The Business of Fancydancing (1992) is Sherman Alexie's first published novel. It is a collection of many poems and five short stories. Like most of Alexie's works, these poems and short stories are about Native Americans. Most deal with themes of belonging, identity, alienation, cultural assimilation, and very broadly, inner conflict.
The book was also adapted into a film of the same name, written and directed by Alexie himself (in his directorial debut) and released in 2002. It received middling reviews; on movie review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, it holds a critics rating of 57% and an audience rating of 73%.
Upon release, Alexie's The Business of Fancydancing was met with glowing critical reviews and solid financial success (it sold over 10,000 copies). On Amazon, it holds an incredible rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars (with a total of 34 reviews). On book review aggregator Goodreads.com, it holds a similarly tremendous rating of 4.18 out of 5 stars (with a total of 1,898 ratings). One reviewer on that site praised the book and proclaimed that "[Alexie's] writing is so painful, powerful, and very real."
