Indian Killer

I also read this book by Sherman Alexie because he was recently a speaker on the "Author, Author!" series from the public library. A mystery of sorts, this is a bit of a departure from his typical work. Native American John Smith was taken from his mother at birth and given to a well-to-do Caucasian couple on Mercer Island, Washington. He never knew where he came from, what tribe his mother or father had been. Who knows if that is the factor that tipped him into schizophrenia. His adoptive parents doted on him, sought to expose him to Native American culture in many forms--books, movies, pow-wows, museums, time with a Native American Jesuit priest. But John never connected to his parents or his culture, except he was convinced he wanted to work the "high iron" as had the Mohawks who built skyscrapers in Manhattan.  At some point, John simply steps over the edge, metaphorically, when he starts killing people he believes have wronged Indians, and eventually he steps over the edge, literally, and plunges to his death. Other well-developed characters populate this book as well: a young university student and activist who takes on the professor of a Native American literature class, a local PI who is an Indian wannabee, and a bigoted radio show host who stirs up hate crimes in response to John's killings. I'm not sure what the message was here. Should Native American children never be adopted outside their tribe or by anyone of another ethnicity? Unlike  some of his other writing, and unlike his talks in person, in this book there is no humor (biting or otherwise) to relieve the understandable bitterness about the Native American genocide.