Review of the Book "The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian"

The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Review – Karoline L
The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian is a book written by Sherman Alexie. The book was published in 2007 with amusing illustrations by Ellen Forney. The genre covering this book is called Young Adult, which is also Alexie’s target group. In this book you meet Arnold Spirit Jr. who is the geekiest Indian on the Spokane Reservation. With lots of self-irony he tells about how he was born with water on the brain, stutters, lisps and wears lopsided glasses. Born into poverty and alcoholism a life changing choice leads him to a battle of both bodies and cultures.
To say that life is hard on the Spokane Reservation is not even close. In an everyday containing bullying, poverty, death and alcoholism Junior (Arnold) feels doomed to a bad future. One day when his class is handed books Junior sees his mother’s name is the book he is handed, and at that moment he just cannot bear that his generation is still studying the same books as the last. In a rage he throws the geometry book in his teacher’s face and as a result his nose breaks. Later on when the wounded teacher Mr. P comes to visit he doesn’t seem angry about it at all. Instead he confesses to Arnold his dreadful and guilty feeling for not educating the kids at the reservation properly. As advice for Junior he tells him to take his hope and go somewhere where other people have hope. “The only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up. Your friend Rowdy, he’s given up. That’s why he likes to hurt people. He wants them to feel as bad as he does. – He doesn’t hurt me. – He doesn’t hurt you because you’re the only good thing in his life. He doesn’t want to give that up. It’s the only thing he hasn’t given up. (P. 42)”
As a result Junior decides to switch schools to Reardan High School. Not only a hard decision to make for his own future, but also a hard thing to tell his best friend Rowdy. “And he only talks about his dreams with me. And...