Sherman Alexie’s book, “Reservation Blues,” argues that wanting more than you need, can have a negative effect. Alexie, being part Native American, writes from the Native American perspective about life in a band that wanted fame and money. The band started out as three Native Americans from the Spokane tribe, Thomas, Victor, and Junior. But soon grew to include Chess and Checkers from the Flathead reservation, and for a small period of time, Betty and Veronica, two white women that they picked up in Seattle. He describes the band’s hardships and losses as they struggle to become big, like the death of Junior at the end of the book. I think that this might exaggerate life of a normal Native American band. I was expecting more structure on how the band moved forward through their struggles. When the band wanted fame, they got some, but ended up losing more than they gained, Victor lost his guitar, the whole band lost Junior to suicide and also the respect of their tribe. Chess and Checkers wanted to leave the Flathead reservation to see the outside world, but in return lost a permanent home and steady job so that they could chase their dreams. Robert Johnson, a character based on a Blues singer from the early 1900s, wanted to become the best guitar player ever but had to sell his soul to the Gentleman for it. After reading about the losses that the band had to face in return for a little bit of fame, the rewards of being in a band are maybe not worth it. Perhaps, if they had stayed local and were not tempted by fame and money, they might have had more luck in the end. Anyone with the ambitions to progress will understand the struggles of this Native American band. A group that thinks starting a band and going big is easy, might think twice about that after reading this book.