"It's logical" shows the author's heavy hand, having to comment on a line that loses its irony in the process.
Alexie does not have the stylistic grace of Carver, nor the wildly dark playfulness of Bukowski. He is more subdued than Bukowski and less skilled and/or talented than Carver. It is difficult for this reader to see what especially differentiates Alexie from other negativistic (or starkly realistic) young writers of fiction, aside from the fact of his own ethnic background and that of his main characters. One has to wonder, however unfairly, if Alexie would have gained the notoriety he has were he not an American-Indian.
Joanna Scott writes of Alexie's short fiction that it
might be called slam fiction: short works that seem designed, at least in part, for public performance. Stories of this nature tend to be made up of short paragraphs, quick dialogue, absurd situations and, most
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