SOURCE: A review of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, in The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. 13, No. 3, Fall, 1993, pp. 237-38.

In the following review of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Schneider briefly examines Alexie's narrative voice.

Each of the twenty-two stories in Sherman Alexie's collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven examines the modern problems and contradictions of reservation life. Most of the stories are situated on the Spokane Indian Reservation, which Alexie's lyrical voice describes through stories that examine not only the real problems of alcoholism or unemployment but also happier moments: romance, basketball, and dancing. Alexie's voice is strongest when the real problems collide with the lighter moments—in these instances his prose is brutally honest and depicts the horrible strains of poverty, alcoholism, and violence—but also shows the flip side: the tribe continues to exist in...