It’s like fudge and caramel

They’re not the same.

And that’s how I felt about The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. Sadly I couldn’t even get through the first three stories.

I took a Native American literature class when I was an undergraduate and absolutely loved the course, the stories, the glimpses into a culture right here in the US but so very different from anything I knew. You'd think I would have known something about Native American culture because the Haskell Indian Nations University is in Lawrence, Kansas, which is also where the University of Kansas is. But I knew nothing so the entire course was eye opening and fascinating.

Even 20 years later, I'll never forget Luci Tapahonso’s guest lecture, and I really liked Scott Momaday’s book House Made of Dawn. So I was prepared to enjoy this book.

Here’s the best analogy I can come up with. I love pumpkin pie and I could eat it every day. But I dislike sweet potato pie; in fact I downright hate the stuff. But it looks like pumpkin pie and I’ve been fooled a few times by the similarity . . . until I take a bite. Blech.

That’s how this book was for me.