Blasphemy

Alexie, S. (2011). Blasphemy. New York: Grove Press.

Hardcover | $18.69 USD | ISBN-13: 978-0802120397 | 465 pages | Young Adult Short Stories

This collection of short stories will fly across the page. But take your time. Within twenty minutes of reading, I was on page 90, and I was thinking what is Blasphemy anyway? Is it Blasphemy that the Indians in Alexie’s stories must deal with difficulties and problems that are the realities of poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, child abuse, spousal abuse, homosexuality, rape, death, murder, or divorce? Is Blasphemy discrimination based on race and skin color that occurs within these stories and still both on and off the Indian reservations?  Could it be Blasphemy that too often Americans have stereotypes of the Native American experience that is never challenged? Or perhaps while reading you may judge the actions of the characters in these short stories as Blasphemy.

You may get to the end of this book and still not understand Blasphemy. Sometimes the search for understanding takes a while and when it comes to Indians, there just may be some things that you won’t understand or can’t understand. This is one theme of many that is drawn from the stories Alexie shares. The stories are full of characters trying to make things right and some not caring one bit, but they are honest, unapologetic and Alexie doesn’t mind “telling it like it is.” Alexie’s stories include a lot of dialog and though we never know the narrators, we hear his thoughts and we feel for the situation, whatever that may be. Each short story seems to have an open ending, leaving you, the reader, to take away from the characters and their life experience what you will. So many times the characters are down in the dumps, or just shared horrible life events that occurred and sometimes they are not proud of them, but most times, they just keep going – the Indians in his stories have learned to accept and they do this whether or not they want to or not. There is not a lot of complaining that goes on in these stories.

Many of Alexie’s stories are written from the male perspective and include anecdotes about childhood friends or experiences that would shape them as adults. Tradition is steep and family upbringing matters, but sometimes things get messy. Some of the stories may scare you – and worry you – some will make you cry. While some of the stories may remind us how things used to be or how things should be, it doesn’t appear that much will change. There is a lot of violence in the short stories, even killing. Some of it is graphic. Some of the stories should worry us about this marginalized group of Native Americans. Their race has been stereotyped and forgotten before it was realized– pushed too far and pushed to the corners and life on the rez (reservation) is not glorious. What we may have thought could be a simple life on the reservation is filled with all types of ills of society and yet hopes for humanity as well. Despite all of this, readers will find a favorite short story and make a connection with the characters involved. This page turning collection will appeal to all ages, white and Indian, and is recommended for all public libraries that want to serve their diverse populations properly. 

Sherman Alexie has mastered the short story. Watch a Time interview of Sherman Alexie discuss Blasphemy. Alexie is also a screenwriter. One of his short stories “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” became a movie called “Smoke Signals” (“Sherman Alexie,” n.d.).