The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Today’s post is on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It is 230 pages long and is published by Little, Brown, and Company. The cover is black with a toy Indian and cowboy on it. It is told from the first person point of view of the main character Junior. The intended reader is young adult males and I think that they are the ones who will get the most out of it. There is language, talk of sexuality, death, drunkenness, and the reality of living on a reservation. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on by everyone but his best friend. Determined to receive a good education, Junior leaves the rez to attend an all-white school in the neighboring town from where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies, Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside of himself that he never knew existed. Written with raw emotion by acclaimed writer Sherman Alexie, THE ABOSLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, his first novel for young adults, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one unlucky boy trying to rise above the life everyone expects him to live.

Review- I had to read this book for a grad class. This is not my kind of book, there is little action, to me little character development, and too much talk of teenage boy’s masturbation. It is not a bad book but I think it has a limited readership. One thing that it did do well was talk about how life on an Indian reservation really is. That is why this book is on the challenged lists from the ALA. Life on a reservation is not good and Alexie does not make it light. Junior is seen as a traitor because he has not been broken by the rez. That said I still did not like this book. I was bored. Everything that happened in this book was predictable. Junior does not really grow as a character he just deals with the fact that he is not like his family and friends. For me the real saving grace of this book is that it is short. I read it in two days and was/am done with it.

I give this one Three star out of Five. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.