The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I loved this book and I am so grateful to the author too, because I finally found a book my 13 year-old reluctant reader could get her teeth into! I've been trying for ages to make a reader out of her but she just doesn't get into books very easily. She loved this and I'm now hunting for similar books for her. This is actually a great book for reluctant young readers because of the way it is set out as a diary, and includes the many illustrations and sketches the main character Junior draws. Junior lives on a Spokane Indian Reservation, where he has a tough time for a number of reasons. His mother and father both drink, his sister refuses to come out of the basement and he is regularly teased and beaten up for being different. He has one best friend, the slightly deranged Rowdy. One day he throws a book at a teacher and that teacher takes Junior aside and tells him he must go to a different school in order to break free from the reservation and find his own way in life. Inspired, Junior does just this. He's a tough kid, who now has to face suspicion and racism at his new school, while the people in his tribe turn their backs on him. He struggles through though, and this is certainly a book about struggle. It's written in such a friendly, optimistic way though, that you can't help smiling and falling a little bit in love with Junior. I read this book in a day it was so good. A wonderful ending too. Plenty to get your teeth into, for adults and kids.

This book is very funny and littered throughout with Arnold's cartoons. But it's also pretty heatbreaking. Why is it heartbreaking? Basically because Arnold's life sucks. He has hydrocephalus resulting in brain damage and a whole plethora of health issues, he has ten too many teeth (which get pulled out all at once by a dentist who believes Indians only feel half as much pain as others so only need half as much Novocaine) and everybody wants to, and do, beat him up (including thirty year old triplets!) because of these problems, except for Rowdy, his best and only friend.And this all happens in the first 20 or so pages. So, yeah, heart completely shattered at this point.But Alexie manages to mend my heart by making Arnold a funny and mostly well adjusted character. He knows that in order to have any sort of success in life, he needs to go to Reardan High. And if that causes him grief at the rez, then so be it, he gets grief there anyway. Reardan isn't even a great school, it's merely okay, but it's better than the school on the rez where the books are at least thirty years old.Of course, Alexie shatters my heart again. Reardan is thirty miles away from the rez and Arnold's family, like those around him, are dirt poor so a lot of the time he hitchhikes to and from school."After school, I'd ride the bus to the end of the line and wait for my folks.If they didn't come, I'd start walking.Hitchhiking in the opposite direction.Somebody was usually heading back home to the rez, so I'd usually catch a ride.Three times, I had to walk the whole way home.Twenty-two miles.I got blisters each time."It sometimes felt like lather, rinse, repeat. This, to me, took away some of the impact from the more emotional latter half of the novel.The main characters were well rounded. Yes, Arnold's parents were alcoholics but they also loved their son, spent time with him, talked to him and, more importantly, listened. There was a section of the book where Arnold compared his dysfunctional family to those of the white kids he went to school with. Their parents were never around, never see their kids, never talk or listen to them. Guess what Arnold preferred. Even the kids at Reardan, from the jock to the pretty girl, had depth. The book was as much a character study of those around him as it was of Arnold himself.It was a novel I enjoyed, and one I'd recommend, but not one I fell in love with.

The title of this book would suggest one of these Pulp Fiction-type, rambling voices (can you tell I don't care for them very much?) - but it isn't.It's funny, and light-hearted except for the heartbreaking honesty of the story that is being told. I enjoyed this book mostly for the window it opened for me into life on an Indian reservation, and how it reflects back any naive, Western romantic notions of what "a native" is.So on one hand, this is simply a great coming of age story. On the other hand, it's a social study that holds up a mirror to non-Indians and shows you a life so unlike your own.And don't let yourself be put off by it being a "young adult" book - it crosses over neatly.

This is a great little book that has the look and feel of a children's publication, yet it is principally for adults (there is a warning for children to avoid the book on the back cover).The story is interspersed and enhanced by wonderful drawings throughout, describing a native American's experiences moving away from a reservation to a mostly non-Indian school. Every so oftem you have to stop reading to take in a sharp observation on life. This is what swung me to give it 5 stars.Delightful and fun, a model of effortless reading.

I first heard about this book because it was on a book list for a children's lit module I am taking at uni, and I'm so glad I have read it. The books chronicles the life of Junior, a Native American Indian as he grows up and deals with many social issues both on and off the rez, including death, alcoholism, racism, eating disorders and coming of age. While many people might look at that list and think it inappropriate for their children, Sherman Alexi deals with these issues sensitively and through the eyes of a young teenager, giving a very empathetic account of how to cope with issues like this, which is far more than children will get from, say, Grand Theft Auto or even things like James Bond.This book comes with a warning that it is unsuitable for younger readers and that it has sexually explicit content, but compared to say, the last Twilight book, the sexual content is mild and, quite frankly, normal (unlike falling in love with a member of the undead). The pictures make it easy to read and visualise characters and the informal tone means that it could potentially be an excellent book for reluctant readers (particularly boys). Above all, this book is awesome :) and should be celebrated and cherished.