War Dances (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780802119193)

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 politician's son commits a hate crime; and how a young boy discovers his self-worth while writing obituaries for his local newspaper. Brazen and wise, War Dances takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. This provocative new work is Alexie at the height of his powers.

Author: Sherman Alexie
ISBN-10: 0802119190
ISBN-13: 9780802119193
Publisher: Grove Press
Language: English
Published: 10/06/2009
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.69lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.78w x 0.94d
Award: PEN/Faulkner Award - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2009 pg. 52
Publishers Weekly 08/24/2009 pg. 40
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2009
Vanity Fair 10/01/2009 pg. 136
New York Times Book Review 10/25/2009 pg. 20