Recommended for readers already familiar with Sherman Alexie's work.


-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

I've come to expect a certain caliber from this author's books. As usual, his writing here is jaw-dropping. Some sentences must be reread because of their beauty and power. Typical Alexie here -- disturbing, funny, and truer than most nonfiction. These stories will suck you in. Not as riveting as the National Book Award-winning "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," but that may be because short stories don't allow the reader as much time to become intimate with the characters. I'd also recommend "Flight: A Novel," "Reservation Blues," and "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven."

On its own, this book is good; compared to the wide catalogue of Alexie, it is below average. I expected a lot from this book, but would suggest readers of the classic Alexie (00-05) to read with caution. For the fans of early Alexie (93-99), avoid this book.

Sherman Alexie's War Dances is a collection of short stories and poems that may at first glance seem deceptively simple but have the capacity to catch you unaware of the ingrained depth.

The stories and poems included in War Dances are pretty easy reading and are amusing, especially the poems which precede and follow each story. The poems encapsulate little modern slices of life and serve to punctuate the theme of the story. War Dances is anchored by six stories of urban/suburban life, in the stories some characters are identified as Indians, some not. These characters are all just people going through similar searches as human beings and not Indian or Anglo. The best example would be the first short story Breaking and Entering which is a homeowners reaction to a thief breaking into his house while he's home and the ramifications of their encounter.

Some of the stories or poems may convince you to look at the world differently than you do (the aim of most art), Looking Glass is a poem about Chief Joseph of the Nez Pearce who's famous quote, "I will fight no more forever" which through the looking glass of history is taught as a victory over the Indians; but Looking Glass puts it into the Indian and perhaps correct connotation. The story, The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless, is a look at a marriage and infidelity and Alexie stays away from the usual clichés of this type of story, looking at it from all angles and advances some ideas that aren't usually voiced. That is the beauty of stories included in War Dances, is Alexie's ability to look at all sides of the situations the characters find themselves in and still deliver a pithy and entertaining story.

Sherman Alexie is a master of the short story and War Dances, while not the strongest of Alexie's work is still a strong addition to the body of work he's building in his career.

I had never heard of Sherman Alexie before reading War Dances. I bought it solely because it won this year's PEN/Faulkner award and I try to read all the major award winners. This is just so that I'm exposed to authors and work that I wouldn't necessarily read.

It's an interesting and seemingly haphazard collection of poems and short stories. The short stories are short even for short stories.

Alexie sets the tone in the first short story, "Breaking and Entering" where he describes a film editor and how his job is to eliminate all unnecessary detail. This very accurately describes his writing style throughout the collection. The style is sparse and direct. You don't find a lot of flowery description of the surroundings or background. He very directly stays on point and on story. I think this style is perfect for the topics that he writes about.

The main stories are emotional and although he certainly makes reference to Native heritage, it tends to be on the periphery. All stories are written in the first person and in some cases the protagonist is Native and in others he is not.

"Breaking and Entering" tells the story of a man (Native)who works at home. His house is broken into by a young African American man and an incident occurs. It looks at what it means to be a minority and what constitutes being a minority. I liked it.

"Senator's Son" is a little more cynical. It involves politics and loss of old friendships and attitudes towards Gay men.

"Salt" is about a young man asked to write the Obituary of the Obituary writer at a newspaper. This is a very touching story.

"War Dances" is a longer short story, has a couple of story lines and plays with structure.

I think "Paul Nonetheless" is my favorite story though the lead character is not a sympathetic character. He struggles with his great life and family and somehow manages to screw it up.

None of the poems were extraordinary but all were at least competent and some were very good.

Overall, I definitely recommend War Dances. It's a very quick read and the writing is very strong.

Sherman Alexie is my favorite writer for the reason that he never disappoints. He's written screenplays, novels, poetry, but he writes a short story better than anybody else I've read to date. He packs more ideas & interesting characters/events in one short story than some people do in an entire novel. What this collection focuses upon is men who are experiencing major changes in their lives e.g. the end of their marriage, death of love ones, illness, moral dilemmas, etc. & they find themselves without any script to follow. What's really at the heart of the collection is that all of our successes & failures are just part of being human, we can't always explain why they happen or revolve them. Of course, Alexie channels many of the
common themes he's written about previously: identity, reconciling oneself with historic past, struggles of modern Indians, racism, etc. Interspersed throughout the story are poems which usually relate to the story about to be introduced e.g. a poem about religion before a story dealing with a tribe's adoption of Catholicism.

Favorite story: `Breaking & Entering' which is about a film editor living in a black neighborhood who finds himself the target of a home invasion/robbery. When he ends up killing the would-be thief who happens to be an average teenager, he finds himself the target of the media & the boy's family. What I like about this story is that the film editor doesn't clearly understand if he made the right decision or not by choosing to confront & fight the robber. We have to wonder if this is because of the media blitz or his own problem with knowing that he inadvertently killed someone who was just trying to steal dvds. Also, as Alexie doesn't let anything be simple, he throws in the dynamic that the film editor is being labelled a racist for his actions since the teenager was African American, when his own racial identity is conveniently ignored by the media & the boy's family. (They call him white, when he's Indian.) Plus, we have to wonder why no one is asking themselves why an average kid would break into someone's house in the first place. It's all there folks: race baiting, scapegoating, the fear that many of us possess for those who are different, & even a nod to the causes/effects of youth crime. People are looking at the symptoms without considering the causes.

Like I said, Sherman Alexie never disappoints! This is just one story in the collection along with new poetry that you will enjoy as well.

I'll second Elena's review: This feels incomplete. Not only that- it is too short. Not in a "this book is 700 pages long and I'd like to have it go on for 500 more, it's THAT great" way, but rather in a "Wow, so now the best way to make a living of writing books is to split one book into three short ones". Too short ones. But hey, you can say "I have published 30 books!"
I also realized that there is an overexposure problem going on here: The book consists of something like six or seven short stories longer than 2 pages and poems in between. I believe I had read two of those poems before in newspapers or magazines (New Yorker?) and heard two more on NPR...
I liked the poems much better than the short stories. I really enjoyed them.
The short stories all 'climaxed' too soon. They felt like complete hit and run affairs. Not "shock and awe", more "what? you're done already?"
Of the short stories, I liked "catechism" best (I believe that was in the New Yorker too). The "Senator's Son" story just didn't add up. Very contrived with dialogue like from a "among the rich people" telenovela.