The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)

Before reading Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian I had very low hopes of the book being any good. Personally, I am not much of a reader, but I decided to give this book a try. Let me tell you, I enjoyed the book, from the comics to the actual story, it was so entertaining! As I flipped through the pages, absorbing more of the story, I found myself getting more into the book. Within a few hours, I was done with the book. As a teenager, I loved the humor carefully crafted by the author, it seemed like I was reading an actual book from a teenager. Before doing research on the book, it made me surprised the story was fiction. The story can be entirely made up, but I imagined the story was a close spitting image of what some Native-Americans on reservations have to go through. However, after I’ve done my research Alexie said, “If I were to guess at the percentage, it would be about seventy-eight percent true” (Horn Book Magazine). The book was published September 12 in 2007. Over 10 years later, the humor is still funny and it is pretty relatable. The author, Sherman Alexie, grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and is best known for writing stories and films about his experiences as an Indigenous American. For this book specifically, he changed few details by making it more humorous to fit the category for young adult fiction. The overall plot of the book is a young teen named Arnold Spirit Jr. who lives on an Indian reservation and feels the whole world is against him. Born with birth defects easily prone to seizures and suffering from a stutter, he was raised by alcoholic parents who had very little to nothing money income. Junior was constantly bullied and to escape from this, Junior was passionate about drawing cartoons. After a talk with an important figure at school, Junior realizes he has to get out of the reservation. Junior transferred to an all-white high school called Reardon High School. There and then he faces even more bullying and tragedies in his life, from being called a traitor by his own people to important people in his life dying. Despite all this, Junior continued to draw cartoons and used humor to get over all the hardships and eventually found himself no longer feeling like an outcast. The most compelling part of the book was the characters. Overall, the characters were well developed. Every character has their own unique and distinct personality. I sometimes find myself confused or lost when a book has so many characters and very little information on them. However, Sherman Alexie was able to establish each character memorably. On another note, I wish more historical context of each character were provided, I really wanted to know more about the mysterious, drunk Eugene (when you read the book, you’ll know exactly what I mean). Sherman Alexie seemed to have put a lot of thought into the making of this book. Reading the book, everything flowed perfectly. The introduction of himself and his family to the transition of how life is like on the reservation then to Reardon High including all the hardships he had to face, the transitions were so smooth. I never found myself lost while reading this book. The book was not predictable at all, it is for sure an intriguing and original piece. While reading the book, there were few things that may seem controversial to other readers. There were few accounts where profanity and sexual references were used. The book also discusses alcohol, abuse, and bullying related to mental disabilities several times. However, I think all these controversial topics are important to learn about because it’s real life. In life, people use profanity, alcoholics exist, and those with mental disabilities do suffer from bullying. Topics like these make the book relatable in a way and the audience can have a good laugh from the dark humor. The overall message of the book appears to be a message of how important it is to have hope. Even if it seems like you are doomed to fail, you should have a positive hope and outtake for everything and you’ll achieve to what once seemed to be the impossible. From reading this, I have learned some of the few hardships of many that Native-Americans who live on reservations may have. I was close-minded to all the stereotypical things about Native-Americans to realize things like the stories in the book mentioned can actually happen. A reader can take away the hardships of a Native-American teenager who wants to live two lives as Junior from the Rez and as Arnold from Reardon High School. I would recommend teenagers in high school and young adults to read Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the book would be most humorous and relatable to those in that age group. In addition, the book is a great tool to become open-minded of the issues that Natives who live in reservations must face. I would not recommend to younger children or even teenagers in middle school because of the few controversial topics, such as the profanity and sexual references that younger children may not understand. I can image parents being not so happy with their 10-year-old kid asking what an erection is. I highly recommend for everyone (young adults and up) to read this book! It was very entertaining and eye-opening.

