#but i’ll stop before i go off on a rant about america’s transportation problems
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seventh-district · 10 days ago
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“Why’s he call you Darlin’?”
on my knees begging my brain to stop trying to associate this song with Sam
#(it’s too late guys i’ve already added it to a couple playlists. i can’t help it)#redacted audio#redacted asmr#redacted sam#redacted darlin#rp audio stuff#Seven’s Blorbo Songs#music stuff#i fell down a rabbit hole of music videos on YT last night and decided to give this song a chance based on the title obviously#skipped through all the exposition just to quickly find out if i liked the song or not#and as soon as the first line came in i went head-in-hands at my desk bc i just Knew it was over for me#i hate that i like it#it’s very repetitive and giving strong Modern/Mainstream Pop-Rap-Country vibes#but i’m not too proud to admit that i eat that shit up on occasion#‘You’ve been beatin’ ‘round the bush so much you’re knockin’ off the leaves.’ goes kinda hard tho i’m ngl#‘ole boy in a Ridgeline and i drive a Chevy’ would Sam be a truck elitist? hmm#i doubt it. i see him as too practical-minded to care about brand names and shit like that#like irl i think it’s very silly. and perhaps a little questionable to hate on a ‘foreign’ vehicle. but i don’t even like trucks at all so#insecure country boys and their obsession with big trucks are ruining the road for us regular people that just want a normal ass car#but i’ll stop before i go off on a rant about america’s transportation problems#anyways. i can separate reality from fiction and i love the image of Sam in a beat up beloved old truck. cliché as it may be#getting back on track. my POINT was that the song doesn’t even necessarily fit Sam’s vibes i just. can’t undo the association#been trying to think of a way for it to fit him but that would require Darlin’ to be cheating on him and i don’t like that thought#like i love some types of angst but cheating isn’t one of them#i could view it through the context of being directed at Alexis bc i already hate her lmao but once again it doesn’t fit in canon#and i don’t know how i feel about the thought that he used to call her Darlin’ too. though it’s very possible. mmm angst#not that it has to fit with canon for me to attach a song to a character. certainly not! but i need to make it work in my mind Somehow#and i can’t even come up with a good HC to make this fit. the idea of Jealous!Sam is fun in theory but idk if i’d like it practice anyways#tldr: does this really fit canon Sam? meh. Is it forever tied to him in my mind anyways due to the use of the petname Darlin’? absolutely.#anywho. one of these days i’ll open this app to do something other than vent post or yap abt rp audio blorbos. but that day is not today!
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t-oresama · 8 years ago
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“War Dances” by Sherman Alexie
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Synopsis: From one of the most original and celebrated writers working in America today, War Dances is a highly charged collection of stories and poems that deftly captures the myriad aspects of modern relationships.
Published: 2009 (Grove Press) Genre: Fiction, Poetry Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Reader Review: (A quick note unrelated to this review: A lot has changed here on Tumblr and what was once muscle memory without a second thought in regards to what to press, what goes where and where stuff is has now become rusty and cobweb-ridden. I'm applying oil to creaky joints and blowing the dust away from my personal page now, but (clearly) I don't go on this site much anymore. However, I still want to keep this page active if for no other reason than for writing purposes. Maybe a personal rant, maybe the random 2AM dream-turned-muse-turned-poem, but most definitely for book reviews. The rest of its use remains unclear, but maybe some day I'll get back into the reblogging of things. That being said, hello, all. It's been quite a while.) Now, something to note about me is that I really don't have a "favorite" author, nor a favorite story. Heck, I was tasked to do an assignment in college that asked of me to name "notable writers" that helped me become who I am now, and it was like pulling my own teeth. I’ve never thought much of a "favorite of all time”, more like a favorite of the moment. But this man, Sherman Alexie, has consistently remained one of my “all-time” favorite writers since late in high school. His perspective, as a Native American with a plethora of health problems, is unique, brash and captivating. The stories he tells, with nearly all of them relating back to a Native