The Protagonist's Life Coule Be a Great Story

I am hoping the rest of the book is something like a Sherman Alexie story. I liked the premise - a Native American male struggling to overcome disadvantages of life on an "Indian" Reservation and the lack of opportunities that lead to an early death for younger brother Cheeto. The job-opportunity scene as well as the bar scene kept me reading and seem to be the start of a good story, but I am a little puzzled about what the animal was - or was not- in the food freezer. Maybe I should have reread that section again slowly. Did anyone else feel that a first person narrator would have been better?