Reservation Blues [B0930]

1995 HCDJ 1st edition in excellent condition. Winner of the American Book Award and the Murray Morgan Prize. Spokane, WA Native American author, poet, and filmmaker Sherman Alexie's brilliant first novel tells a powerful tale of Indians, rock 'n' roll, and redemption. Coyote Springs is the only all-Indian rock band in Washington State-and the entire rest of the world. Thomas Builds-the-Fire takes vocals and bass guitar, Victor Joseph hits lead guitar, and Junior Polatkin rounds off the sound on drums. Backup vocals come from sisters Chess and Checkers Warm Water. The band sings its own brand of the blues, full of poverty, pain, and loss-but also joy and laughter. It all started one day when legendary bluesman Robert Johnson showed up on the Spokane Indian Reservation with a magical guitar, leaving it on the floor of Thomas Builds-the-Fire's van after setting off to climb Wellpinit Mountain in search of Big Mom. Whether through poetry, prose, or film, Alexie's work continues to challenge stereotypes and elevate Native American voices in American culture.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I liked so many aspects of this book. The magic realism is the perfect style for the plot. The character development makes it easy to fall in love with each character, even Victor. The imagery and symbolism are beautiful. It's the ideal balance of serious, funny, and heartwarming."; "Be sure to listen to the accompanying album (Streaming on Amazon Prime Music: Reservation Blues: The Soundtrack) that goes along with the book. There's a song that begins each chapter. The story is easy enough to follow and pretty engaging. The characters are funny and real. You get to know their families and how they grew up. It's also very intense though because these characters have experienced a lot of trauma within their families and their life. Music brings them together but it's also painful. My take-away is that the Native American experience is complicated. Author Sherman covers alcoholism, death, music, life on the reservation, relationships, suicide, generational trauma and poverty. But also, in the face of all this, survival and hope to build something new. Highly recommend."; "It is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. It will make you laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time. It is simply amazing. And we certainly need amazing at this time, in November of 2024."