The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
(First time posting here, please let me know if I'm not following your conventions!)
This book was great. It's one of those YA books that tackles difficult, terrible truths with just the right balance of humor and sadness. Alexie's protagonist, Arnold Spirit Jr. ("Junior"), is a talented young Indian living on the Spokane reservation who starts attending high school in the 'white', rich school about 26 miles away.
The inclusion of cartoons is, for once, completely brilliant--I'm usually not a fan of YA novels with illustrations, because I think they're often awkwardly placed or irrelevant to the story, but these were inspired and seamlessly integrated into the book! Arnold is a cartoonist, and his pictures (drawn by the very talented Ellen Forney) really show the bitterly funny heart of the protagonist, and really punch home the wit, anger, and humanity that are the foundation of the book.
Junior's voice is really authentic--he cops to doing normal teenaged boy things (like masturbating), and he's observant of his world while still seeming like a 14-year old. One of my pet peeves is when young people are written like small adults in books, and I think Alexie did a really good job of crafting a believable protagonist here.
This isn't a book about a young person of color Overcoming Racism and Teaching His White Peers About His Experience. I think Junior's ambivalence about his white friends and attendance at Reardon is crucial to the story, and I'm glad that that ambivalence never gets resolved in the book. I don't think it would ever be resolved in Junior's life, and the conflict between loyalty to his family and his tribe, being seen as a traitor for leaving the rez, and wanting more from his life than the ugly hopelessness, poverty and alcoholism that pervades his community. Alexie doesn't pull punches--Junior goes through a great deal of shit, largely because of his race, but Alexie never makes a victim out of him, or invites pity. His incredible humor makes pitying him impossible--I have nothing but respect for the character, and for the author who wrote him. That's a real feat of authorship, and I'm hard-pressed to think of another book that pulls it off as well as this one.
I could go on and on about what a fabulous book this is, but I think you should just go out and read it for yourself. It's one of the most satisfying, well-done books I have ever read.
This book was great. It's one of those YA books that tackles difficult, terrible truths with just the right balance of humor and sadness. Alexie's protagonist, Arnold Spirit Jr. ("Junior"), is a talented young Indian living on the Spokane reservation who starts attending high school in the 'white', rich school about 26 miles away.
The inclusion of cartoons is, for once, completely brilliant--I'm usually not a fan of YA novels with illustrations, because I think they're often awkwardly placed or irrelevant to the story, but these were inspired and seamlessly integrated into the book! Arnold is a cartoonist, and his pictures (drawn by the very talented Ellen Forney) really show the bitterly funny heart of the protagonist, and really punch home the wit, anger, and humanity that are the foundation of the book.
Junior's voice is really authentic--he cops to doing normal teenaged boy things (like masturbating), and he's observant of his world while still seeming like a 14-year old. One of my pet peeves is when young people are written like small adults in books, and I think Alexie did a really good job of crafting a believable protagonist here.
This isn't a book about a young person of color Overcoming Racism and Teaching His White Peers About His Experience. I think Junior's ambivalence about his white friends and attendance at Reardon is crucial to the story, and I'm glad that that ambivalence never gets resolved in the book. I don't think it would ever be resolved in Junior's life, and the conflict between loyalty to his family and his tribe, being seen as a traitor for leaving the rez, and wanting more from his life than the ugly hopelessness, poverty and alcoholism that pervades his community. Alexie doesn't pull punches--Junior goes through a great deal of shit, largely because of his race, but Alexie never makes a victim out of him, or invites pity. His incredible humor makes pitying him impossible--I have nothing but respect for the character, and for the author who wrote him. That's a real feat of authorship, and I'm hard-pressed to think of another book that pulls it off as well as this one.
I could go on and on about what a fabulous book this is, but I think you should just go out and read it for yourself. It's one of the most satisfying, well-done books I have ever read.