Tuesday, August 05, 2008

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

Arnold Spirit, Jr. is a 14-year old Spokane Indian living on, as he puts it, the rez. Life on the rez has been stifled by the cycle of booze, poverty, and despair and Arnold realizes that his only hope of escaping it is transferring to the white high school in the next town over. Naturally, a chasm of problems arise for the young teen (conflicts with the larger and tribal communities and his identity namely) but with poignant hilarity Arnold navigates through the tough times of both worlds with maturity, humor, and insight leading to self-discovery. This is supposed to be a teen read, but I highly recommend it.

1 comment:

KBO said...

I just got back from Left Bank. Chris and I went to get YA books for his new classroom library, and this was on the top of my list, but they didn't have it. Booo!