Fresh off his National Book Award win, Alexie delivers a
heartbreaking, hilarious collection of stories that explores
the precarious balance between self-preservation and
external responsibility in art, family, and the world at
large. With unparalleled insight into the minds of artists,
laborers, fathers, husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his
stories with ordinary men on the brink of exceptional
change. In a bicoastal journey through the consequences of
both simple and monumental life choices, Alexie introduces
us to personal worlds as they transform beyond return. In
the title story, a famous writer must decide how to care for
his distant father who is slowly dying a “natural Indian
death” from alcohol and diabetes, just as he learns that he
himself may have a brain tumor. Alexie dissects a
vintage-clothing store owner’s failing marriage and his
courtship of a married photographer in various airports
across the country; what happens when a politician’s son
commits a hate crime; and how a young boy discovers his
self-worth while writing obituaries for his local newspaper.
Brazen and wise, War Dances takes us to the heart of what it
means to be human. This provocative new work is Alexie at
the height of his powers.
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