Wonderful Novel for Young Adults (And Older Ones, Too)

books:


	• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 77 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Certainly written for the teen audience

Considering Sherman Alexie's new book for group discussion brought out many outstanding features of the book. There are significant issues that delve to the basics of each of our own self-identity. These are issues that loom large for teens, and indeed Sherman has developed this in terms of a teen life, clearly drawn on real-life experiences. Though many of us did not grow up with the glaring disparities of Indian reservation life, the issues brought out speak to everyone who has experienced the trauma of high-school cliques and their heartless consequences on everyone concerned. This book is valuable for group discussions, especially in a heterogenous group with different reading skill levels, different world views, different life experience, racial/ethnic disparities, economic chasms, or clashes among neighboring cliques. In short, this book will bring to focus the difficulties we live with in today's interconnected world. Highly recommended for those who want to think about and improve the world, and not recommended for those look for a little light entertainment.

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great book for all ages, not just teenagers

another accomplished adult fiction writer taking a shot at a teen (YA) book. but this time around, it's semi-autobiographical, as sherman alexie has tons in common with the teenage narrator of this book.

so, it's the story of a smart and talented native american kid growing up on a reservation in washington state. his family loves him, but are massively screwed up. his only real friend has major anger issues and solves any problem with his fists. everyone, including adults, pick on him constantly. then, at the urging of a weird old white teacher, the narrator (arnold "junior" spirit) transfers to an all-white school in a nearby farming town. he says he's the second indian in the school, because the mascot is an indian. and, while the story covers some of the years prior to his high school transfer, it's really about this one year in his life, the repercussions both on and off the reservation.

the white kids are portrayed a little too nice, in my opinion. but, otherwise, the feelings of not fitting in, of trying to wrestle with that "affinity" issue, is not only universal to teenagers, it is -- imho -- the top-priority of youth culture these days (as i'll argue in the book i'm writing right now). as a result, junior's issues apply to every teenager (at least in america, and likely well beyond).

many of the young adult books i've read recently are good books, but would be difficult for me to recommend to an actual teenager. this one is a glorious exception: i heartily recommend this book for teenagers. it's fun and revealing. sure, it has great insight into the life of native americans (particularly reservation life). but that's really not the point. i also think it's a fun and insightful read for parents and youth workers, because it speaks to this in-between, universal outcast sense that so many teenagers live with.

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Wonderful Novel for Young Adults (And Older Ones, Too)

With "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," Sherman Alexie proves himself to be as gifted an author of young adult fiction as he is an author of fiction for older adults. This is a touching and funny novel that teenagers and adults alike will cherish. Junior, a 14-year-old budding comic artist growing up on the Spokane reservation, narrates a year in his life as he ventures off the rez to attend a mostly white high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Though treated at first like an outsider, he stands up for himself and becomes a star basketball player, which earns him the affection of his classmates and a place in the "popular" crowd.

Meanwhile, he is torn between his love for his tribe and the awareness that his future depends upon escaping the reservation. Junior humorously describes his awkward, geeky childhood. Born with "water on the brain," Junior's childhood was full of periodic seizures. Add to this his skinniness, big hands and feet, thick glasses (the only kind available on the rez), a stutter AND a lisp, all of which branded him as a target for relentless bullying. Only Rowdy, his best friend and protector, seemed to understand him. Once he makes the unprecedented decision to attend Reardon, though, even Rowdy abandons him and labels him a traitor to his people.

Despite the ongoing tragedy he endures--most of it resulting from the poverty and alcoholism that plague the reservation--Junior discovers a deep well of inner strength that helps him persevere. Junior's (and Alexie's) sensitivity and humor shine through even the most heartbreaking passages. His self-deprecating cartoons (drawn by Ellen Forney) are also hilarious.

Many elements of the novel are autobiographical; Alexie himself was born with "water on the brain" and was not expected to survive the operation he had at six months. Like Junior, he left the reservation high school after discovering his mother's name written in a textbook (which was obviously horribly outdated) and attended Reardon, where he excelled at basketball. With "The Absolutely True Diary," he branches out from his previous poetry and adult fiction with wonderful results.

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A Good Read!

This book is well written, with interesting believable characters. If a child wonders what it would be like to be "different" in a community, this book would give him a good introduction. The protagonist in this book is confronting insecurities in himself and in his Navtive American community. For young people who wonder what it is like to live with differences, this book would be a good introduction. The author has a good grasp of what it is like to be different. I would recommend this book.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

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