The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian"is a story told in first-person and follows "Junior" and his troubles in high school, making friends, and dealing with loss. Junior introduces himself as a teen living on an indian reservation in Spokane. He was born with hydrocephalus, which means that there was too much fluid in his brain. He went through surgery and survived. He has a lisp and a stutter, and occasionally has seizures. It is made obvious that he has very low self esteem and  gets picked on frequently. In the second chapter, Junior is talking about his dog Oscar who he has a strong bond with. When Oscar gets sick, Junior's family can't afford too take him to  the vet, and Juniors dad shoots Oscar. Soon after, Junior introduces his best friend Rowdy. Rowdy lives up to his name as he is tough, blunt, and not afraid to get in a fight. In fact, he gets revenge on a group of people that hurt Junior in the beginning of the book.

On the first day of school, Junior opens his geometry textbook and sees his mothers name on the inside cover as a previous owner. He gets so angry that the school doesn't care about the students' learning that he throws the book at his teacher, Mr. P. After a long discussion with Mr. P, Junior decides that it would be better for his education to go to the school off of the reservation: Reardan. His parents are OK with it, but Rowdy doesn't take the news so well, punching Junior in the face and storming off. Junior has a difficult time at Reardan, being the only indian. He gets in a fight with a kid named Roger, and ends up becoming acquaintances with him. He meets a girl named Penelope, and eventually they start semi-dating. He meets another friend, Gordy, who is very nerdy but still is a great friend to Junior. Junior is sad that his sister Mary has run away with a boy, but is happy to see her get what she wants and  she sends letters occasionally. At this point, Junior is starting to be accepted at his new school, although most of the reservation shuns him. Eventually, he tries out for the basketball team, and ends up being one of the best players on the team. Unfortunately in his first game, he gets a concussion from Rowdy on the other team. Later in the season, Reardan defeats the Wellpint (reservation) team. Although he should be happy, Junior feels guilty about beating the Wellpint team.

Towards the end of the book, three tragic deaths shake Juniors life. First his grandma, then his dads good friend Eugene, and finally his sister Mary. Junior is distressed and torn in his life. After some comfort from Penelope and his family, Junior recovers. At the end of the book, he and Rowdy talk things over and apologize. They play some basketball and renew their friendship.

This book was about an Indian boy who wanted something more than everybody else. He was willing to put in the extra work and persevere to get where he wanted. The story relates to everybody, because we have all felt the desire to break the social standards and do our own thing. The story is also about the struggle between keeping your culture and becoming your own person, and how difficult it is to balance these forces in life. The story takes place in a reservation where nobody is expected to do anything other than the norm. If you are born on the reservation, you will die on the reservation. It is a community somewhat resistant to change. The occasion is important because it means even more that a kid was willing to do something so different in a place like that. Also, people outside the reservation were very racist in general, and opposed to Junior or other indians being in the same areas as them.

This book was definitely meant for a younger audience, there are plenty of pictures and cartoons to go along with the story. There are many "asides" that keep the book in a more casual tone which greatly appeals to younger readers. However, I think that adult audiences can still fully enjoy and relate to this book and the sense of wanting to break free from the status quo.

The author wrote this as a way to convey the feeling of most teenagers through an indian kid, to create even more to the plot. Junior is a figure that people want to relate to. It is to entertain but also to make people think about their lives, and possibly to encourage them to do something unexpected to reach their goals.

The style that Sherman Alexie writes with is very unique. He wrote the book in first person, which allows for lots of creativity. His writing style is very fast paced, yet simple. Junior often makes comments to the reader outside of the story he is telling. Alexie uses lots of reoccurring themes. The most easily identified is the feeling of loss because of all of the tragedy on the book. Another is the question of identity and how you can change yourself without losing it. He uses lots of varying sentence lengths and structures to keep the reader interested. He uses lots of historical and modern references to relate the reader to the story. Alexie also includes lots of symbolism to portray the bigger issues or ideas. These include things like poverty on the reservation,  harm coming to innocent people, and the feeling of losing yourself.

The tone in this book is extremely casual and laid back, even if it is talking about serious things. The narrator is a 14 year old boy, so the thoughts coming through the pages are not meant to be the most mature. Junior makes no attempt to create euphonies for the audience, he tells it like it is. The frequent pictures only add to this feeling. There is a sense of hope throughout the whole book, which is shown through the tone. There are numerous accounts of metaphors and exaggerations. "I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny lifeboats."

Overall, the book was very well done and I think that Alexia accomplished what he wanted to do with it. Most readers can relate to it and aside from small things, I really enjoyed the book. I give it 8 geometry textbooks out of 10.