Last Updated on July 18, 2024
Resident Justine Parezo reviews We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff [New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021] on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at 7 PM in the Auditorium.
Every now and then, happenstance brings us to a gem of an experience. We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy was one of those for me. I came upon this book in a Hudson News Store when I was about to embark on the last leg of a tiring trip and I was out of reading material. I gravitated toward a display of Native American themed books, largely because I had recently reviewed There There by Tommy Orange, a book cut with very different facets. That book had left me wondering if generational poverty and self-destructive behaviors were the plague of all Native Americans alive today. It just didn’t seem possible. This book, Real Estate, confirmed the exception. Not only did it demolish the stereotype of the dour-faced Indian; but also, it decimated the image of them as shiftless and irresponsible.
Combined personal stories shared alongside the history of the American entertainment industry and American history reveal the threads that have woven the Native American experience, be it one of tradition and culture or a wilderness devoid of ancestry. The author’s insightful and refreshing approach leaves readers with a unique perspective on both history and entertainment.
Canadian author Kliph Nesteroff was referred to as the “premier popular historian of comedy” in the New York Times.
Resident Justine Parezo is active in Little Theater and hosts Voices of the Council, among many other contributions to Charlestown.