ten little indians

Sherman Alexie was in town doing a reading for his new book of stories, Ten Little Indians (I have this from the library, but haven't read it yet; I like his shorts, but wasn't impressed too greatly by his novel), yesterday. As a part of his promotional tour-dealie, he did an interview on our locally-produced NPR call-in show, and it was tragic. Part of it made me laugh out loud and possibly threaten the safety of other drivers (I'm exaggerating).

The interviewer--I'll be kind enough not to name her--asked him about his name, noting that "Sherman has another meaning around here."

Alexie: I know! A "sherman" is a joint laced with PCP.

Interviewer: Umm, well, no, more like "march to the sea..."

Alexie: Well, I think about him whenever I have/think about a joint laced with PCP. (I don't remember exactly what word he used--have or think, that is.)

The rest of it, though, was gruesome. She starts off by noting that even though the book is called Ten Little Indians, there are only nine stories in the book. (Imagine that!) He told her he wished he'd only put eight in, because eight's a funnier number than nine. Then she got into the whole "Indian" vs. "Native American" thing. This was before the Sherman conversation.

After the Sherman coversation came the "Indians aren't all alike" line of questioning. "Your stories seem to be saying that not only is there variation between tribes, but the people in the same tribes act differently, too." I couldn't believe he was still being so cheerful and friendly to her as he explained that Indians are just like regular people. At the risk of being highly politically incorrect--and wait a minute, let me don my Cleveland Indians hat for this (I have one, and a t-shirt, too, since I was home the year they were in the World Series)--I have to say that I was hoping he'd scalp her.

After listening to this nightmare, I could understand why he wrote a book about an Indian boy who, having been adopted into a white family, grows up and becomes a killer of white people. (The book is more sophisticated than that makes it sound, though.)