Book Review: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jul 17, 2009
The prose fiction novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie is truly one-of-a-kind. The title alone can express the humorous, conflictive and fable-driven vibe Alexie is trying to get across. The book sits on the edge of reality but dips its toes into a fantasy. This both hurts and helps the book, mainly because the random changes from reality to fantasy can confuse the reader and blur the story. Also adding to this blur is the constant switching of narrators in each chapter and the mingling of past and present events. By the fifth chapter, the reader will likely be used to the buoyancy of the novel.
The book follows the lives and stories of people on an Indian reservation in Washington. The stories range from young men to old men, sane to crazed, drunk to sober; but in the end, they are all Indian. Alexie focuses on this similarity and takes it as a chance to exploit stereotypes Indians and Anglos alike have been dubbed with. Everything is all eventually tied together by a sense of pride, strength, laughter and tears.
The book doesn't have a solid storyline or plot, but kind of maps the life experiences, growth and tumbles of its characters. The ending is anything but optimistic, but somehow hopeful -- how Alexie did it, I don't know.
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