Sherman Alexie is one of the greatest authors of all time. Let me explain this. He has the ability to speak TO YOU through his words. Every time I read one of his books, I feel like he's talking to me and telling me his life story. His writing always sucks me in from the first page. I always laugh and cry, because let's face it, he's funny, but the stories themselves are heartbreaking, and there is no doubt in my mind that the stories he tells are at least inspired by true events, and that breaks my heart even more. Alexie's unique voice, sarcastic sense of humor, and well-developed, unique cast of characters add to his engrossing plots to make unforgettable books. True Diary is no exception to that. True Diary is told from Junior's POV, and you can't help but feel sympathy for Junior right away. He was born with water on the brain, after all, and that's enough to make anyone feel bad for you... or call you names, depending on if you're in high school or not. Ahh the best years of your life, high school is not. Junior tells a story of poverty, heartbreak, love, and loss. He explains life on the reservation and lets people know that it's not anything like most people would expect. Junior's story is an inspiration to all of us, regardless of our backgrounds, because he never lets anything get him down. He fights for himself, for an education, and for a life. That sets him apart from the others on the reservation, and they judge him even more because he has ambitions. But Junior doesn't give up... he never gives up. Junior gets angry because his reservation school textbook is over 30 years old. He throws the book and gets suspended. The teacher isn't mad at him, however, and after giving Junior a pep talk, Junior decides to go to an all white high school so that he can actually get a good education. Junior's parents are too poor to get him there on most days, though, and he ends up walking over 20 miles there and 20 miles back just to get an education. His best friend from the reservation, Rowdy, hates him for leaving, and Junior feels all alone in this new world. At the white high school, Junior experiences blatant racism from the students, but he quickly shows them that he won't take their crap, and he actually makes some really good friends. He tries to hide how poor he is, but they find out. Instead of judging him, they try to help him. Throughout the novel Junior evolves, and the reader goes on this emotional journey of growing up with him. You can't help but root for Junior, and when things go wrong, you cry for him. The book isn't too serious, though, because Alexie is wonderfully sarcastic. I was torn between laughing and crying throughout the whole novel. Every single character in the book is well-developed. There are no cookie-cutter types... at least not from my perspective. Everyone is dynamic and unpredictable. Alexie does a terrific job of showing that no one's life is what it seems. There are many surprises, both good and bad in this novel. Nothing is straight-forward because people's lives aren't straight-forward. We're all complicated, and it's clear that Alexie understands that. The pacing of the book is excellent, and there isn't a single dull moment. There are a lot of events that happen throughout the novel to keep the reader engaged, and when something tragic or hilarious isn't happening, then Junior is drawing cartoons of how he sees things, which is pretty funny. I really loved the addition of the drawings to the text. It made the book that much richer. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book that you do not want to miss. If you haven't read the novel yet, then you are missing out. If you've never read anything by Sherman Alexie before, then I am sad for you. You must get this book. You must read it now.

Having been in the classroom for over five years, few texts have served as many purposes and prompted more meaningful discussions with my students than this contemporary novel. Though I had heard of Sherman Alexie prior to reading Part-Time Indian, I had always thought of his writing as being much more mature and adult. It is evident in this novel, but lends itself brilliantly to teenagers as a classroom text study. The character of Junior is honest and vulnerable. He runs the gamut of teenage emotions, and Alexie is able to provide a connection for most teenage situations in this coming of age novel. However, the potential for this character is exponential, but at times only the surface of this character is scratched. He navigates the transition from his reservation school and life to that of the suburban Reardan school with ease, a transition in which most teenagers would flounder. For a rather short novel, very deep and penetrating topics are covered, such as race, socio-economic status, death, alcoholism, and domestic abuse. While these topics really lend themselves to meaningful dialogue with students, I would strongly suggest focusing on one or two of these, rather than trying to cover them all with equal merit. Though I have never gravitated toward graphic novels for pleasure reading, this text relies heavily on the illustrations that accompany the prose. This is one of the few times that I have enjoyed the graphics, and find that they compliment the text without distracting from Alexie's language. In fact, the cartoons are most beneficial to classroom instruction, and my students have enjoyed getting to see life through Junior's eyes. They allow conversation about perception and point of view, and the activities that are possible surrounding cartoons and graphic representations are endless. Overall, this book is more than valuable in the secondary ELA classroom. My students thoroughly enjoy the witty writing and the dynamic main character, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for either a pleasure or instructional read.

