The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

A run of readers call the collection uneven, weaker in its front half and stronger by the back, with character names blurring between entries and timelines jumping between real and fantastical until stories cut off before resolving. One reader admits the book is “hard to make heads or tails of most of the stories” and rates “Three stars or less for about half” of them. A few reviewers say they never emotionally connected with any single story despite acknowledging Alexie's technical skill, one flagging that “too many felt self-consciously contrived.” The book is also more explicit than some expect going in, “full of language, sex, alcoholism, anger, and desperation,” which cools a few readers' enthusiasm even when they admire the craft.