If you liked
Books like Reservation Blues
by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues remains the strongest single Alexie novel for adults. Thomas Builds-the-Fire and the Spokane Indian Reservation band of the title is the genuine article. These five next.
The shortlist
What to read next
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie
“YA semi-memoir about a kid who transfers off the rez to a white school. Funny, brutal, repeatedly banned, deserves to be read.”
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heavenby Sherman Alexie
“The Alexie short story collection that made his career. Some of these became Smoke Signals. All of them earn their place.”
Microserfsby Douglas Coupland
“Microserfs by Douglas Coupland review. The 1995 novel about Microsoft programmers starting a Bay Area startup. The defining Silicon Valley novel of its decade.”
Rubyfruit Jungleby Rita Mae Brown
“Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown 1973 review. The landmark coming-of-age novel about Molly Bolt, a smart, queer Florida kid who refuses every social script she is handed.”
The Hoursby Michael Cunningham
“The Hours by Michael Cunningham review. The 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that triangulates Virginia Woolf, a 1949 LA housewife, and a contemporary NYC editor. One of the great American literary novels of its decade.”
FAQ
Common questions about Reservation Blues read-alikes
- Should I read other Alexie books first?
- The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) is the short-story collection that earned Alexie his early reputation; Reservation Blues borrows characters from it. Read in either order; both reward the other.
- These look like literary fiction picks. Right?
- Right. Reservation Blues works as both contemporary Indigenous American fiction and as the literary novel it is. The picks here keep the literary register without trying to imitate the Indigenous voice.
- What about other Indigenous-American novelists?
- Tommy Orange's There There, Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves, and N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn are the natural cousins outside our review catalog.
The original