Summary
Arnold "Jr." Spirit makes a life changing decision after discovering that his textbook is the same, exact textbook that his mother used nearly thirty years before when she was in high school. In an effort to find "hope," he decides to transfer from his poverty-stricken school on the Spokane Reservation to the all white Reardan High School, leaving behind his only friend, Rowdy. Throughout the course of the school year, Arnold overcomes prejudice, becomes a basketball star, deals with nearly overwhelming grief caused by several tragic deaths and makes new friends.
Bibliography
Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
My Impression
I think this is an AMAZING book. It is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I found it to be reminiscent of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Arnold's authentic voice in the novel draws the reader in, and the reader becomes invested in what happens to him. As I read, I laughed, cried and raged right along with him. He is a very relatable, real character. Readers can identify with his struggles. Readers can relate to the tough choices he has to make and to the grief he has to face. As this piece is autobiographical fiction, his story serves to act as a beacon of hope. If the narrator (modeled after Sherman Alexie's real childhood) can overcome such seemingly overwhelming obstacles, anyone can. Also, the cartoons throughout the novel added depth to Arnold's character and to the storyline.
To Read or Not to Read: I definitely think that you should read this book. Hey, I think that everyone should read this book.
Professional Reviews
Publisher's Weekly
"Screenwriter, novelist and poet, Alexie bounds into YA with what might be a Native American equivalent of Angela's Ashes, a coming-of-age story so well observed that its very rootedness in one specific culture is also what lends it universality, and so emotionally honest that the humor almost always proves painful. Presented as the diary of hydrocephalic 14-year-old cartoonist and Spokane Indian Arnold Spirit Jr., the novel revolves around Junior's desperate hope of escaping the reservation. As he says of his drawings, "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats." He transfers to a public school 22 miles away in a rich farm town where the only other Indian is the team mascot. Although his parents support his decision, everyone else on the rez sees him as a traitor, an apple ("red on the outside and white on the inside"), while at school most teachers and students project stereotypes onto him: "I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other." Readers begin to understand Junior's determination as, over the course of the school year, alcoholism and self-destructive behaviors lead to the deaths of close relatives. Unlike protagonists in many YA novels who reclaim or retain ethnic ties in order to find their true selves, Junior must separate from his tribe in order to preserve his identity. Jazzy syntax and Forney's witty cartoons examining Indian versus White attire and behavior transmute despair into dark humor; Alexie's no-holds-barred jokes have the effect of throwing the seriousness of his themes into high relief. Ages 14-up."
[Book review of the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by S. Alexie]. (2007, August 20). Publishers Weekly, 254(33), 70-71. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/home/index.html.
Kirkus Reviews
"The Spokane Indian reservation of Sherman Alexie's first venture into young-adult literature, which won the National Book Award, meets the very definition of "dead-end." When Junior's beloved dog Oscar gets sick, there's no trip to the vet, just a bullet, because a "bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that." Junior puts all his love for his family and his people into the difficult decision to go to high school off the reservation. Kirkus noted Alexie's "fluid narration [that] deftly mingles raw feeling with funny, sardonic insight." Indeed, the virtuoso control keeps the reader teetering between tears and laughter, and often both simultaneously. It's an achingly clear-eyed look at the realities of reservation life, where it's not unusual for a 14-year-old to have gone to some 42 funerals in his brief life. "[W]hat I love most about this book, and Sherman's storytelling, is that it celebrates being your individual self, no matter what external or internal pressure you come against," says Jennifer Hunt, a senior editor at Little, Brown. "It isn't always pretty or easy but pursuing it can open up the world to you. At a pivotal point in the book Junior comes to the realization that he belongs to many tribes…not just the one he was born into. And while the things we are 'born into' are important--family, race, sexuality, gender--it's equally important to figure out the other things that make up who we really are."
[Book review of the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. by S. Alexie]. (2007, December 1). Kirkus Reviews, 75(23), 4. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.comLibrary Uses
- Along with a group of other books, such as Born Confused, The Skin I'm in, and American Born Chinese, this book could be used in a multi-cultural book talk.
- The library could host a cultural day focusing on Native Americans. Other than stereotypes, most people do not know a lot about Native Americans. This would be a great opportunity to share knowledge, history and artifacts of various tribes.
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