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Ten Little Indians

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 3,305 ratings · 322 reviews

Sherman Alexie is one of our most acclaimed and popular writers today. With Ten Little Indians, he offers nine poignant and emotionally resonant new stories about Native Americans who, like all Americans, find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads, faced with heartrending, tragic, sometimes wondrous moments of being that test their loyalties, their capacities, and...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published March 17th 2004 by Grove Press (first published January 1st 2003)

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Dec 01, 2012 Meghan Fidler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature

Titled after a fantastic dialog between two non-white men as they described their identities to one another, (in describing his Spokane Identity, the protagonist in "Flight patterns" describes himself not as a 'bejeweled' Indian from India, but the 'bows-and-arrows Indian to a cabbie. The cabby replies, "Oh, you mean ten little, nine little eight little Indians?"), this collection of short stories by Sherman Alexie showcases his talent at describing social relationships. I admire his ability to...more Titled after a fantastic dialog between two non-white men as they described their identities to one another, (in describing his Spokane Identity, the protagonist in "Flight patterns" describes himself not as a 'bejeweled' Indian from India, but the 'bows-and-arrows Indian to a cabbie. The cabby replies, "Oh, you mean ten little, nine little eight little Indians?"), this collection of short stories by Sherman Alexie showcases his talent at describing social relationships. I admire his ability to balance negative events and racial stereotyping with positive, loving moments within the narratives. Here's one of my favorites from the same aforementioned story; a moment between a husband and a wife:

"William kissed Marie, reached beneath her pajama top, and squeezed her breasts. He thought about reaching inside her pajama bottoms. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and tried to wrestle him into bed. Oh, God, he wanted to climb into bed and make love. He wanted to fornicate, to sex, to breed, to screw, to make the beast with two backs. Oh, sweetheart, be my little synonym! He wanted her to be both subject and object. Perhaps it was wrong (and unavoidable) to objectify female strangers, but shouldn’t every husband seek to objectify his wife at least once a day? William loved and respected his wife, and delighted in her intelligence, humor, and kindness, but he also loved to watch her lovely ass when she walked, and stare down the front of her loose shirts when she leaned over, and grab her breasts at wildly inappropriate times—during dinner parties and piano recitals and uncontrolled intersections, for instance. He constantly made passes at her, not necessarily expecting to be successful, but to remind her he still desired her and was excited by the thought of her. She was his passive and active."

Alexie is a master at portraying tensions between what is 'appropriate' (or even moral) in social relations as double edged: they create both limitations and openings for people. There are few authors who can capture these elements of human life with such an honest and detailed eye.

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Dec 13, 2008 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

These short stories were packed. There were some marvelous insights about gender and identity. I don't usually read short stories, but I have been a fan of Mr. Alexie for a long time, and I was reminded of him when he was interviewed by Stephen Colbert recently. The next day I found a copy of this hard cover remaindered and decided to read it. I bought his young adult novel for my son as a present, and I might read that next.http://www.colbertnation.com/the...

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Dec 21, 2007 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: libraryread

Checked out Ten Little Indians from the library on online recommendation (delphica) - it's a collection of short stories with Native American protagonists.

IMHO, Alexie is a talented writer, using poetic turns of phrase as well as solid ideas. His characters cope with the demands of Native American heritage but the stories themselves deal with human experiences - losing one's parents, marital strife and the struggle for identity. It would not surprise me to see these stories appear in classroom...more

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Apr 03, 2009 Nadia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie is not your typical pow-wow Indian imagery, it contains some of the most attractive nine short stories that I have ever read. Alexie uses humor to attack the social issues that Native Americans have to deal with everyday living in the United States. He also uses some of the most unique characteristics in his short stores, here Native Americans vary from homeless Native Americans to the most successful traveling business man with a perfect family. Sherman Alex...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two hours ago, I said I was going to bed, and then I thought, "I'll just read a little to calm myself before bed," which is what I usually do, but which was a poor decision in this instance. Now I have finished with the book, and I have wept all over my pillow, and now I can never read this book again for the first time and there are no pillow stores open at this hour, so fuck everything.

