"Sherman Alexie is one of the few authors whose books I will go wait in line for when they first come out. I've read everything that he's written, so this was a no-brainer for me. As soon as I knew he had a book out, I had to go buy it.
The book follows the story of a half-breed Indian boy who's 15 years old, living in a variety of foster homes in Seattle who decides one day that the way to deal with his rage is to go on a shooting spree in a bank. While he's in the bank prepared to gun down a bunch of perfect strangers, he has an amazing experience happen to him in which he gets transported consecutively to various violent episodes throughout the history of time, and he actually embodies people participating in or being victims of those violent episodes.
At several points throughout the book I felt the gripping intensity of the violence that people have suffered through throughout history. I enjoyed how Alexie was able to portray this character, whose name is Zits, in both an empathetic way but also not so much as a victim but more as a vehicle for change.
Alexie is someone who isn't shy, and this book is definitely not shy. The language is angry and energized, and he's not apologetic for how this kid feels; and in that respect, it is very similar to his characters from his other books and his short story collections.
I think this would be an interesting book for teenagers to read, especially ones who feel very angry about society and feel like their only recourse is violence. I would give this book a four star out of five rating."
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