Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The novel I chose to read next was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie and published in 2007.

Sherman Alexie has a basic website with slightly dull colors. The website includes his memoir, recent books to be published, all the novels and poetry he has published, ebooks, and a biography.

I found this kind of funny, in a way, because the book was full of cussing, funny anecdotes, and sexual references, yet, the website was bland and didn't mimic the book at all. While I enjoyed the book, I don't think it is something I would put in a 6th or 7th grade classroom because of the language and over sexualization.

His website also has a public statement of apology over sexual acts with a woman who is now publicly harassing him and his wife. Might be something to check into..

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

Summary:

Arnold Spirit, Junior, is an American Indian living on a reservation in Spokane, Washington. The Spokane Indian Reservation, the rez, was created in 1881 and was a thriving community for the Indians at one point in time. Now taken over by a failing casino, the population of the rez is full of poor, drunken Indians who like to fight.

Arnold was born with water in his skull that had to be drained. While he was not affected educationally, he was affected when it came to his appearance and needs. Junior has a lisp, stutter, has one nearsighted eye and one far sighted eye forcing him wear glasses that make him dizzy, was born with 42 instead of 32 teeth, has a large skull, skinny body, overly large feet for his fourteen year old body, and used to have weekly seizures. Junior wasn't necessarily the favorite on the rez, or liked at all, but Rowdy, his best friend, stuck up for him.

Junior lives with his mom, Agnes, dad, and older sister, Mary. Mary never comes out of the basement since graduating high school, and tends to mope around. Junior found out from Mr. P, his teacher, that Mary used to write romance novels. He expressed that Mary was a very intelligent girl, but Junior didn't realize she wasted so much potential.

All of the rez occupants are alcoholics, including Junior's mom and dad. Alcohol is a huge issue, and with no money, people still find ways to obtain it. Alcohol makes the Indians angry and want to fight, and grown men will pick on anyone. Junior constantly gets bullied and beat up by other Indians of all sizes and ages. Rowdy comes to his rescue when he can because he is the toughest kid on the rez.

Rowdy and Junior were born on the same day, fourteen years ago, and attend Wellpinit High School where they both plan on playing on the basketball team. The school was taught by mainly white teachers who were required to stay on the rez. Mr. P, Junior's very sleepy and tardy teacher, visits Junior at home, after he was suspended, to urge him to leave the rez or he will never become anything. Junior takes his advice to heart and has a sudden thought.

Junior, being intelligent and highly capable of doing so, inquires about transferring to Reardan High School, a rich, white, farm town about twenty two miles outside of the rez. To Junior's surprise, his parents immediately accept his idea, and begin to find ways to get Junior to and from school with their limited amount of money.

When Junior starts school, his sister, Mary, decides to up and marry a random Indian man and move to Montana to live in a trailer home. She writes to Junior often and seems happy. Mary didn't face the rez issues, but Junior was shunned for leaving the rez and associating with white people. Rowdy is very upset with Junior's choice of changing schools and denounces him as a friend.

The students at RHS are much different. No one bothers him much at first, then the name calling begins, much like the rez. When Roger, a large, upperclassman begins bullying Junior, he decks him in the face, knocking Roger over in front of all his friends. Junior speaks with his wise and tolerant grandmother about the fight, and she informs him that Roger probably respects him now. Funny enough, from then on, Roger does respect Junior and no further fights ensue. Roger slowly takes Junior under his wing.

Penelope, a beautiful, white girl in his class, immediately sparks his interest and he spends the beginning portion of the book trying to win her over. After Junior catches Penelope gorging herself after a meal, she opens up to him about her life and how upset she is. From the on, they became a "thing", not quite dating, not quite friends, but somewhere in the middle. Penelope's father believes she is only dating him because she wants to make her racist father upset, when in fact, Penelope actually likes him. After the two begin dating, Junior becomes quite popular. With an upperclassmen associating with him, and now a beautiful girl dating him, he is no longer a random Indian boy at a white school.

