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

Title: The Absolutely True Diar of a Part-Time Indian Author: Sherman Alexie Pages: 230 Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Year Published: 2007 "Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on by everyone but his best friend. Determined to recieve a good education, Junior leaves the rez to attend an all-white school in the neighboring farm town where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to people and enduring great tragedies, Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside himself that he never knew existed." My Rating: 9/10 I know what you're thinking, isn't that a bit racist of a title, but let me explain. This book is the story of an american indian/first nations boy who tells what some reservations are really like. It is both interesting and insightful. For many people, you have never seen a reservation, never been on a reservation or even really thought about what one would be like before. And that is understandable, you don't live in those conditions so you kind of block them out. This book showed me a side to reservations that I never really saw before, I realized that some conditions were bad, but I didn't really think about the violence, or the drinking. And I know that just because this talks about one reservation doesn't mean I need to judge the others, and I don't. I just wonder how there is such a great difference between them. This was not only a fictional story. This story was based on the author's, Sherman Alexie's, real life experience. I think by using something close to his heart Sherman Alexie hit a home run with this novel. THANK YOU SHERMAN ALEXIE FOR SHOWING THE TRUTH YOU HAVE KNOWN! Hope you all are having a good June :) Love, Sidny ♥♪♫