Sherman Alexie: An Introduction

My first encounter with Sherman Alexie happened on a wry sunny day. It was wry because if you were to go out on that day, your face would turn wry and all because of the sun. So I decided to stay in and read a book instead. When I first came to the States, I shared a room with my cousin, Nickie- whom I sometimes refer as my sister. Books had been the love of her life until she met her now boyfriend, of course. She filled her room with books and books. Like a little library. Except she was kind enough to let me borrow any book without a due day.
I glid my fingers through some books' titles to find the one that interested me. Then stopped my finger at a book called "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." The more my heart bloomed, the more pages I turned.
And I throned Sherman Alexie above all of my past favorite authors for all of these reasons:

1. A life of in between. 
Sherman Alexie was born on an Indian rez in Spokane, Washington. He left the reservation to go to a white school. The title of his National Award winning book refers to a life full of in between. He managed to get the best of both worlds. I personally can understand his bipolar life. Coming from a different culture, I experienced quite a few shock cultures. I put on the White shoes when I am in the society, but when I get home, I put on my Yellow shoes. Sherman Alexie is different. He feels alien in his own motherland. However, he overcame it all. He was courage enough to cross the borders- the borders that isolate his tribes with the other parts of the world, but also the borders of quarantine, inequality and ambiguity.

2. An extraordinary sense of humor. 
Once you have gotten your hands on one of his books, you can't put it down. His atypical and unpredictable sense of humor draws you to turn the page like your brain creates a synapse when the advertisement on the TV changes to a new scene. He taught me to laugh at the toughest time. And he taught me that "The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not."

3. He is a book kisser. 
That's right. He is a book kisser. So am I. No. I think I am more of a book sniffer. But who doesn't like to sniff the smell of a new book, taking all in the fragrance of new paper? And I find that book kissers are just romantic and highly intelligent. 

Sherman Alexie at Stanford University

Thanks for encouraging me to read, to question, to live up my dreams, to believe in myself and for inspiring me, for teaching me to rebel against authoritative figures, to be angry at racism, human weakness, cruelty when "we behave more like of lion pride than people with prehensile thumbs." Respect. 


Tell me, who is your favorite author? 

: ) 

// Maian// 

Sherman Alexie: An Introduction