Who is the Killer in Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer?

Image Source: Fantastic Fiction

I’ve noticed this question appear many times in my blog stats, since I have a previous blog about the novel.

Now, I’m going to shed some light on that question.

The answer is that no one is sure and that’s why Sherman titled his book, “Indian Killer”. He wants the reader to see the title, and consider whether the murderer kills Indians or if the killer is an Indian.

Often, people tend to think the Killer is John, but to be honest that is all assumption because the book doesn’t clearly name a character as obviously guilty.

kn review :: books

The Gum Thief
Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland is best known for his book jPod and while I haven’t read the popular book, I doubt I will. I’m not being harsh; I’m being honest.

The Gum Thief started out with such promise. A forty-something man with a quite downhill life is working at Staples where he meets a young twenty-something girl. The two of them write back and forth to each other about life philosophies and woes. The first forty pages had me laughing out loud and agreeing with the main character’s cynical and depressing view of society. As the book crept on, I was still enjoying it because I thought I was waiting for something to happen. Here’s where my idea of a good modern novel and Coupland’s depart.

If nothing major would have happened in the book, I still would have given it more than one little lightning bolt. Modern stories, whether they be books, movies or poetry, have a spirit (if you could call it that) of apathy. People with less than satisfactory lives are introduced to us under the pretense that there is much change in store, yet because of the character’s flaws no change occurs or the change is not the saving grace
the character anticipated. The Gum Thief was a cop out.

I don’t mind spoiling the ending (because it was lame), but if you plan on reading, I would skip down to the next paragraph. Coupland ends his book with the most cliche of all modern novels. The depressed and distraught twenty-something attempts to take her life. Though it didn’t kill the character, it killed the book.

If you’d like to read it, go ahead. It will give you a few laughs and make you want to remember some of the lines, but it’s not the ‘great book’ you were hoping for.

Macbeth the Samurai

Image Source: Cliffnotes.com

Like most college student, sometimes I need a little help playing catch up with my reading. While making an Internet trip to cliffnotes.com for some interesting tidbits that would make me look better than everyone else during class discussion, I stumbled across a new way to read Shakespeare classics: manga style.

Anyone who has met me knows how much I love this pop culture phenomenon from the land of the rising sun. It looks like my manga collection has consumed my bookshelf! (I think my sister is secretly plotting to sell it all!) However, I’m not too excited to see Shakespeare in this form.

These versions were illustrated and abridged by Adam Sexton, a professor of writing and literature at NYU. Each book comes with a 4-page introduction to set the stage and still retains Shakespearian language in order to recognize famous passages.

I completely understand this new way of teaching Shakespeare. It’s more likely to get kids interested because they’re cashing in on a popular trend. However, I think it defeats the purpose of learning literature. It’s supposed to be challenging so a person has the chance to develop their analytical skills. Call me a purist, but I think I’ll pass on the manga Shakespeare for now. My shelf is about to collapse anyway.