Fresh off his National Book Award win, Alexie delivers a heartbreaking, hilarious collection of stories that explores the precarious balance between self-preservation and external responsibility in art, family, and the world at large. With unparalleled insight into the minds of artists, laborers, fathers, husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his stories with ordinary men on the brink of exceptional change. In a bicoastal journey through the consequences of both simple and monumental life choices, Alexie introduces us to personal worlds as they transform beyond return.
In the title story, a famous writer must decide how to care for his distant father who is slowly dying a "natural Indian death" from alcohol and diabetes, just as he learns that he himself may have a brain tumor. Alexie dissects a vintage-clothing store owner's failing marriage and his courtship of a married photographer in various airports across the country; what happens when a politicians son commits a hate crime; and how a young boy discovers his self-worth while writing obituaries for his local newspaper.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
"Alexie unfurls highly expressive language, and while at times his jokes bomb and the characters' anger can feel forced, overall this is a spiritedly provocative array of tragic comedies." - Publishers Weekly
"The author's considerable talent is only intermittently in evidence here." - Kirkus Reviews
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