I don't even know if I can talk about it. You read these stories and the tone is so unironic, so attached, so...more

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May 12, 2012 Jamilla Rice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Now, just to let you know, Sherman Alexie is like meth with me. I get a hit and I have to keep going, sometimes losing sleep, until I have run through my stash. Then I start getting itchy all over wanting more. I was addicted from the first time I saw Smoke Signals, but I became absolutely enraptured from the moment I read the first line in "Every Little Hurricane", the first short story in his collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven which includes the title story that was the b...more Now, just to let you know, Sherman Alexie is like meth with me. I get a hit and I have to keep going, sometimes losing sleep, until I have run through my stash. Then I start getting itchy all over wanting more. I was addicted from the first time I saw Smoke Signals, but I became absolutely enraptured from the moment I read the first line in "Every Little Hurricane", the first short story in his collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven which includes the title story that was the basis for the Smoke Signals, screenplay. His writing is hilarious, poignant, maddeningly sad, yet still hopeful. He makes me want to write more whenever I read him. He also makes me realize that there are so many stories that we have in our heads that we've fashioned, both fiction and nonfiction, that need to be told.

The first story, "The Search Engine" is a magnificently bad pun, yet perfect for the content. The main character, Corliss, a college student, voracious reader, and unapologizing eavesdropper is a breath of fresh air.
The next story, "Lawyer's League" centers on individual and group politics and Alexie's other pastime, playing basketball. Ten Little Indians has sat on my shelf at work for quite some time, but this was the right time to hear a few new stories from a great storyteller, and I am ever so thankful for Mr. Alexie's words.

Favorite/Memorable Quotes:

“A good gun will always beat a good poem.”
“I hope not,” Corliss said and walked away. (4)
“She’d been a resourceful thief, a narcissistic Robin Hood who stole a rich education from white people and kept it.” (5)
“Maybe every book in every library is patiently waiting for its savior.” (9)
“What kind of Indian loses her mind over a book of poems? She was that kind of Indian, she was exactly that kind of Indian, and it was the only kind of Indian she knew how to be.” (9)
“How can you live a special life without constantly interrogating it? How can you live a good life without good poetry?” (13)
“College was an extreme sport for an Indian woman. Maybe ESPN should send a camera crew to cover her academic career. Maybe she should be awarded medals for taking American history and not shooting everybody during the hour and a half in which they covered five hundred years of Indian history.” (30)
“It’s tough to be a smart girl anywhere, but it’s way tough on the rez.” (126)(less)

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Apr 06, 2011 Anne Monfort rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alexie, Sherman. Ten Little Indians: Stories. New York: Grove, 2003. Print.

Ten Indians, Nine Stories, and Two Thumbs Way Up

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie consists of nine different short stories. While each story exists independently of the others, all of them have main characters that are members of the Spokane Indian tribe. The stories deal with very heavy subjects from homelessness to suicide bombers to the events of September eleventh. There is one particularly controversial story that...more Alexie, Sherman. Ten Little Indians: Stories. New York: Grove, 2003. Print.

Ten Indians, Nine Stories, and Two Thumbs Way Up

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie consists of nine different short stories. While each story exists independently of the others, all of them have main characters that are members of the Spokane Indian tribe. The stories deal with very heavy subjects from homelessness to suicide bombers to the events of September eleventh. There is one particularly controversial story that has the main character justifying the events of September eleventh. “‘You know,’ she said, ‘I don’t think everybody who died in the towers was innocent.’ ‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘Osama’s press agent?’” (Alexie 89). One major theme that is pervasive throughout every story is the identity crisis that every American Indian struggles with. This conflict comes from attempting to combine and reconcile tribal ideals with modern living; historic perspectives with modern thinking and political correctness. Alexie does a phenomenal job of capturing the mindset of his characters in a realistic and humorous way. “If white folks assumed she was serene and spiritual and wise simply because she was Indian, and thought she was special based on those mistaken assumptions, then Corliss saw no reason to contradict them” (Alexie 11). The thoughts and feelings are very normal and average but always colored with the fact that the character is an Indian. The stories expose racisms and preconceived notions that people have about Indians. “Harlan Atwater was making fun of being Indian, of the essential sadness of being Indian, and so maybe he was saying Indians aren’t sad at all. Maybe Indians are just big-footed hitchhikers eager to tell a joke” (Alexie 7).
Alexie writes as an Indian about other Indians. His stories are bright and alive and captivating. His writing is passionate and powerful and expresses all the pain and joy of a tribe of people. But rather than being pitiable and pathetic, it is very funny and relatable. Not that the circumstances in the stories are so common but his style of writing is such that you can understand exactly what the characters are going through even if you never have had the experience. The characters are so wonderfully developed, clever and crazy that they leap off the page and you feel like you’ve known them for years. The one trait that every character in every story has is a powerful sense of humor that is present even in the direst of circumstances. Alexie uses his characters to laugh at himself, at all the Indians and at all the white people that racially profile them. “‘For the rest of your academic life,’ she’d told him on his first day of kindergarten, ‘whenever any teacher tells you that Columbus discovered America, I want you to run up to him or her, jump on his or her back, and scream, ‘I discover you!’” (Alexie 219). He does not tread lightly or attempt to spare any feelings but is blatantly honest and even silly about sex, alcohol, sickness, death, and the treatment of Indians. And, that is what makes all the stories and this whole book so magical.
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Feb 16, 2011 Dalya Bordman added it · review of another edition

