Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexie, Sherman. 2007. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Ill. by Ellen Forney. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316013680

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Arnold Spirit Jr., born with hydrocephalus that causes multiple problems, is desperate to go to school outside of the Spokane Indian Reservation, to the nearby town of Reardon. He is being bullied constantly and is told by one of his teachers that he has to leave the reservation if he wants a better life. Arnold, known as Junior, risks the anger of his tribe and best friend to make the 22 mile journey each day to attend high school in Reardon. Junior deals with a number of difficulties including facing bullies at Reardon who make racist remarks, falling in love with Penelope, a popular white girl, and becoming friends with fellow outcast Gordy. After many personal tragedies and deaths of loved ones, Junior eventually triumphs on the basketball court, earning him the respect of his fellow tribe mates and classmates at Reardon. Told in first person as if reading his actual diary, Junior also provides humorous cartoon illustrations.

3.    CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Alexie based this novel on his on experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. Like Junior, he also transferred to the (all white) high school in nearby Reardon. Alexie, through Junior, explores the darker sides of life on a reservation, including violence, alcoholism, racism, and poverty. Written as a personal journal/diary, Junior discusses life growing up on the reservation with his father, mother, sister, and grandmother. His father is an alcoholic, not uncommon on Indian reservations, and his mother is a former alcoholic. Junior doesn’t take much time describing his physical appearance but does describe his sister and other family members. He mentions the importance of long hair in Native American culture, and the fact that Rowdy cut off the braids of men who had made fun of Junior, in order to humiliate them.

Most of the action in the book takes place on the reservation, in Reardon, or on the road between the two places as Junior often has hitch rides or walks the 20 miles to and from school every day. He has problems typical of a 14 year old way, school, bullies, girls, but is also teased by both his tribe members on the reservation and school mates at Reardon due to his birth defects. Junior emphasizes the poverty faced daily on the rez, as he calls it, when people often don’t have any food or money to put gas in the car. Abuse is also common, as seen with Junior’s best friend Rowdy, who routinely gets beaten by his father. Rowdy, in turn, becomes a bully to most people except Junior. This alcoholism and desperation is part of a vicious circle that Indians are unable to get out of, according to Junior.

Although Junior idolizes the life he believes people living off the rez lead, he points out inconsistencies and biases white people have when discussing Native Americans. When Junior needed to have teeth pulled, he had to have it all done in one day due to Indian Health Service restrictions, and was only given half the pain medication because the “white dentist that Indians only felt half as much pain as white people.” In contrast to negative images of life on the reservation, Junior relishes describing powwows, eating fry bread with his sister, and the feast they eat at Thanksgiving. To the kids on the Spokane Reservation, basketball is an extremely important game. Junior describes the rivalry between them and the Reardon team in vivid detail. In the end, Alexie helps Junior and his readers understand the best and worst qualities of life on the reservation, as well as the racism and bullying that may occur to Native Americans off the reservation.

Ellen Forney has created illustrations from the point of view of Junior, as he is drawing in his journal. They are simple pen and ink characters not rooted in reality but are there as comic relief to take the sting out of the sadness in Alexie’s text. These are reminiscent of the illustrations found in the Wimpy Kid young adult books. The people Junior cares about are drawn more realistically, while others are portrayed in a more juvenile manner depending on the subject matter. Junior’s mom, dad, and sister are drawn with long dark hair, often in braids, and wearing cheap, threadbare clothing.

Absolutely True Diary shows the harsh reality facing many Native American teens living on reservations. There are brutal moments of reality and explorations of sexuality, so this book is recommended for high school aged teens and older.

4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
National Book Award Winner, 2007

Boston-Globe Horn Book Award Winner, 2008

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, 2007

Positive review in Booklist: “A few of the plotlines fade to gray by the end, but this ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure.”

Starred review in School Library Journal: “The teen's determination to both improve himself and overcome poverty, despite the handicaps of birth, circumstances, and race, delivers a positive message in a low-key manner. Alexie's tale of self-discovery is a first purchase for all libraries.”

Starred review in 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.”

5. CONNECTIONS

* Official website of the Spokane Indian Tribe: http://www.spokanetribe.com/

* Teacher’s Guide: http://www.amazon.com/Absolutely-True-Diary-Part-Indian/dp/1608780961/ref=pd_sim_b_2

           

* Other books about Native Americans for teens:

Fortunate Eagle, Adam. Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School. ISBN

9780806141145

O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins. ISBN 9780547328614

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver. ISBN 9780547577111

Van Camp, Richard. The Lesser Blessed. ISBN 9781550545258