I was looking for a book to write an essay for my Race and Ethnicity class when I came across The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. I had read an excerpt of it about a year ago in a humanities class and remembered that, although short, it was charming. Before I say how much I loved this book, I want to point out that I read a lot of the Amazon reviews about it. I read and five star and some one star. Some of the one star reviews almost scared me away from reading it calling it immature, vulgar, and unintelligent. They said it was wildly inappropriate for teens and some even said it was anti-Christian. I gave it a chance anyway and honestly none of those things are true. I'm not saying there wasn't strong language, or masturbation topics but it was very brief and didn't compromise the integrity of the overall message what so ever. So as a result of the negative reviews I proceeded with caution. My expectations were pretty low going in however I was immediately surprised. I was hooked right away. Junior is a complex and likable character. I was so completely blown away by how amazing this book is. Kids should read this book because it's so relatable. It's real, it's raw, and somehow manages to touch your heart and make you cry. Seriously, you laugh and cry with Junior. As a sociology major, I took a special interest in this book. I was captivated by how Alexie painted such a clear picture of the stereotypes of Native Americans, especially those on the reservations. He included how intimidating and difficult it would be to try to assimilate into a new culture, by using the metaphor that Junior had been rocketed to a different planet where he didn't know the rules. Junior represents minorities who feel oppressed or feel inclined to perpetuate that self fulfilling prophecy. He is the kid who had a dream and gave himself more credit than did the rest of the world. Junior comes from a long line of chronic poverty, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy. In other words, not very much hope or promise. And although real life is much more complicated than a fiction book, it is a wonderful thing to dream and to be reminded to never sell yourself short. One of my favorite elements Alexie used to portray the racial inequality in his book was by creating two halves of the main character. One is Junior. He's Native American, poor, and lives on a reservation. He is everything traditional Indian, through and through. And you have his other half, Arnold, who identifies as white, who as this bright future, and his cup is overflowing with hope! But we're still talking about the same character. This is so important because it emphasizes how race is a social cultural construct. He says how in traveling between the two towns, the white town and the reservation, he experienced an extreme solitariness, where he was half-Indian in one place and half-white in the other. His identity was changing because he now has this outside influence that was Rearden in his life that was making him less of an Indian by making him more white. Surely the color of his skin or other Indian features did not change into Caucasian features. It's pointing out a very influential socially constructed idea that affects everyone on some level. It's an important thing for people to learn, especially early on. Overall I loved this book, I read it in two days, I will read it again, and I definitely recommend it. I loved following along with Junior in his journey to figure out what he really is capable of. It's an inspiring and down to earth story of a boy who faced stereotypes and racial inequity as well as many deep tragedies and overcame it all. This is a very easy and quick read with such a powerful message. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

This book is a MUST READ! I read it in one day, it's so great, I ordered all of his other books I loved it so much! Now I have 5 and am SO happy I read the 1st one.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -by Sherman Alexie I admit it, I've ben in love with Sherman Alexie's writing for years. Especially his poetry. I don't know why it took me so long to read this book, but I now have and truly admit, I love it. Oh, there is a ** above, I'd best explain now, before I forget. I read this on my Kindle Fire, and there are several delightful illustrations, unfortunately, I could not expand them beyond postage stamp size, which is too bad, because they are wonderful. They are drawn by the protagonist, and add a great deal to the story. They should be seen full size. Mr. Alexie is a member of the Spokane Indian Tribe, and this is his story, with a few changes. The hero of the story, Arnold "Junior" Spirit, is a young man struggling to find himself, and decides to leave the reservation and attend a 'white' school in town. He is the only brown skinned student. And the poorest of the lot, but he has an upbeat attitude and earns acceptance from his white friends, and enmity from his Indian ones. This novel tells about those experiences, being half white while on the 'rez' and half Indian while at Reardon with a great sense of humor. Mr. Alexie is not afraid to tackle situations that the young people of today face, and he does it well. I can offer absolutely no hesitation in recommending this book. In fact, there are several study questions in the back, making this an ideal book for classroom reads. Arnold is a very likable protagonist, as are most of his friends. He is fourteen, hormones are beginning to rage through his veins, he's discovered girls, one in particular. He competes on the basketball court, and when Reardon plays Wellpinit, his old Indian school, he is booed and beaten by his ex teammates who think he's a traitor. The first game. The next game is a bit different. I laughed out loud in this book. Although I didn't cry, I was genuinely sad in a few places. I would love to have Arnold stop by for a visit, he's quirky, and fun, and not afraid of life. I strongly suspect Mr. Alexie is the same. I'd love to have him stop by for a visit, too. For a good read from twelve years on, buy and read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I think it would make a great movie. Would love to see Studio Ghibli do something with it!

