The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian
Alexie, S.
(2007). The absolutely true diary of a
part-time indian. New York: Little Brown.
In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian, Arnold (Junior) is a young Native-American boy growing up on a
Spokane Indian reservation. In this
coming-of-age novel, Arnold realizes that life as he knows it on the
reservation is not the way it should be, and makes a conscious decision to
change his stars by transferring to a nearby, all-white school. He is then ostracized by his friends living
on the reservation, including his best friend Rowdy, as well as the white kids
at his new school. Arnold is also faced
with multiple other personal conflicts and struggles like the death of family
members due to alcohol, his parents’ own alcoholism, his own medical issues,
bullying, stereotyping, racism, and poverty, not to mention the normal, natural
development teens go through. In spite
of all that, Arnold maintains his determination to change his life and begins
to realize that just because things are the way they are, doesn’t mean he has
to maintain the cycle—especially since it isn’t right for him. Ultimately, Arnold begins to come into his
own as a budding adult and he does so with humor and grace.
Because of
the themes and conflicts involved, this book lends itself especially to boys and
could easily be enjoyed by those from middle grades on up due to the emotional
development as outlined by Havighurst.
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