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, Grove Press, New York 2003

Sherman Alexie triumphs as a writer in this collection of short stories, Ten Little Indians. In this collection, Alexie largely deals with the different struggles and different circumstances Native Americans face living in the United States. In his nine stories, Alexie shows points of views from various different Native Americans, mostly living in Seattle Washington. He illustrates how a female college student struggles with her in...more Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, Grove Press, New York 2003

Sherman Alexie triumphs as a writer in this collection of short stories, Ten Little Indians. In this collection, Alexie largely deals with the different struggles and different circumstances Native Americans face living in the United States. In his nine stories, Alexie shows points of views from various different Native Americans, mostly living in Seattle Washington. He illustrates how a female college student struggles with her intellectual nature and being Native American, he shows the struggles of a half black half Native American man wanting to become involved in the political arena, and a Native American father struggling with his skin color after the attacks on September 11th. Although Alexie’s stories show distinct viewpoints, they all come together because of the characters in them. Every character shares the common identity as an Indian, thus creating a cohesive collection of short stories.
Alexie writes straightforwardly and honestly, with topics like sex, love, and anger coming up throughout almost each story. In “Lawyer’s League,” Alexie honestly writes, “But Teresa seemed to be enjoying it. I wondered how soon I would see her naked” (59). Additionally, in “Flight Patterns” he writes, “He wanted to fornicate, to sex, to breed, to screw, to make the beast with two backs” (105). Thus, Alexie shows no fear of crossing boundaries and exploring human nature through his writing. He is not timid, but bold and forward.
Further, Alexie unites all of his stories through Native American ties, yet he undermines many of the common Native American stereotypes. For example, most of the characters do not live on a Reservation; they are educated, and they are sober. Thus, Alexie not only captures the reader with honest, intelligent, and interesting characters, but he also shatters the stereotypes of their people. Thus, Alexie dually creates captivating characters and makes a political statement about Native Americans.
Moreover, Alexie’s writing is consistent, yet varied. All of the stories share common threads and elements, however, they are varied enough to maintain the reader’s interest. For example, “The Search Engine” and “Lawyer’s League” have humorous and sarcastic characters, and do not deal with heavy subject matter. On the other hand, “The Life and Times of Estelle Walk Above” and “Flight Patterns” still have humorous moments, however, they deal with much more dramatic situations, largely September 11th. Thus, Alexie’s stories flow as one collection because of the common elements like humor and his straightforward characters; however, the reader does not lose interest moving from one story to the next because of the varied subject matter and variations in the character’s point of views.
In the end, Sherman Alexie’s Ten Little Indians gives insight to Native American life, and proves to be an enjoyable read. His characters are captivating, and his straightforward writing style keeps the reader interested and excited to see what will appear on the next page. Some stories are written in first person, and others are written in third person, which once again creates variation from one story to the next. The only element of Alexie’s collection that could be improved upon is the variation in setting. It is a little monotonous that almost every story took place in Seattle, Washington. However, this is just one minor glitch in an overall successful collection of stories.
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Oct 14, 2010 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Picked it up at the library while trying to find Sherman's new book, which wasn't there. As with 95% of Sherman Alexie's books I thought it was a strong read and a great set of stories. Things that most Native people can connect to pretty easy.
My favorite stories are definitely the story about the boy and his mom who are involved with an cohort of white women in a self-help group and the movement of identity from them to this group where there's an attempt of cultural appropriation and the son...more

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May 20, 2009 megan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is book is a collection of short stories about identifying as a Native American. I found a lot of the stories related to "identifying as a Native American after 9/11"--or at least that was certainly a component to the story. When I checked how old the book was, it looked as though it had been written in 2003, so obviously this was a poignant subject for Mr. Alexie. Also, many of the stories mentioned George W. Bush, so this was obviously a real-life character that was having a strong impact...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up at a favorite small indy bookstore to a) support them and b) to keep reading Alexie.

