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Reservation blues
320 pages
A painful, humorous, and mythic symphony of rock and roll, cultural survival, and redemption.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like listening to a soulful, multi-layered symphony that blends the mythic with the deeply real. The narrative moves at a brisk, rhythmic pace, driven by a brilliant collage of traditional prose, newspaper clippings, journal entries, visions, and song lyrics. It immerses the reader in a mood that is simultaneously painful and humorous, capturing the raw hunger and vibrant spirit of an all-Indian Catholic rock band navigating reservation bars and urban landscapes. The emotional texture is complex, weaving together threads of faith, alcoholism, and cultural assimilation, yet it arcs toward something profoundly redemptive. It will delight readers who crave inventive, mixed-media storytelling that uses music and dark humor to explore the enduring complexities of Indigenous identity and survival.
- Mood
- soulful
- mythic
- melancholic
- vibrant
- Tone
- humorous
- mythic
- painful
- redemptive
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- cultural assimilation · faith and indifference · addiction and hunger · the power of music · Indigenous identity
- The writing
- A brilliant, multi-layered collage that mixes traditional narrative with songs, journal entries, visions, and dreams.
- The arc
- Moves from a painful and hungry reality through a mythic, musical journey toward an ultimately redemptive conclusion.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate mythic, mixed-media storytelling that blends dark humor with profound explorations of Indigenous identity and the power of music.
Content notes
- alcoholism
- death
- murder
- hunger
About the book
In 1931, Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil, receiving legendary blues skills in return. He went on to record only twenty-nine songs before being murdered on August 16, 1938. In 1992, however, Johnson suddenly appears on the Spokane Indian Reservation and meets Thomas Builds-the-Fire, the misfit storyteller of the Spokane Tribe.
So begins Reservation Blues, the mythic and musical tale of Coyote Springs, an all-Indian Catholic rock-and-roll band. With Thomas Builds-the-Fire as lead singer, Victor Joseph and Junior Polatkin on lead guitar and drums, and Chess and Checkers Warm Water on vocals, Coyote Springs takes their "four-and-a-half-chord rock and blues" to reservation bars, small town taverns, and the urban landscapes of Seattle and Manhattan.
Sherman Alexie brilliantly mixes narrative, newspaper excerpts, songs, journal entries, visions, radio interviews, and dreams to explore the effects of Christianity on Native Americans in the late twentieth century. More important, he examines cultural assimilation's impact on the relationship between Indian women and Indian men. Reservation Blues is a painful, humorous, and ultimately redemptive symphony about God and indifference, faith and alcoholism, family and hunger, sex and death.
Description from Open Library.
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