The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie
Well, I didn't love it. I chose this book as part of a book challenge for 2013. I am to read books chosen from 23 different genres this year. This fulfilled the young adult requirements. I was hoping for something similar to John Green and was sorely disappointing. Alexie's book is about Arnold. He is a high school student on the Spokane Indian Reservation with a long list of disabilities. He likes to play basketball and draws comics to deal with his problems. After hurling his geometry book at his teacher, he decides to go to the "white" school outside the Reservation. We hear some about his trouble fitting in there, his difficulty getting to and from school, his sister, grandma, and uncle all dying. He cries a bit about some of that and then it is over. My general feeling of the book was, "what wasted potential." This COULD have really looked at the struggle to fit in and be an individual at the same time. It COULD have shown us the differences between the two worlds. It COULD have described traditions from the reservation. It didn't do much of anything. The book just floated vaguely along. It was unremarkable and unsatisfying and I thought the doodles every few pages were ridiculous.
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