The timing was interesting because as an older work (2003) there is one story in particular that references 9//11 ("Flight Patterns"). Good reading while having a lot of 10-year anniversary media filling the air. Noticeable was the fact that the protagonist had to run to a pay phone in an airport. It startled, because so many people had cell phones in 01. But not everyone, even "sophisticates" we...more

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Dec 14, 2009 Jim Cherry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ten Little Indians is a book of nine short stories by Sherman Alexie each dealing with trying to come to terms with lives that are no longer traditional and they need to fit into American culture. Each story is linked not by characters or even setting (even though all the stories are set in Seattle), but by ideas and themes.

The most obvious example are the Indians (that’s what they call themselves) in the stories are searching for new ceremonies for the lives they lead outside of tribal systems,...more Ten Little Indians is a book of nine short stories by Sherman Alexie each dealing with trying to come to terms with lives that are no longer traditional and they need to fit into American culture. Each story is linked not by characters or even setting (even though all the stories are set in Seattle), but by ideas and themes.

The most obvious example are the Indians (that’s what they call themselves) in the stories are searching for new ceremonies for the lives they lead outside of tribal systems, outside of their traditions, and trying to assimilate into the urban west of the 21st Century. Significantly, the first story is titled “The Search Engine.” From Corliss in “Search Engine” to Frank Snake Church in “Whatever Happened to Frank Snake Church?” all the characters are searching for new ceremonies in their lives or to adapt some of their traditional ones to modern life. They work and live in an assimilated world. Something is missing in their lives. As they try to put their finger on it they discover it’s the lack of the traditional life they all have memories of or that is only a generation removed and their parents or grandparents told them about.

Most of the characters discover the same solution to their problem by creating new ceremonies and rituals for the lives they lead. Corliss in “The Search Engine” is very aware of creating new rituals as she tracks down a native American poet who doesn’t turn out to be all that she imagines him to be. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is almost a fairy tale of a homeless alcoholic Indian and his quest to redeem at least a part of his traditional heritage and what at first seems to be a growing tragedy transcends that altogether and becomes something quite unexpected.

Don’t let all this talk of ritual and searching for new ceremonies deter you. The stories have humor to them. Not only do the characters have a cynical outlook on themselves or a sarcastic remark to comment on their situation, but Alexie invests the stories with humor and has fun with the characters. You can tell upon reading that Alexie likes his characters. Even when the characters don’t act so nice it’s evident that Alexie respects the characters and has a certain amount of sympathy for the people in the portraits he’s rendering.

While the stories are all of Indians, there are a few Anglos that enter their worlds. What turns the stories to the universal is that the search for new ceremonies for the new world we’ve created isn’t exclusively an Indian pursuit. Today more and more people turn to Native American culture and religion (the last ultimate act of assimilation?) to find their answers in life and we’re passing each other in the opposite direction looking for the same thing.(less)

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Feb 03, 2013 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

This is the type of literary "super-realistic-warts-and-all" style that I don't really like. But this was for a more-important-than-average book group, so I made a greater-than-average effort to finish. I didn't like the casual (and very crass) sexuality thrown in at the beginning for no real reason, but Alexie either put it in the earlier stories to weed out the undedicated, or I got used to it.

However, I liked a few of the stories, and I found some lines that really resonated with me:

From Fl...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Karima rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Man-oh-MAN! I wish I could invite this guy to dinner at our house!

This is a collection of nine short stories, all set in the Pacific Northwest (mainly Seattle). I LOVE it when I complete a book, slap the back cover closed and shake my head in wonder. This book was such a head-shaker.

