Sherman Alexie's Ten Little Indians is an amazing collection full of wonderful lines and moments. The following is my top 9 list of favorite moments from Ten Little Indians--one from each story.
Search Engine:
"I'm a Spokane Indian. I'm an English literature major here."
"Oh, God, you're an Indian?"
"Well, mostly. Fifteen sixteenths to be exact."
"So, fifteen sixteenths of you is studying the literature of the other one sixteenth of you?"
Lawyer's League:
"Ignore my husband," said the Democrat wife. "He's a right-wing maniac."
"And you, my lovely wife, are a knee-jerk liberal."
"You keep talking like that, and it's going to be a long time before you stick your right wing in my knee jerk."
Can I Get a Witness?
"Nobody is innocent, right? she said. "Isn't that what all of the holy books say? We're all sinners? But after the Trade Center, it was all about the innocent victims, all the innocent victims, and I kept thinking--I knew one of those guys in the towers was raping his daughter. Raping her. Maybe he was raping his son, too. And beating his wife."
Do Not Go Gentle:
My wife and I didn't know Mr. Grief in person until our baby boy got his face stuck between his mattress and crib and suffocated himself blue. He died three times that day, Mr. Grief squeezing his lungs tight, but the muscular doctors and nurses battled that suffocating monster man and brought our boy back to life three times. He was our little blue baby Jesus.
Flight Patters:
"We're all trapped by other people's ideas, aren't we?"
The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above:
She was always making scenes. She yelled at mothers and fathers who publicly spanked their children (Hey, Mussolini, how would you like me to do that to you?), and commented loudly at any display of public rudeness:
1. "Oh, look at Prince Pushy of Monaco, cutting in line. Hey Prince, do you keep your crown in your ass?"
2. "Oh, excuse me, excuse me, Ms. Moneybags, but I see that your party of eight left only a dollar tip for the waitress. I assume that was an honest mistake."
3. "Okay, okay, everybody, listen up, we're all waiting in line to get our driver's licenses, but this man here, he's cursing a lot, so he obviously needs his license more than anybody else in the history of the world. Can somebody please get him a special driver's license, please, hurry."
Do You Know Where I Am?
"'All in green went my love riding,'" she whispered in that special way, "'on a great horse of gold into the silver dawn.'"
"Cummings wrote the poem, and I'm in love and gone," I said and made my slow way down the creek side.
What you Pawn I Will Redeem:
"You Indians. How the hell do you laugh so much? I just picked your ass off the railroad tracks, and you're making jokes. Why the hell do you do that?"
"The two funniest tribes I've ever been around are Indians and Jews, so I guess that says something about the inherent humor of genocide."
Whatever Happened to Frank Snake Church?
Mr. Death, Frank thought, if a lie is beautiful, then is it truly a lie?
**That's all for Sherman Alexie, I promise. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a new topic…I hope.
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