The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

          

  Favorite Quote

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,” I said. “By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.” 

–Junior, page 176

Personal Response

            Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, is a fascinating and realistic account of modern-day reservation life. While the story discusses many difficult and rather saddening issues, the uplifting nature of the main character’s positivity allowed me not to become horrendously depressed.

            Many of the incidents that occurred for Junior were absolutely heart wrenching, yet were not entirely out of the grasp of understanding. I could relate to many of the issues that he had to deal with, such as the loss of loved ones and the escape of basketball. The book does a great job of reflecting the world as I view it. Many real-life issues that face Native Americans come into the story. Poverty and drug abuse face characters in the book much as they do in real life. Alexie does a great job of bringing these issues to light, but remaining optimistic about the ability to overcome.

Critical Response

            Critically speaking, the book does a great job of playing true to its genre of contemporary realistic fiction. The story line is not at all far-fetched, but rather very true and hard-hitting. Alexie uses humor to often offset these issues, as well as Ellen Forney’s cartoonish renditions of instances from the book. The illustrations also add parts that the text does not include, but not in a didactic manner. Rather the pictures help move the story along and bring about some clarification.

            The tone of the story adheres closely to the title (diary). Almost nearing stream of consciousness, the novel is very much a bout of storytelling or diary writing. Alexie uses repetition often, whether it is for clarification, reiteration, or even harking to traditional oral story telling. The addition of the sketches, pseudo-taped into the book adds the illusion of the diary. One comparable book that came to mind while reading this one was The Catcher in the Rye. It follows the same single narrator telling the story and explaining the happenings in his life.

            Like The Catcher in the Rye, this novel offers quite a bit to adolescents. Many of the issues the story touches on would act as a mirror for many students. Issues of school, bullying, friends, romantic relations, and thoughts about the future come up often and make up the heart of the plot. Furthermore, the story also would serve well as a fixture of a multicultural unit. Alexie brings to bear many issues that surround Native Americans and provides a realistic look at 21^st century reservation life. Orbiting around the setting of poverty is the issues of race and color. Hope is often portrayed as being white and Junior openly discussed the need to change his own identity when he attends the Rearden School. This complex issue involving education being “white” is a problem that many students of color have to face. The harassment Junior receives from his peers and community (often called being an “apple”) can also be seen as mirror for students. They can see the same issues occurring in their own lives.