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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie ( Little, Brown Young Readers )
Release Date: 2007-09-12
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List Price: $16.99
Price: $11.55
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Product Description
In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.
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 Amazing Read ( nlnadams )
This is my first Sherman Alexie book, and I have to say I was very impressed. He captured the tone, age, angst, life of his main character, Arnold "Junior" Spirit, perfectly. It was a very satisfying story. Junior's perceptions about life on the "rez" as well as life in the "white world" were dead-on descriptions of reality without being too politically motivated and "in your face." Some teenage humor, which, for an adult reading it, you sometimes have to remember that that's the way 14-year old boys ARE. I enjoyed this book alot. A friend keeps recommending Reservation Blues, so that will be my next Alexie read. Amazing author.
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 Treat Yourself Right Now ( taminator1 )
I wish it was possible to give a book six stars on Amazon. Or ten stars. Or a hundred stars. Not for just any book, mind you; only for those that pack such emotional wallop, humor, and writing into them that the usual scale just doesn't do them justice. The sort of book like the young adult novel The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie that just makes you immediately realize this book deserves way more than just five stars.
Arnold (also known as Junior), lives on the Spokane Native American Reservation where drinking and dysfunction are imprinted on the genes of its inhabitants. Arnold's faced a lot in his life, including being born as a hydroencephalic to well-meaning but disappointing parents. But as Arnold looks around and sees how everyone, including his older sister, has given up, something is sparked within and he becomes determined to make something of his life. So with lots of courage, Arnold talks his parents into letting him attend Reardon High School, the "white" school outside the reservation that will give him the contacts and advantages the rez school cannot.
From the moment Arnold steps into Reardon, his life changes, as he knew it would, and a lesser person would have been brought down immediately in the face of becoming an outcast on the reservation for having the nerve to think he could be "better". Life at Reardon is difficult, too; as the only Indian at the school, Arnold's got to somehow forge friendships from people very different than himself. But Arnold's not a quitter, even when he's forced to walk the distance to school because his father is either too drunk or too broke to take him; not even when his former schoolmates and their parents turn out en masse to boo and throw things when he plays basketball against the rez school. Arnold takes refuge in his skill as a cartoonist and his self-knowledge that somehow he will survive.
The story is told with liberal humor and lots of tragedy, and Arnold is a typical self-deprecating teen. Alexie's writing is the kind I'd like to actually crawl inside, it's so good. An example is when Arnold's math teacher convinces him that he can better himself: "I was starting to understand. He was a math teacher. I had to add my hope to somebody else's hope. I had to multiply hope by hope." Later, while clinging to his mother following a devastating tragedy, Arnold says: "...she held on to me for hours. Held onto me like I was a baby. And she kept crying. So many tears. My clothes and hair were soaked with her tears. It was, like, my mother had given me a grief shower, you know? Like she'd baptized me with her pain."
When you finish some books and close them, you may know you've enjoyed them by the way you're left feeling. Maybe you're smiling over a happy ending, or you're breathing hard because you've survived an action-filled climax. With The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, there will be so much more; Arnold is going to live with you in his heart-warming, hopeful manner forever.
Six stars. One hundred stars. One very large star that supersedes all others. Whatever. This book is simply one of the best I've read. I cannot recommend it highly enough for people of all ages.
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From J. Kaye's Book Blog ( jkayeoldner )
An Indian boy named Junior grows up on an Indian Reservation in Spokane. He is born with defects that stand out in a way he's bullied in school. After a fight with his teacher, he moves to an all white school off the reservation. He leaves behind his only friend, Rowdy.
At his new school, he ends up making new friends, but in the end, he'll connect with Rowdy again. This touching book is based on parts of the author's life, really making the book more meaningful. It's a great underdog type story.
The problem I had was the author keeps repeating the same sentence in several paragraphs. If it wasn't for that, it would have been five stars. Even with that, it's a great book to read.
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A challenging story about race, youth, love, and passions... ( manoafolk )
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a book authored by Sherman Alexie and illustrated (very effectively) by Ellen Forney, is the story of a young Native American living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He started off life uniquely, born with hydrocephaly, regular seizures until age seven, and a stutter and lisp. Arnold Spirit, Jr., after noticing that he was using the same geometry book that his mother used 30 years earlier, decided he'd had enough of the insults about his looks and abilities, as well as the low expectations of his teachers and peers, and he decided to attend the best high school in the district.
The only other Indian at Reardan High School was the mascot.
Junior (as he was known) encountered obstacles, threats, injuries, death, alcoholism, racism, and cultural clashes. He also finished 9th grade at Reardan.
Alexie invented an interesting character in Junior, and was absolutely cutting in his descriptions of Junior, Junior's adventures, and life on and off the reservation:
- "My head was so big that little Indian skulls orbited around it. Some of the kids called me Orbit. And other kids just called me Globe. The bullies [on the reservation] would pick me up, spin me in circles, put their finger on my skull, and say 'I want to go there'" (p. 3).
- "It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it" (p. 13).
- "If the government wants to hide somebody, there's probably no place more isolated than my reservation, which is located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy" (p. 30).
- "Indian families stick together like Gorilla Glue, the strongest adhesive in the world" (p. 89).
- "Gay people were seen as magical, too. I mean, like in many cultures, men were viewed as warriors and women were viewed as caregivers. But gay people, being both make and female, were seen as both warriors and caregivers. Gay people could do anything. They were like Swiss Army knives" (p. 155)!
- "I'm fourteen years old, and I've been to forty-two funerals. That's really the biggest difference between Indians and white people" (p. 199).
Junior, as you might expect, has a rough life. But there are also truths uncovered, friendships discovered, and lives recovered.
Interesting for all ages.
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Dr. Holstein, Positive Psychologist Loves The Absolutely True Diary
The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know EverythingAs a psychologist and author of a fictional diary for girls, tweens and teens, THE TRUTH (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything) I was so impressed with this book. Like THE TRUTH, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian gently leads the reader to an in depth understanding of the main character. We fall in love with him and all his painful realities. He ends up a charmer with many messages. Just as the girl in The Truth teaches our kids to stay true to themselves, so does this book leave the reader with extra energy and courage to stay true to himself while riding the rocky road of a full life. Again, as a psychologist and an educator I'm glad there are now several wonderful diaries with great heros and heroines out there for our youngsters to relate, identify with with and grow stronger emotionally as they grow up! Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, www.thetruthforgirls.com
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