BookFilter review: Sherman Alexie is a poet, speaker, activist, humorist and perhaps best known for his young adult classic "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." That hilarious and tough-minded book is about a kid who made the bold move to attend an all-white public school and thus symbolically leave the rez (knowing in a way it would mean he would some day literally leave the reservation for good and become an urban Indian). It's somewhat autobiographical and for fans who have read it, this memoir is sort of a funhouse mirror, as stories we have heard pop up but sometimes end differently or are sadder or rawer in ways that a (still pretty harsh) young adult book would not be. But this isn't a memoir covering Alexie's whole life so much as circling around and coming to grips with the complicated relationship he had with his mother. She is the beating heart, the inscrutable mystery and the reason for this work. It offers up poetry and stories and facts and descriptions of Sherman and his siblings debating what was and wasn't about their mother and their lives. (For those fabulists who just make stuff up, this is how it's done by artists and people who relish the truth -- lay it all out there.) Among the many heartbreaking details is the fact that his mother was the child of rape, a fact that Alexie typically zeroes in on with empathy -- did his grandmother see the rapist in his mother's face? Did that make her love his mother more, less or differently? And yet he takes in the wider scope, seeing Native Americans as a people defined by rape and brutality, from the white school teachers who literally beat their students and forced them into positions later seen as torture (Alexie got sick when he first saw photos from Abu Ghraib because it reminded him of school) to the wider rape of their land and peoples. This is an essay, a memoir, a history, a cry from the heart, a challenge to other Indians and a baring of his soul. Above all, by insisting on the unvarnished truth, it is an honor song to his mother. Poems can be found throughout but it's poetry from start to finish. -- Michael Giltz

I have always been a fan of Sherman Alexie but I didn't know his whole story. This book is an amazing window into the adversity our indigenous citizens have to face and is widely unknown or ignored by many of us. It is also a great introduction to the relationships unique to Native American communities and the day to day struggle and poverty that Native Americans face in reservation life. I have always been amazed with Alexie's body of work and had the honor of attending one of his author talks, I am even more amazed by him knowing more of his personal story.

Powerful!!!

I don't know what I was expecting when I requested to read this book. The title of this book caught my attention and the author's name was familiar to me.

I was blown away by this memoir. There were parts of this book that I could haven't written myself when it came to my family life. I have been trying to think of words to describe this book and the only word I can thin of is Powerful!

I highly recommend this book.

This is the best memoir I have read in a long time. The stories are beautifully conveyed and the poetry is excellent as always.

Sherman Alexie was raised on a reservation in Washington state and spent his childhood in poverty and abuse, along with his siblings, alcoholic father, and mentally ill mother. As a teenager he elected to go to a white high school off the reservation and as a child he also suffered from a serious brain illness which carried on into his adult life and the book details his recent surgery and recovery.

To say his relationship with his mother was complicated is an understatement. But in true Sherman Alexie fashion, he relays his story in a unique and beautiful way through his own memories as well as talking to his surviving siblings. From writing about his unreliable memories of her, to relaying her stories, many of which he isn't sure are even true to expressing the deep grief he feels at her loss, Alexie gifts us with his heartbreaking and inspiring story.

I'm an unabashed and avid fan of Alexie, having read all his work and enjoyed all of it. This memoir, written in part prose, part poetry does not disappoint

I'm surprised by how hard it was for me to get into this. It felt like I was reading for so long and not actually getting anywhere; it not only didn't seem to be moving forward, but it was almost like it kept looping back. At first I recognized plot elements from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, but then I realized that Alexie was repeating himself, and far too much for the number of pages that had passed.

In this searing memoir, Alexie honors the memory of his mother, his older sister and the American Indian community in which he grew up and has come to represent through his art. Alexie struggles with the truth of his recollections fully understanding that our memories are fallible and yet every word rings true. He holds nothing back whether it's his resentment towards his mother's sometimes cold nature, the difficulty in leaving your home environment - especially when that also means leaving your race, addiction or politics. There are chapters of verse interspersed with his spot-on prose that will leave me reaching for this volume for quite some time.

While it goes without saying that an memoir is going to be introspective, Sherman Alexie strikes the perfect cord of affecting and playful. Alexie wants to show you his scars and force the reader to acknowledge their own, and in that way heal and somehow laugh together. Alexie is haunted by his mother, not feeling Indian enough, and the road not taken. He also is an unabashedly unreliable narrator whom acknowledges as much in his musing about his own story telling quarks (which was exasperated by numerous brain surgeries. Told in short vignettes and poems revolving around his late mother, a worthwhile read even for those whom may not be overly familiar with Alexie coming in.

This book was a brutally honest memoir that at times was hard to read. The author's love for his mother is painful - she was not an easy person to love - and this book speaks to that love of a child for a parent, even when that parent does little to deserve it.

Having just buried his mother, with whom he had a challenging relationship, Sherman Alexie presents a collection of poetry and prose reflecting on his childhood.