I want to browse dusty bookstores with Corliss ("The Search Engine").
I want to help the pizza boy at Domino Pizza make free pizzas for rescue workers ("Lawyer's League").
I want to make sure that the letters & mon...more

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Jan 04, 2011 Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was kind of a mixed bag. There were a number of stories that didn't do much for me, but there were also a few of the most affecting stories I've read all year. "What You Pawn I Will Redeem", "Do You Know Where I Am?", "Can I Get A Witness?" and "Lawyer's League" were especially great. What struck me most was Alexie's ability to inhabit a number of different voices throughout the collection. I personally find it difficult to create a unique voice for different stories, but he seems to d...more

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Feb 17, 2009 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Awesome book. Very funny, deadpan. Also eye-opening, in that I had no idea there was (apparently, insofar as the stories are realisms) so much anti-Native racism in the Northwest. His dialogue is fantastic, especially when people talk past each other. Most people seem to think the "9/11 story" or the last, longest story are the show-stoppers; it certainly has the longest stretches of hard-fought transformation, and features a man and his (dying) father, and actually, like many of Alexie's storie...more

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Oct 11, 2007 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone over 14

Just read it. This is my favorite work by Sherman Alexie. He is a master of short story, and he writes about the topic he knows best: Northwest Indians living in poverty. Basketball finds its way into many stories; Alexie is obviously an avid enthusiast. He writes from the heart. What a joy to read.

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Feb 26, 2009 Babs rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-authors, fiction, short-stories

I picked this book up because I really wanted to read Alexie's other short story collection - The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (fabulous title!) and couldn't find it at the time. I'm not a fan of short stories, and I didn't enjoy this collection. But I can say that in my opinion the stories are well-written and if "bold, uncensored, raucous, and sexy" is your thing, then you might really enjoy the book. The story I enjoyed the most was "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" - telling the sto...more

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May 03, 2010 Sara Beresford rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book might go into my "will return to again and again" pile. Love it love it love it. The author has mastered the short story. I can't say enough about him.
Some favorite passages:

"And so my wife and I named him Abraham and carried him home and lay him in his crib and hung Chocolate Thunder from the ceiling above him like a crazy mobile and laughed and laughed with the joy of it. We deported Mr. Grief back to his awful country. Our baby boy was going to live a long and good life. We wondere...more

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Oct 01, 2011 itpdx rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a delightful collection of short stories by Sherman Alexie. In each story we experience the pain and joy of being human but Alexie writes from the perspective of Spokane Indians. Most of the stories are set in Seattle, so urban Indians--from the homeless to the well-off. The picture of the author on the back of the book shows him laughing joyously. His stories take us from joy to heart-break, from wisdom to blindness, from giddy first-love to the last moments of a life-time love. My...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Tarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up again from my shelf because I couldn't remember if it was good enough to keep (I'm getting serious about getting rid of shit I don't need). Short answer: yes.

Alexie really is the master of the short-story, something that has been a deficit in most his novel-writing (his latest "Absolutely True Diary" is an exception, I think). Here, the stories are poignant and sad, but not depressing. And the strike a chord... somehow, you think, I understand this homeless, male, Pacific-Northw...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Theresa Sivelle rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I only made it thru the 4th story. That is all I care to read. I didn't like any of the stories and I didn't care for the writing. It appears that I am definitely in the minority here but I thought the 4 stories that I did read were awful. The sexual references seemed to just be thrown in simply to show that he could and didn't seem to me to add anything of any value to any of the stories I did manage to read. I have absolutely no desire to read any more of this book. Maybe someone in one...more

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Feb 21, 2013 lucas711 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is on of the best short story compilations i have ever read. I liked seven out of nine of the stories. The only two i did not like were "Can i Get a Witness?" and "The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above." Also I brought my copy of the book to a reading at Symphony Space where Sherman Alexie was introducing readers and he signed my book!

For my spanish speakers:

Este es uno de los mejores cuentos cortos recopilaciones que he leído. Me ha gustado siete de los nueve de las historias. Los dos...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Caitlin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a wonderful collection of short stories chronicaling the lives of Native Americans living outside of the Reservation. Our society has cemented ideas about how Native Americans behave: they are good with animals, herbs, close to the earth, etc. This idea has been called the "Invented Indian." Alexie is not preachy but he wants America to recognize that Native Americans are smart, not all alcholics, etc. The charm of this book is while laughing at Alexie's witticisms, you feel like you've...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Esmeralda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, humor, short-stories

Ten Little Indians reads quickly through themes of celebrating Seattle, basketball, race, and the fragility involved with various types of relationships. The characters go through swift turns between sad and funny. One unique aspect of Alexie’s characters is that they often laugh. They each have a specific sense of humor. That detail is charming.

