“It is fashionable in book reviews to praise an author’s prose as ‘luminous’ or ‘lyrical’ or ‘riveting,’ but the language in Van Alst’s text goes beyond such descriptors. It generates heat and light. It is electric, forceful, magnetic—though often coolly understated. Like city neon or the third rail of the elevated train . . . the prose spits sparks that weld the read to the page.”—David L. Moore, Studies in American Indian Literatures (SAIL)
“Irreverent, voice-driven, and deeply emotional. . . . Van Alst never sacrifices the pleasures of a good read to any kind of agenda, and his deadly dark sense of humor and the joy he takes in language itself shine from every page.”—Kathleen Rooney, Chicago Tribune
“Wickedly great.”—Brandon Hobson, The Millions
“The combination of authenticity, poetic musings, and gritty realism in the author’s voice makes this book extraordinary.”—Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing
“There is poetry in this language. . . . The book also contains some of the most accurate and beautifully evocative descriptions of Chicago through the eyes of a disaffected public-school kid that this like-minded North Side native has ever read.”—Jennifer Levin, Santa Fe New Mexican
“Theodore Van Alst Jr. has created an exciting, compelling, and major work of literature.”—Michael Snyder, Transmotion
“Sacred Smokes is a raw and gritty coming-of-age story that will make you laugh, cry, and feel the pain of growing up Native in the big city of Chicago.”—Lakota Country Times
“These stories will take you on a journey.”—Erika T. Wurth, BuzzFeed News
“While Van Alst’s stories are gripping in their unfiltered and unforgiving realism, it is their style that serves as the focal point of the collection. Prose becomes poetry in the way Van Alst renders lines of exposition and dialogue, many having the look and sound of song lyrics.”—Douglas Powell, Concho River Review
“A powerful debut . . . that defies stereotypes through its raw and personal tales. The writing in Sacred Smokes is beautifully poetic, and each story is fluidly connected by its impactful prose and insightful observations.”—Jenni Herrick, Shepherd Express (Milwaukee)
“A masterpiece of Native American literature and of working-class letters in general.”
—Martin Billheimer, CounterPunch
“Whether it be the scorching internal dialog, the harassing-assed cops, the brutal and at times hilarious violence, or the absolutely poetic vulgarity of being a Native American gangbanger in Chicago, Sacred Smokes is a major contribution to bottom-dog urban realism.”—Bill Hillman, Newcity Lit
“Making a character like Teddy, who inhabits his world fully and also chafes against the confines of that world’s edges, does important, necessary work in pushing against stereotype. By writing with such precision about urban Native and non-Native characters, kids in gangs, kids who grow up to join the Navy and to quote scholars and parse Bible passages, Van Alst delivers an important, thoughtful first book of fiction.”—Toni Jensen, Waxwing
“I haven’t read anything this real and raw and necessary in a long time. . . . It’s a book that’ll lodge in you. There’s moments and lines and images in here that cut through all the lies, right into the heart of childhood, right into the beating heart of Indian country.”—Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels: A Novel
“‘Why do you write shit like that?’ One of the characters in Van Alst's collection utters that question, blown away by what he's just heard. I echo that question—about all Van Alst's stories—but I know the answer: these are truths, on fire, full of pain, and deeply satisfying.”
—Debbie Reese, founder, American Indians in Children’s Literature
“Sacred Smokes knocked me out with its hyperreal voice of an Indian gang member trying to survive the streets of Chicago. He sings his people’s blues in fast-river poetry that shakes your mind and defies stereotypes. A necessary read!”—Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer
