YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME

A Memoir

By Sherman Alexie

457 pp. Little, Brown and Company. $28.

In one of his many books, Willie Nelson described how the singer Roger Miller (“King of the Road”) was pulled over for erratic driving. “Can I see your license?” the cop asked. “Can I shoot your gun?” Miller replied.

In Sherman Alexie’s new memoir, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” his father, a Coeur d’Alene Native American, has a different method of antagonizing police. During one confrontation, Alexie writes, his father called a white cop “Custer.”

We don’t learn how this insult was received. But the author’s father, Sherman Alexie Sr., didn’t need sarcasm to find trouble. He served stints in prison for burglary and forgery. He was arrested for driving drunk. He rarely held a job and was covered in jailhouse tattoos.

Alexie’s father was present mostly as an absence. His son worshiped him anyway. “He was physically graceful and strong, adept at ballroom waltzes, powwow dancing, and basketball,” Alexie writes. Dad was drunk much of the time, but he was kind. His son was certain of his love.