In his first new fiction since winning the National Book Award for The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, best-selling author
Sherman Alexie delivers a virtuoso collection of tender, witty, and
soulful stories that expertly capture modern relationships from the most
diverse angles. War Dances brims with Alexie's poetic and
revolutionary prose, and reminds us once again why he ranks as one of
our country's finest writers.
With bright insight into the minds of artists, entrepreneurs, fathers,
husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his stories with average men on the
brink of exceptional change: In the title story, a son recalls his
father's "natural Indian death" from alcohol and diabetes, just as he
learns that he himself may have a brain tumor; "The Ballad of Paul
Nonetheless," dissects a vintage clothing store owner's failing marriage
and courtship of a Puma-clad stranger in airports across the country;
and "Breaking and Entering" recounts a film editor's fateful
confrontation with an thieving adolescent.
Brazen and wise War Dances takes us to the heart of what it means to
be human. The new beginnings, successes, mistakes, and regrets that make
up our daily lives are laid bare in this wide-ranging new work that is
quintessential
