Book 9: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Finished: February 11
Pages: 230

I've loved Sherman Alexie for a long time, and I don't know what has taken me so long to read his young adult stuff. I can totally understand why this novel won the National Book Award, much less the other 22 awards and honors. It is excellently written, with heartbreaking tragedy and an inside look at the world of our young people and their interactions with the world around them. It also has that insider's honesty about the ramifications of growing up on an Indian Reservation, the kind of people who work there, and the politics of that kind of life.
The story is narrated by Arnold Spirit Jr. Called Junior on the reservation, Arnold at the white school he attends, and illustrated by him as well. He communicates some of his best ideas through pictures, and they are at times both heartbreaking and hilarious.

The life of an Indian living on the reservation is a life that I would not want for myself. Arnold leaves the reservation school because a teacher asks him to find hope, to not let

When his grandmother dies, Arnold's mother reacts by sobbing violently, a reaction that is familiar to us all, and Arnold's poignant observation that "When anybody, not mater how old they are, loses a parent, I think it hurts the same as if you were only five years old, you know? I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents" shows how mature the narrator is.

As a white person, I am occasionally guilty of some of the things that are brought to light in this book, no matter the intentions. The misrepresentation of Indians in mainstream culture can have a pretty powerful impact on how we interact with one another. The novel is full of wonderful cartoons and illustrations that go a long way to put into words (1,00 to every picture) the things that Arnold tries to express about his life, and the lives of everyone on his reservation.

Good reading,
Caitlin