Sherman Alexie is one of the finest writers working in America – or anywhere – today. His novels, short stories, and poetry often depict life on Alexie’s home turf, the Spokane Indian Reservation, and his writings are peopled with characters who are desperately real. In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Alexie created an alter-ego, Arnold Spirit (a.k.a. “Junior) who lived on the Spokane “Rez.” Junior was fourteen-years-old at the time of this story, and he had already been to forty-two funerals in his relatively short lifetime. He noted in his diary that most of the deaths were the result of drinking, and he constantly struggled with the impact that alcohol had on his family, friends, and his tribe. During the span of just a few pages in this novel, Junior chronicled the death of his beloved grandmother who never had a drink in her life but was run down by a drunk Indian as she was walking home from a powwow, the death of his dad’s best friend who was shot in the face and killed in a deadly disagreement with another Indian man over who should get the last drink in the bottle, and the deaths of his older sister and her husband who were passed out drunk in their small trailer and burned to death when someone at their party turned on a hotplate to warm some soup and then forgot to turn it off. Junior also understood how poverty shaped the lives of him and his friends. Sometimes there was food to eat, sometimes there wasn’t. Sometimes there was gas for his father to take him to school, and sometimes he had to walk and hitchhike. Some years there was money for Christmas gifts, and other years they had to do without – while his father slumped off in shame to get drunk on what little money they did have. But as imperfect as Junior’s parents might have been – and his father was plenty imperfect – Junior also understood that they loved him. He remarked in the diary that his parents were always in attendance at any school function or game in which he was a participant, and he also noted that some of the white parents (at a school he would later attend) would routinely skip their kids’ programs and games. While life did not deal Junior the best of hands, he recognized the good things and did not wallow in self-pity. Junior was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid on the brain and had to undergo surgeries and special care as a child. After that rough start, however, he developed into an intelligent boy who liked to read, write, draw cartoons, and play basketball. When he was fourteen he was challenged by a teacher to look beyond the Rez and make something of himself. It was at that point that Junior decided, almost on a whim, that he wanted to leave the Rez school and travel twenty-two miles down the road to a school that was almost entirely white. It was the move to the new school, Reardan, that led Junior to regard himself as a “part-time” Indian. He was Indian when he was on the Rez, and white when he was at Reardan. Many of his friends on the Rez, such as his best friend, Rowdy, turned their backs on him and regarded him as a traitor to his Indian ethnicity, while, as the outsider at Reardan, it took considerable effort on Junior’s part for him to begin to fit in. One develops the notion while reading this amazing novel, that Sherman Alexie, a former Rez Indian who now has a very successful life in Seattle, knows that of which he writes. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” has been banned in some locales and schools probably due in small part because of casual teen discussion of sexual matters like masturbation and erections. But I suspect that some seek to keep others from reading the book because it starkly portrays the racism that original Americans often have to endure, and it shows the overwhelming poverty in which they must survive. The characters are wonderful, warm, and compassionate, but their circumstances are spare and bleak. Like everything that Sherman Alexie writes, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a masterpiece, one that everyone who thinks they understand the breadth and scope of what America really is, in total, should take the time to read. It is, like many other great works of literature, a mirror on who we are as a people - and like many mirror-images, it can be very disturbing. And great literature, like clear insight, is often disturbing.

The word “Indian” conjures up images of men on horses and in buckskin pants, who live in teepees and are wild, untamed,and savage. The word “Indian” is not even politically correct anymore, now the term is Native American. People do not think of modern day Native Americans as much as the older Native Americans. A distant idea of reservations comes to mind when thinking of Native Americans now, but they are mostly gone from the public’s mind. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian looks at the world from an untapped and unexpected perspective of a teenaged Native American boy on a dirt-poor reservation. The Native American author’s past has influenced his writing of this book ,as most white authors would write about Native Americans in a historical context. Reading the book is overall an enjoyable experience. This book is rife with social commentary and observations about human nature which is what I enjoyed most.The immaturity of the main character is a bit off-putting, but fits with Arnold being a fourteen year old. The main character is likable and the reader wants to see his “coming of age” story end with a happy ending. The tone is light-hearted because Arnold has an unusual outlook on life and tries not to take anything seriously. Arnold is an artist who draws cartoons and there are pictures scattered throughout the book. They offer some comic relief and illustrate plot points and emotions. The drawings are very witting and clever as well as artistically pleasing. I choose this book from a list of books with a hero's journey to read alongside The Odyssey. As a freshman in an Enriched I did not recognize the author, but I was intrigued by the summary so I picked it over classics liked Alice in Wonderland, Siddhartha, and the Hobbit. Arnold’s hero’s journey is different than the classics but it has the same basic steps. I would not have read this book on my own. The unknown author and unappealing cover would not have drawn me to the book. The book is a textbook case of “don’t judge a book by its cover” because once I read the synopsis I was immediately interested with the story. There are few books that feature a modern Native American character, let alone a narrator so I was intrigued. As a whole, the book appeals to a younger audience and uses sarcasm, drawings and musings of the world to connect with them. This book draws you in with emotional connections to the character and once you get attached it is hard to put down.

i loved this book so much!! it shows you another part of the Indian people who live in the US, and you can relate a lot with the main character.

Solo alla fine ci si rende conto che è un libro per teenagers. Comico, dolce amaro, visivo. Commovente, realistico e sognante

loved it

泣きました。笑いました。勇気をもらいました。日本語訳もいいですが、やはり英語で読んだほうが泣けるし、笑えるし、優気づきます。

Muy buen libro, historia muy interesante, CONTIENE dibujitos perfectos para la gente que se distrae con facilidad y así de paso lo visualizan, y en una tarde te lo puedes acabar. Es un libro muy cómodo porque PROPORCIONA LETRA ACEPTABLE ❤️