With the same brilliant mix of dark humor, sorrow, and cultural
awareness that distinguished The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in
Heaven (1993), Alexie's first novel tells the bittersweet story of
an all-Indian blues and rock-and-roll band. Thomas Builds-the-Fire
is the Spokane Reservation's resident storyteller, but everyone
there ignores him. Driving around one day, he happens upon
legendary blues singer Robert Johnson, who says he's been drawn to
the reservation by recurring dreams of Big Mom, an ancient,
mysterious woman who lives in the clouds. Johnson, now claiming
that he faked his death in 1938, believes that Big Mom alone can
relieve the burden he acquired some 60 years ago when he made his
famous deal "at the crossroads" with the devil. After Thomas leads
Johnson to Big Mom, he inherits the singer's guitar. Touched by its
power, he decides to form a blues band, recruiting a guitarist, a
drummer, and two backup singers from Spokane and another nearby
reservation. Their band, Coyote Springs, soon attracts attention
from whites, including New Age groupies Betty and Veronica and
Cavalry Records A&R men Sheridan and Wright, who appear to be
the reincarnations (or did they ever die?) of notoriously ruthless
19th-century US Cavalry officers. Careening nearly out of control,
Alexie's text playfully mixes past and present, fanciful dreams
with the harsh reality of a tribe whose traditional livelihood is
fishing and who are now stuck on land with dammed-up rivers. His
razor wit is at its most poignant when dealing with Indian
tradition, hope, and despair as his characters confront white
religion and duplicity. All the while, Alexie successfully dances
around culture-clash cliches in this fresh, vibrant modern fairy
tale. Blues as biting, sharp and timeless as any by Robert Johnson
or Bessie Smith. (Kirkus Reviews)
Only Big Mom can help when you've made a deal with the Devil.
Robert Johnson, legendary blues man, arrives at the Spokane
Reservation looking for relief. Thomas Builds-the-Fire shows him
the way and finds himself owner of the great man's guitar. So, with
Victor Joseph, Junior Polatkin and Chess and Checkers Warm Water,
he hits the road, taking their four-and-a-half-chord rock and blues
band to reservation bars, small town taverns, and the urban
landscapes of Seattle and Manhattan.
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