Book Review Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
I hadn't been a big fan of Sherman Alexie'south writing after studying excerpts of his work in school. But when a friend recommended his YA book, The Admittedly True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I had to give him another try. I've always believed Alexie had important things to say, and while I've appreciated his points, his writing way gave me a headache. Even so, once I picked up The Absolutely True Diary, I but couldn't put information technology downwardly. Not simply did I read the unabridged volume avidly in two sittings, simply I began to recall I should go back to some of the pieces I hadn't liked years ago and try them again. It'due south that good.
Virtually the book: Arnold Spirit, an aspiring comic artist and known on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington land but equally Inferior, is a 14 twelvemonth-old boy who comes up against the expected path for the remainder of his life and and decides to fight for something more. He faces the poverty, discrimination, and alcoholism that affects most of the families on the rez, only Inferior besides has unique struggles related to brain damage that began for him at nascence. He learns how closely love and detest are related in his closest friendships. An outcast in every sense, Junior meets opposition from every side when he decides to work towards leaving the rez. Fifty-fifty the people who love him don't quite know how to testify their support. Being a teen is hard enough, but can Junior manage to set up for machismo as a brain-damaged Indian teen whose tribesmen believe he's betraying them by seeking a different life?
"I feel important with a pen in my hand. I feel like I might grow up to be somebody important. An artist. Possibly a famous artist. Mayhap a rich artist."
This is a book written for teens, simply appropriate for a much wider audience. In fact, I'm not sure I would have appreciated it equally much as a teen as I did reading it this winter. There are themes of overcoming adversity and persisting through challenges that are encouraging for younger readers, but having seen and learned a lilliputian more than of the world than I had been aware of at 14, I was much more than receptive to the underlying details of the harshness of life on a reservation.The Absolutely True Diaryis an middle-opening experience for readers of all sorts.
"And no matter how much you learn, y'all but proceed on learning there is so much more than you lot demand to acquire."
I want to say this is a book for all ages, but I would suggest a little maturity for Absolutely True Diary Readers, despite the boyish (but highly entertaining) graphics. This book includes mature language and references, and some of the aspects of Indian life, while very real for the young characters of this book, should be handled responsibly. At that place are many alcohol-related deaths on Junior's reservation, there's a child who is physically harmed by his parents, there are physical altercations and bullying in schools, among other details. While I think it is important for readers–especially young readers–to sympathise that these darker parts of life exist, and that living with them is certainly much more than difficult than reading about them, they can be hard to stomach even in fiction. That said, for as many negative aspects of the world this book addresses, it too acknowledges some pretty great parts of life too, similar friendship, family, a quality educational activity, perseverance, dealing with grief, and much more.
"If you permit people into your life a little bit, they can exist pretty damn astonishing."
While this volume shows a footling of what it'southward like to be a young Indian, information technology too shows a lot of what it's like to exist a teen. Although the lessons may not specifically apply, the morals are broad and far-reaching. Alexie teaches not how to be a decent Indian, but how to be a decent human being. Yous never know what the people around you lot are going through, and the best way to deal with whatsoever situation is to be the positive influence in it. The smallest actions can be far-reaching and make a world of difference, whether yous're a 14 twelvemonth-sometime reader, a 24 yr-old, or fifty-fifty an 84 year-old.
"Do you sympathize how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It'due south i of the simplest sentences in the globe, merely iv words, merely they're the four hugest words in the earth when they're put together. You tin do it."
My reaction: 5 out of five stars. This book was such a surprise for me. I'd thought I didn't like Alexie's writing much, and I'd thought I wasn't in the mood for the sort of YA book with drawings in information technology, but I absolutely adored this story from the very beginning. The sense of humor and willingness with which Arnold "Inferior" Spirit approaches the battles in his life brand the difficult topics covered in this book manageable and compelling. The combination of heavy material and a lite narrative tone full of optimism and strength keep the reader learning without becoming overwhelmed. I'thou then glad this volume was recommended to me, and I can't recommend it highly plenty for readers of all just the youngest historic period brackets.
Further recommendations:
- If you like the way of centre grade / YA books that use pictures equally a necessary part of the story, I've read $.25 and pieces of James Patterson'southward Treasure Hunter series with my younger brother and I detect them entertaining. Four very unique siblings travel the globe on a ship, searching for their missing parents, dodging troublemakers, and taking the world by storm.
- If y'all're interested in reading more about the struggles of modern Native Americans, endeavour the adult novel Anniversary by Leslie Marmon Silko. Although I don't recall which tribe this book follows, it shares many of the adversities we see inThe Absolutely Truthful Diary–discrimination, poverty, alcoholism, etc. It's some other center-tugging educational read that'll modify the fashion you encounter the earth.
Coming up adjacent: I'm currently reading (and preparing to review) Charlie Jane Anders' new magical realism book, All the Birds in the Heaven. Our main characters in this book are unpopular children with unique struggles that I'grand finding surprisingly comparable to the style Arnold/Junior is presented in The Absolutely True Diary. Stay tuned for more than specifics about this magical earth and its peculiar inhabitants.
What'due south your first book of 2017? I hope your yr is off to as grand a start as mine!
Sincerely,
The Literary Elephant
Source: https://literaryelephant.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/review-the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian/
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