American character or perspective, are refreshing in both their first-glance simplicity and underlying complexity. His ability to make his readers think is something not many 21st century authors are able to achieve. In short, I adore him. And I think it was that adoration of him that made me get this book without a second thought. No, wait, I take that back. I know it was that adoration of him. And he's one of those authors that I can never find myself wanting to stop reading. This made him a perfect candidate for my need to pass a long and painful day at home with a fever recently, with something easy and able to transport my mind away from constant thoughts of my hot, achey body. I'm actually reading 2 other books right now, but I’d left them at work (these days I work at a library so of course I'd do that on the one day I need them). I grabbed the blue book with the red Puma sneakers off of my bookshelf and dove right in, expectations high. ...I’ve now used 3 paragraphs to not talk about the book, so let’s talk about it, shall we? This book is a compilation of fiction short stories and poetry in a (seemingly unintended, but existing nonetheless) pattern of 3 poems before the short story, and repeating. While, in his past works, there are usually ties between each piece by the person telling/starring in it-- a person of Native American descent-- this time around, that's not always the case. It's in his poetry mainly that the race of the storyteller isn't that clear, and frankly doesn't matter much, as some of his poems ("The Limited", "On Airplanes") depict situations that can be or have been applicable to any human being regardless of race. They're ones you could easily consider as pieces Alexie wrote moments after they happened, when he had a private moment to collect his thoughts while still being in the heat of the moment. Others, like "The Theology of Reptiles", "After Building the Lego Star Wars Ultimate Death Star", and any poems starting with "Ode to" are soaked in nostalgia, and come off more as musings or retellings of a time long since passed not only in Alexie's life, but in the lives of others from his same decade(s). And of course, as it is not only in his writing style but in his own DNA, there are poems that do talk about aspects of Native American life, both in the past and in the modern world ("Go, Ghost, Go"). Alexie also tries his hand at vignettes (for the first time, as far as I know), and rather than each mini-story being tied together by a theme, they are tied together by their final mini-story. In fact, in one of his vignettes, the final mini-story is called Collision (from his "Roman Catholic Haiku" vignette) to emphasize two seemingly random stories coming together in a cohesive way. He also conducts a series of self-interviews (I'm not exactly sure what call them, which I kind of like), where an interviewer will ask a question, and the interviewee will answer only just barely relating back to that actual question. It's kind of hard to explain without just copy-pasting the questions/answers here, but if you can, I suggest you look them up yourself ("Catechism" and "Big Bang Theory"), as they, along with the vignettes, are what I found to be the most intriguing and all around stand-out pieces in this collection. What remains to be talked about are his short stories, which I've always found to be his most compelling in his mediums of writing. There six stories in this book: "Breaking and Entering", "The Senator's Son", "The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless", "False Symmetry", "Salt", and the story for which this book gets its name, "War Dances". I won't go on and on about each one of these stories, since that does ruin it for someone who hasn't read this book yet and, really, who wants a breakdown of EVERY piece in a collection jammed into one review? So instead, I'll pick out a few to go more in-depth with, and talk briefly about the others without giving much away. Between each of these six short stories, Alexie delves into a myriad of serious topics, while still putting his signature stamp of dark humor and splash of well-measured irony in each. "Breaking and Entering" talks about race and how our media operates today (even for this being written 8 years ago, it's still very contemporary as of late thanks to a certain new leader of the US...). "Salt" has the reader and the subject of the story reflecting on life and death, again a heavy topic but with enough light-hearted commentary as to not make you feel as saddened as you maybe should be. "The Senator's Son" talks about politics, the gay community and how they can (unexpectedly) intertwine, and "The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless" depicts love, lust, sexual desire and a lack thereof all in one story. 
