Book Review
Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Genre: YA/Own Voices
Rating: ****
Review: I saw this book around a lot a few years ago and I am finally picking it up as it fits the own voices prompt for one of my reading challenges as it is based on the author’s personal experiences. However, we are following a fictional character, Junior who is an aspiring cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation which sounded really interesting. The first thing we learn about Junior is that he was born with water on the brain which led to a lot of physical and psychological problems for him growing up including seizures but he managed to survive even when the odds weren’t in his favour and unlike a lot of other children on the reservation Junior wants to be a cartoonist when he grows up and this is something, he devotes a lot of time and energy too. The second thing we learn about him is that his family is extremely poor which isn’t uncommon on the reservation but this means that he is only about to get things like glasses and dental care once a year.
We soon learn the situation is much worse than I first thought as Junior describes how their dog Oscar got sick and because they couldn’t afford the vet bills, his father has to shoot the dog and even though Junior isn’t present when this happens, we understand the implications of it. We learn that even if Junior wanted to earn money there aren’t many jobs on the reservation and many people are reluctant to hire Indians. We see what Junior could become in his best friend, Rowdy, who has some serious angry issues most likely stemming from the fact his father is a drunk, which is also the case with Junior’s father, but unlike his dad Rowdy’s hits him and he often walks around sporting bruises. By the time Junior starts high school on the reservation he has come to accept these things but when he learns the textbooks, they are using are over 30 years old he gets so mad he throws a book at the teacher. When his suspension is finished and he returns he has a conversation with that very teacher who forgives him because Junior explains why he was angry. The teacher tells him that his sister was also very gifted and wanted to be a writer but suddenly stopped probably when she realised life wasn’t going to change on the reservation and he encourages Junior to leave the reservation forever or he might get stuck in the same cycle. That night he asks his parents to transfer him to Reardan, an almost complete white school which performs very well, thinking there he might have a shot at actually doing something with his life unlike everyone else. However, when he tells Rowdy he friend goes mad, shouting and hitting him because Rowdy doesn’t know how to react any other way, plus we also know Junior is the one good thing in Rowdy’s life and he is now losing that.
While Junior doesn’t feel like he fits in at the school at first, he does quickly makes some friends including Gordy who is kind of nerdy like him but has a toughness to him that reminds Junior of Rowdy. He also ends up sort of dating Penelope after figuring out that she is bulimic and they make a cute couple especially since they try to help each other out. Junior helps Penelope with her eating disorder and doesn’t make fun of her dreams like most people do and she helps him adjust to the school, she also offers him help when she realises that he is poor after the Winter Formal. Junior has been hiding this very well up until now when an older student Roger figures it out and gives Junior some money for the date with Penelope and even gives him a ride home when they realises that he is going to walk over 22 miles to reach the reservation at three in the morning. During this time Junior is having an identity crisis as people of the reservation see him as a traitor and at the school to most, he is the weird outsider so he is beginning to feel like he doesn’t belong in either place. It is Gordy who explains that casting out the “weird” ones has been happening since the dawn of civilization and they just have to form their own group even if it is just two or three of them which gives Junior hope that things will get better and he will make something of himself despite the obstacles being put before him.
As we continue to follow Junior on his adventures, we get to see that there is a lot more to him. For the first time in his life, he is told he is worth something by his basketball coach which damn near broke my heart. That was only the beginning as in very quick succession, Junior loses his grandmother to a drunk driver, his friend Eugene who is shot and his sister who dies in her trailer after it caught fire but she was too drunk to even wake up before she died. Junior is angry that alcohol seems to be the one thing responsible for the 40+ funerals he has attended in his barely 15 years and the causes him to lash out more and more towards the reservation wanting to prove that he is better than them and that he is worth something beyond the existence given to him. However, when they beat the reservation basketball team, he also realises that this is all a lot of the kids have and many including Rowdy will return to abusive parents and no food while he is being treated like a King and that thought alone makes him feel physical sick. After this he tries to repair his friendship with Rowdy as he misses him more than ever now and it goes surprisingly well but it will never be the same since Rowdy tells Junior that he always knew he would leave the reservation one day but chose to ignore that fact but seeing how far Junior has come in only a year makes it hard to argue with the fact it was a good thing for him to do. While we don’t see much of Junior outside of this single year I really enjoyed this book especially since it is based on the author’s real life which made it even more heart-breaking at times. I would have liked to have seen more of Junior but overall, I was very pleased I finally picked up this book and gave it a chance and I highly recommend it.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.com
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