I am currently reading the book Tanto and the Lone Ranger Fist Fight in Heaven. So far it has just been a collection of short stories based on the memories of the author, Sherman Alexie. Through his narratives, he brings up common issues that occur in American Indian reservations. He discusses his parents alchohalism, the constant bickering within the tribe, and his relationships with his friends on the reservation.
The first story that Sherman Alexie shares with his readers is about the time him and his friends Junior and Thomas experiment with a new "very indian" drug. The causes them to hallucinate. During their hallucinations they bring up a number of allusions to old native American Rituals such as story telling, and horse riding. It is interesting how Alexie portrays the proudness of the characters in the book about their American Indian heritage. He brings up a lot of the negative things that people on the reservations face, but also the beauty in the simplicity of the reservation. He seems to know all of the problems, but has learned to accept them. His writing is so light it is almost humorous. He talks about very intense subjects like how his father abandoned him and the violence that goes on in the reservations, but his writing style isn't angry or terribly depressed. It is very matter of fact. You can sense that they are emotional topics, but the writing itself is very collected and calm.
Something that I find Alexie does very well is his time transitions. I personally find it very difficult to smoothly transition from the present to another time or place. The short story about the hallucinations is comprised of many different scenes being set and memories being conjured. It is an extremely difficult to jump from memory, to story, to preposterous hallucinations without completely losing the reader due to sensory overload. During the trip him and his friends have it seems almost as if every paragraph is an entirely new scene and story. When I first read the chapter I found myself rereading sections so I could better comprehend the story, but upon doing so I saw that he placed each scene very intentionally and symbolically so they flowed well. He would often jump from first person to third person narration and it felt a little bit like a movie where there are parts when an ominous voice is speaking over the film.
