You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

Reviewed by Casey

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Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Native American reservation in Wellpinit, WA with his three siblings and their alcoholic parents. This memoir presents poems, essays, and intimate family photos that reflect upon Alexie's complex feelings about his childhood and early adulthood.

Alexie's love for his family is complicated and raw, which he explains in depth. He focuses again and again on the complicated relationship with his mother, "a beautiful, mercurial, abusive, intelligent, complicated, and very human woman." This book is hilarious in some parts, yet, after his mother dies, it provides tender insights into grief and the many different kinds of love Alexie has experienced.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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