THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN...

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN by Sherman Alexie (HarperPerennial: $12; 223 pp.). Sherman Alexie’s gritty stories depict the struggle to escape the debilitating cycle of despair, poverty, alcoholism and prejudice on the Spokane Indian Reservation: “Our whole lives have to do with survival.” The narrator of “Every Little Hurricane” compares the alcohol-induced strife within his family to bad weather, and seeks shelter from both. The most telling description of contemporary Native American life appears in “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona”: “Victor and Thomas made it back to the reservation just as the sun was rising. It was the beginning of a new day on earth, but the same old (stuff) on the reservation.” Darkly funny yet often tragic, these stories reveal a very promising talent.