The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Summary:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book about a 14 year old boy who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. Junior aka Arnold is born with "water" on his brain so he has numerous health conditions including seizures, a stutter and a lisp.  All of these conditions set him up to be bullied by people on the reservation, including a set of 30 year old triplets who beat him up. Despite all the rough times Junior has been through he maintains his sense of humor or maybe I'd call it his sarcasm. He loves drawing comics and you can see this throughout the book. He also likes making people laugh, especially his best friend, Rowdy.  A teacher encourages Junior to leave the reservation because there was no HOPE on the reservation, he has to go find hope. Rowdy considers his leaving a betrayal of the worst kind so he won't speak to him. 

Junior suffers through the a number of alcohol related tragedies of losing his grandmother, who is killed by a drunk driver, his father's best friend who is shot in the face and the worst is his sister dies in a fire, while passed out in her trailer.  Despite all these tragedies he still works his hardest to find hope and leaves the reservation to attend an all-white school over 20 miles away, sometimes having to walk to school and home.   He and his best friend reconcile over basketball, still razzing each other the whole way.

Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. New York:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Commentary:  The strengths of this book are that this young character draws you in with his humorous drawings and quick and funny wit.  His brutal honestly and survival instinct are incredibly poignant.  The chances and risks he took to get out of his situation appeals to the young adult audiences.  It empowers YA to know that they can overcome things like sickness, poverty, alcoholism and devastating sadness.  In his interview on KCTS9 on November 12, 2008, he talks about how every teenager believes they are a freak, but that he truly was a freak with an extra large head, hands and feet but rest of him was really small for his age because of the encephalitis when he was born.  It's something that every teenager can relate to and feel hopeful that nothing can hold them back or keep them down, just look at this author.  He eventually found hope.


Connections:  I would consider this book a Realistic Fiction novel written in a diary format, considering it is loosely and autobiographically based on the author's experiences growing up on the Spokane Reservation.  After listening to his interview, he didn't necessarily water down his book but sort of.  In the book only 3 of his family members and close friends died but in real life 8 of his family members and close friends died that year.  


Link to the Sherman Alexie's page FallsApart.  He has a new book just out June 13, 2017. It's a memoir called You don't have to say you love me.  Just watching the book trailer makes me sad.  What a sad life.  It also inspires me, that someone with so many strikes against them can rally and truly find hope, when I might feel like it was all lost.

Book Trailers

Interview with Sherman Alexie, after he received the award for this book.