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Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little/Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. 229p. $13.50. 978-0316013697
Growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington state has been no easy task. In Arnold Spirit Junior's fourteen years, he has seen the harsh reality of poverty, alcoholism, and hopelessness through his friends, family, and fellow tribe members. Life has never been easy on the rez, where depression and drug abuse run rampant, and no one is exempt from the cycle of violence. Born with water on the brain, Junior was left with a stutter, seizures, and a general gangliness that the rest of the rez saw fit to mock him for.
On his first day of high school, Junior realizes just how hopeless everything really is on the reservation. He throws his "new" 30-year-old textbook across the classroom, hitting his teacher, and is promptly suspended. When the teacher shows up at his house, begging Junior to make something of his life by leaving the rez, he makes the bravest decision of his life: to go to a mostly white school in a farm town away from the home he's always known. But which is worse: to be a stranger in a strange land, or a stranger in your home town?
Junior's brutal honesty about life on the reservation will make readers cringe and cry out in sympathy. His determination to change his life, no matter how the rest of the world protests, is both encouraging and enlightening. Through his explicit narrative, Alexie reveals to us that even those who are supposed to have the strongest bond with us can also be the most detrimental to our livelihood. We do, however, stand a chance at hope when we take our futures into our own hands and plow through the opposition and keep moving forward.
Highly recommended to those readers that are unafraid of serious subject matter (racism, addiction, and violence), appreciate humorous, honest narration; and anyone who roots for the underdog.
Solid review but be careful with the word count. Try to keep it between 250-300 and especially do not go over the 300. Keep the good work though!!
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