Sherman Alexie does it again! This book's best part is its ability to sidle up and teach a white girl what it's like to be Native American in today's society. Alexie exposes myths and stereotypes about marriage, parenting, and Native Americans in these short stories and poems in such a deft way that you won't feel preached at or beaten over the head with his politics. You'll just pause to think how clever this National Book Award winning author really is!!

I listened to part of this book on audio and also read part of it in text form. The audio version is very well done and adds to the interest of this book's literary dialect. Read this book to better comprehend the nuances of the civil rights era in the South. The story told in three voices had me routing for all of the main characters to throttle the out-spoken and opinionated Junior League president of Jackson, Mississippi, Hilly Hollbrook. You'll cheer as Hollbrook receives donations of discarded toilets through a League newsletter misprint to assist her in her legislative movement to segregate in-home bath facilities for domestic help.

This book may inspire you to clean out your closets. Homer and Langley Collyer were brothers from an affluent New York family who lived out their years in the family manse on 5th Avenue. This work of historical fiction depicts the downward spiral of a war veteran and his blind brother who compulsively hoard useless items until the outward signs of disrepair begin to alert the community and tragedy ensues.