Of all of these stories, "War Dances"- a series of events chronicled in the life of a man who suddenly loses his hearing and, while getting treatment, reflects on the loss of his father (a self-destructive Indian) and his own mortality- and "Salt" are the two that felt the most complete in the sense of being very concise and well-rounded. This isn't to say that the other stories are not, but it might have something to do with Alexie's style incorporated with each piece's subject matter. If you're familiar with Alexie's short stories, you'll note that he's not one to have a finite happy or sad ending, or an “ending” at all. He leaves endings hanging on what is usually (but sometimes not) a humdrum moment, one that's not as exciting as other points in the story. In fact, for a couple of these stories, I ended up thinking "...Wait, that's it?" by the time I finished the last sentence. I find this more as a testament to human life than a negative in Alexie's story-telling abilities. Not everything or every day or every event ends with some grand finale with fireworks and a passionate kiss, or a heart-wrenching death followed by an epilogue to give the reader closure. Life just isn't like that, which is the point Alexie tries to make. Sometimes, despite your successes and your hardships, your story is meant to end on an "eh" moment. Both of these stories do have that unfinished "eh" moment by the end, but they feel right, as I said, given their subject matter. And these moments do have their poignancy. You have to really analyze the last paragraphs to understand their significance, as Alexie isn't one to hit you upside the head with symbolism, but these stories' final moments left a lasting impression on me, a mark of a great story told. You're probably wondering why this is only a 3.5 out of 5 to me, especially since 1/3 of this review is me gushing about Alexie. Well, while I liked the shorter pieces mentioned above, the bulk of this book is made up of these six short stories. It would be like me saying I only considered a movie my favorite movie for just one scene; you CAN like parts of an artistic work without feeling obligated to like it as a whole. And that's how I feel coming away from this book. I couldn't help but feel like Alexie's own established style was sort of his downfall with some of his short stories. He focuses a lot on inner thoughts of the narrator, as well as focusing on small details for the sole purpose of making the reader believe that the narrator really has an interest in or is whatever occupation/hobbyist they claim to be. And that's fine because I usually admire small details like that, but certain stories feel lost because of this. "Breaking and Entering", while compelling in its second half, nearly lost me on its first half because it literally went off on a tangent about things that pertained to the character, but didn't matter in the overall story. And "The Senator's Son"- another story with so much potential- spent so much time world-building and character and relationship establishing that by the end, there's a sense of deflation as it's the only time Alexie breaks his own rule and tries to tie it all up in a neat bow for the ending, with a sort of a "where are they now" conclusion that just doesn't... fit. The worst offender is "The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless", which is the second longest short story at 33 pages, but feels like the longest by a mile, and not in a good way. It suffers from all of the problems mentioned: long amounts of world building with not much to show for it, pages spent on articulating details and quirks that don't matter a whole lot for the overall story, and so on. It's a "ballad" in the stereotypical sense that it's long-winded and drawn out, only to fizzle by its ending note. And this really hurts for me to say, because there have been so many better stories from him with more established purpose and plot done with half the pages as this story. But it was honestly a chore for me to get through. There are certain aspects that reel you back in, but not nearly enough of them. I was wanting more of those certain moments, past what the character’s philosophies and fetishes are in favor of getting right to his core issues, but seldom got them. It could be that some themes or blurbs within the story are lost on me, that I don't appreciate them enough to find them useful to the overall story, but I still stand by my belief that it's the worst- which I say loosely, as I really didn't hate it- of them all. Now that I think about it, I wonder if I feel this way because the main character isn't really established as Native American as are the main characters in 95% of Alexie’s other works. I can't help but think if, by not making the main character an Indian, he loses a bit of the Alexie magic that enchants his other stories as the ability for him to place himself in that character's position is somewhat gone. I wonder... To conclude this VERY long review, despite my gripes with some of the short stories, there are really wonderfully done pieces with either a strong personal message, an almost uncannily relatable tone, or a sense of depth that can only be brought forth by someone like Sherman Alexie, given his background and his personal traumas. While it's not his best book, I would highly recommend giving it a read. I may have made the score lower than needed because of my own disappointment as a fan, but don't let this dissuade you! It's been 8 years now without a new book from Alexie, so if you want the most modern of his tales and the most current of his poetry, read this book. His subjects are so topical especially given the America we currently live in, you'll feel like he wrote them 8 months ago rather than 8 years. He tries new things and new techniques and that alone is bravery in print. If you're a fan as I am, you might not come away feeling totally satisfied, but you'll come away feeling content overall for having let yourself into the (physically damaged) head of Mr. Alexie.
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