Two stories I read twice were: “Can I Get a Witness?” and “The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above.” The first story made me think about 9-11 in a di...more

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May 10, 2009 Susy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting collection of linked short stories whose common thread is that the narrators are all from the Spokane tribe and living in Seattle. My suspcian is that this is true of the author although I am not curious enough to verify it! He offers good insights into the angst of the native American living in the 21st century and amazingly, the issues that face each of the main characters are those that trouble many of the rest of us. Just told with the tribal way of problem solving. If nothing el...more

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May 20, 2010 Altpamela Alt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i don't normally write in this section because i usually end up finishing books at some ungodly hour or when i should really be doing something else and i'm too tired or some other silly excuse. but this book. oh, this book. i will only say that i, who cannot sit still long enough to floss my teeth, sat in front of the fireplace and read this book for hours in silence. i did not bring it into the bathtub because i knew i would end up reading the whole thing in there and end up with a cold from t...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Gabrielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some of the most intense short stories I have ever had the luck to encounter in a short story collection (one of the most, if not the most, underrated & underread genres of literature in my opinion). I love Alexie's poetry and was almost a little afraid to approach his fiction, but I was not even slightly disappointed. Is there an antonym for disappointed? I'm too lazy to look it up, but whatever is it, that is the adjective that describes my feelings about Ten Little Indians. Read it. You'l...more

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Mar 22, 2009 Windy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read-in-2009

Here's an excerpt from the book:

Poverty

When you’re poor and hungry
And love your dog
You share your food with him.
There is no love like his.
When you’re poor and hungry
And your dog gets sick,
You can’t afford to take him
To the veterinarian,

So you have to watch him get sicker
And cough blood and cry all night
You can’t afford to put him gently to sleep
So your uncle comes over for free
And shoots your dog twice in the head
And buries him in the town dump.

Okay, so not all of the book is quite so devastatin...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Geraud rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

J'avais quitté Sherman Alexie en refermant "Indian blues", je l'ai retrouvé avec "dix petits indiens" comme un bon copain, toujours ce ton plein d'humour pour parler d'un sujet souvent triste à pleurer, un ton juste et authentique.
Ces neufs histoires mot donné encore une fois envie d'aller voir un peu qui sont ces indiens Spokane, ils sont apparemment très drôle et sont paraît il de grands conteurs d'histoires. Ils ont paraît il une piètre idée d'eux même, je crois qu'il est temps qu'on leur dis...more

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About Sherman Alexie

Sherman J. Alexie, Jr., was born in October 1966. A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane, WA. Alexie has published 18 books to date.
Alexie is an award-winning and prolific author and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a modern Native American. Sherman's best known works in...more

More about Sherman Alexie...

Books by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

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Quotes from Ten Little Indians

“She wanted to be buried in a coffin filled with used paperbacks. ” — 73 people liked it

“Corliss wondered what happens to a book that sits unread on a library shelf for thirty years. Can a book rightfully be called a book if it never gets read?...

'How many books never get checked out," Corliss asked the librarian.

'Most of them,' she said.

Corliss never once considered the fate of library books. She loved books. How could she not worry about the unread? She felt like a disorganized scholar, an abusive mother, and a cowardly soldier.

'Are you serious?' Corliss asked. 'What are we talking about here? If you were guessing, what is the percentage of books in this library that never get checked out?'

'We're talking sixty percent of them. Seriously. Maybe seventy percent. And I'm being optimistic. It's probably more like eighty or ninety percent. This isn't a library, it's an orphanage.'

The librarian talked in a reverential whisper. Corliss knew she'd misjudged this passionate woman. Maybe she dressed poorly, but she was probably great in bed, certainly believed in God and goodness, and kept an illicit collection of overdue library books on her shelves.” — 26 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/843834.Ten_Little_Indians?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328822257l/843834.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/843834.Ten_Little_Indians?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie[/url]

Ten Little Indians

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