Reservation Blues
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Sherman Alexie |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Reservation Blues is a 1995 novel by American writer Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene). The novel follows the story of the rise and fall of a rock and blues band of Spokane Indians from the Spokane Reservation. In 1995, Thomas Builds-The-Fire, Junior Polatkin, and Victor Joseph, who also appear in Sherman Alexie's short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, meet American blues musician Robert Johnson. He sold his soul to the devil in 1931 and claims to have faked his death seven years later. The three boys start a rock and blues band in Spokane using Johnson's enchanted guitar.
Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a storyteller who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. One day, blues artist Robert Johnson comes to the reservation. He gives Thomas his seemingly enchanted guitar, and goes up to the mountain to speak with Big Mom, a mysterious Indian woman who lives there. Together, Thomas and his former bullies, Junior Polatkin and Victor Joseph, form a band and start to tour.