I heart Sherman Alexie

I adore Sherman Alexie. Have since we read him in high school. Did a presentation on him in my undergraduate fiction writing class. His writing is wonderful, poiganant and blatant. Love it.

Here's the excerpt form my paper:

Also specifically fascinating about Alexie’s work is his use of blatant sexual themes – many of which are taboo and kept hidden in mainstream novels. It is clear Alexie uses carnal need for sex as a human-unifying characteristic – one that can overcome even the deepest of differences. He makes statements like, “I believe human beings would rather hop in bed with each other and do tender things to each other than run through the jungle and shoot each other” (p. 23), and explains that even those on opposite ends of the political spectrum, “…believe in truth, justice, and multiple orgasms’” (p. 59). Alexie uses this theme even in the volatile context of war, “What would happen if the United States offered seventy-three virgins to each terrorist if he would abstain from violence? Instead of deploying an army of pissed-off U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq, we could send a mercy team of patriotic virgins” (p. 74). Clearly Alexie has no shame in honoring sex, again for its basic primal link to humanity. Related side note: (I love this: “And so my wife and I named him Abraham and carried him home and lay him in his crib and hung Chocolate Thunder from the ceiling above him like a crazy mobile and laughed and laughed with the joy of it” (p. 101) – wonderful mental image!) It is also important to note that Alexie does NOT limit his commentary on sexuality to heterosexual acts, allowing characters to fight their own stereotypes in this regard. One character says, “Maybe he’s banging a waitress in the pantry, she thought. Let’s not be homophobic, he might be banging the handsome Guatemalan busboy” (p. 69). This also challenges the norms of mainstream novels.

Read his works, folks, READ HIS WORKS.