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Friday, June 19, 2009

Books Today in Get Off My Lawn

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 4:48 PM

0c55/1245455123-2430838-4-get-off-my-lawn.jpg Bookshelves of Doom reports that Seattle's own Sherman Alexie has set off another controversy with his book The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian.

"I decided to read the book in order to help my son with the content," Anderson said. "I wasn't prepared for what I read. It was shocking. If there were just swear words, I could deal with that. But sections of this book are just vulgar."

Anderson said she was stunned by descriptions of masturbation, racist language, graphic depictions of sex and references to bestiality.

"I decided there was no way my son was going to read that book," she said.

As you may or may not know, almost every call for censorship earns the disputed book's author the equivalent of a brand-new car in royalties, so congratulations to Mr. Alexie.

And, unrelated to the above news, Mark Helprin's very long book about how people on the internet suck is getting a couple of very long reviews. I would rather just ignore it. (Via Metafilter.)

(T-shirt from Red Bubble.)

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Not to mention which it doesn't portray America as a lily white place of racial purity and prim and proper behavior.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 19, 2009 at 5:30 PM

I guess the book would indeed offend a racist, masturbating pig-fucker. Can we write that on slog?

Posted by kinaidos on June 19, 2009 at 6:38 PM

Nice work, Sherman!

Posted by TVDinner

on June 19, 2009 at 6:57 PM

Who the hell is "Anderson?" I've clicked on all the links and I can't find the hated, overprotective parent, "Anderson." Am I missing something obvious?

Posted by Zeldfelder on June 19, 2009 at 7:05 PM

"descriptions of masturbation, racist language, graphic depictions of sex and references to bestiality"

Seattle Schools' Reading List

Summer, 2009.

Posted by Hot 4 teacher on June 19, 2009 at 7:09 PM

Now I want that shirt and Alexies's book. Yeah.

Posted by Violet_DaGrinder

on June 19, 2009 at 7:36 PM

7 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy

*Sigh!* I love Helprin's fiction, absolutely LOVE it. I keep multiple copies of "Winters Tale" on my bookshelf, just so I can give the extras to friends to read, and not have to worry about getting them back, I love his fiction so much.

But this? Meh, I think I'll pass.

Stick to what you know best Mr. Helprin - fiction - and leave the curmudgeonly rantings to the experts.

Posted by COMTE

on June 20, 2009 at 12:03 AM

I don't see any censorship here. As best I can tell, a parent is concerned about a book that is assigned reading in her child's school. Whether you think a person's reasons are good or not, there is an enormous difference between arguing that a certain book shouldn't be mandatory for students to read, versus forbidding anyone to ever read that book. I don't see any suggestion that reading or possessing or purchasing Part Time Indian would be illegal or punishable in any way.

Posted by Name on June 20, 2009 at 7:30 AM

"Seattle's own"? He's a Spokane.

Posted by gillsans on June 20, 2009 at 10:46 AM

Way to go Lester.

Posted by Mr. Baker on June 20, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Why not just create a Sherman Alexie tag for the infinite number of Alexie stories you post...or, maybe just a separate site for ALL things Alexie.

aack.

Posted by michael strangeways