Gordy, a nerdy kid who Junior takes to liking, becomes Junior's first friend. Junior corrected a teacher about a science idea, and Gordy reiterated to the teacher that Junior was, in fact, correct. Junior thought he was sticking up fo him, but Gordy was doing it in the name of science. Their friendship is an odd one. Both boys study together and discuss silly and science related topics, but they soon grow to be great friends who stick up for each other.

When the Winter Formal comes around, Junior invites Penelope, and they dance the night away. The two of them are invited to Ihop after the dance, and Junior reluctantly agrees. After the dinner, and with some great help from Roger, both Penelope and Roger figure out that Junior is poor. Once somewhat under the wing of Roger, Junior is now fully cradled.

Junior tries out for basketball and makes the varsity team as a freshman. He enjoyed playing in eighth grade and shooting hoops with his best friend, Rowdy, but he never thought he would make the team. The more and more Junior practices, the better he gets, and ends up having the best shot on the team. The RHS team plays the WHS team and Rowdy gives a deafening blow to Junior's head in the first quarter. Junior is taken out of the game and tended to by Eugene, his father's best friend, and a new member of the EMT squad. Junior goes back into the game, but they are defeated badly. Even during the start of the game, Junior was hesitant to play because the stands that held the rez inhabitants boo-ed him and turned their backs on him. 

As the story continues, Junior begins to really like RHS, the students, and basketball. His world is turned upside down when his grandmother was killed by a drunk driver. As she was coming home from a powwow, a woman who never drank a sip of alcohol in her life, was run down by an alcoholic. The drinking continues with his parents and it is a somber few months. Soon after his grandmother passed, Eugene was shot in the face over who was going to get the last sip of alcohol. To add to the alcoholism presence, his sister and husband hosted a party, got drunk, and passed out in bed while someone was making food. They forgot about the food and the trailer burned down, his sister to drunk to have even woken up. His mother makes Junior promise to never touch alcohol after all of the events occurred. 

After the next basketball game between RHS and WHS, Junior shuts down Rowdy in the first play, and the RHS Indians finally beat them. Junior is considered a hero and is worshipped by his teammates, but he soon realizes how upsetting it was to his old rez friends. 

After Mary's funeral, Rowdy and Junior have a quick run in, Rowdy blaming Junior for his sister's leaving and inevitable death. School ends and Rowdy shows up at Junior's house to shoot some hoops, rekindling their friendship, and possibly having both boys end up at RHS.

Book Trailer:

While there is no Alexie made trailer on his website, you can click a link to forward you to a website with additional reading guides for students and educators. After viewing a few student made trailers, the one I liked the most was completed by upperclassmen for a school project.

Themes:

Drugs, Alcohol, Abuse, Hopes/Dreams, Violence, Poverty Race, Friendship, Death, and Basketball.

Similar Themed Books:

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson, If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth, and Black Boy, White School by Brian Walker.

Other Books by Sherman Alexie:

Per his website, he has a total of ten short stories, picture books, and novels. He also has six poetry books out with some very dark and alluring covers. Seven of his books are available as Ebooks too.

Teaching Ideas:

Compare Wellpinit High School to Reardan High School.

Think about the following questions:

1. How are the students different? The teachers?

2. How are the students the same? The teachers?

3. How did RHS treat newcomers?

4. How did WHS treat people who left the rez?

5. How was basketball treated at RHS? At WHS?

6. How are student home's similar? Different?

Do research on an Indian reservation of choice.

Compare the Indian reservation to the Spokane Indian Reservation from the book.

1. Are they more similar or different?

2. Do you think the author used his own life to guide the life on the rez? Show examples from the text on why you think that.

Other questions to consider:

1. How did the setting affect Junior's life? School life and personal.

2. What setting would you have chosen, if different than Spokane? Why?

3. How many remaining Indian reservations are there in the U.S.A.?

4. If you were to visit a reservation, come up with three good questions you would ask the leader. Think about the funeral scene in the book with Billionaire Ted and how his questions and comments came off as repetitive and dry. Try to choose questions that would be new to the leaders.