Blasphemy, by Sherman Alexie

The shortest month seems to be the time when all the short story collections I reserved came in.  Having seen the author at PLA and again at Graham Chapel, I could hear his voice as I read these stories, some of which are wildly funny, some tragic, and some, yes, blasphemous.  At PLA, he had people laughing so hard they hurt; his appearance at Washington University, which I convinced friends to go to based on my experience at ALA, had me wondering, “He can say that? About the chancellor?  In a chapel?”  Some of these stories are stronger than others – I always have loved the one that seems to have been the kernel of his wonderful movie, Smoke Signals.  As a Spokane Indian who grew up both on the “rez,” and went to a white private high school, his writing is always informed by his experience as an Indian and an outsider.  Although I enjoyed the collection, there is a certain sameness about many of them and reading a few at a time would be a better way to savor his work.  466 pp.