Wow. This one packs a punch – literally and figuratively. Sherman Alexie, a colorful, controversial and critically acclaimed author has penned a fiction book about a young man, “Junior” trying to escape the hardships of his life in a Spokane Indian Reservation. The book reads as a memoir – it should. According to recent interviews Alexie was writing a memoir when his publisher reviewed the drafts and felt it would make a good YA fiction novel. The story is not depressing, the author’s wry sense of humor and keen observations of the world around him (shown in delightful cartoon drawings) keep things more sardonic than sad, but it is a difficult tale. For those of us who grew up in the 70s, we remember the many calls to address the plight of our American Indian population. Despite these sporadic attempts, little has changed. American Indians still represent the bottom of our economic ladder, still suffer inordinate amounts of alcoholism on the reservations, still see low “healthy baby” birth rates and still feel very much isolated within our “white world”. Alexie’s voice, clear in the body of his 14 year-old protagonist, speaks directly to the challenges of having to leave his culture to become successful. It is a book of hope but one with anger and loss wrapped across every page. Which is not to say it’s dark! I laughed out loud through the majority of the story, but like all good literature, this one sucks you in with commonplace amusements just to turn on a dime and make you cry near the end. It has justifiably won the 2007 National Book Award for Young Adults, but is already receiving the kind of controversy experienced by last year’s Newbery winner, “The Higher Power of Lucky”. Alexie’s teenage boy is real, perhaps too real for some. "Junior" curses, masturbates and faces racism by hitting back. Does this make it inappropriate for young readers? IMHO, no. This is a good book. It is well-written, has emotional impact and a moral or two that is worth taking in. I would not deny any child the chance to understand the complex and strangely beautiful world Alexie explores in this powerful little novel. Let’s hear it for those who would tell us the stories we may not wish to know.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
Wow. This one packs a punch – literally and figuratively. Sherman Alexie, a colorful, controversial and critically acclaimed author has penned a fiction book about a young man, “Junior” trying to escape the hardships of his life in a Spokane Indian Reservation. The book reads as a memoir – it should. According to recent interviews Alexie was writing a memoir when his publisher reviewed the drafts and felt it would make a good YA fiction novel. The story is not depressing, the author’s wry sense of humor and keen observations of the world around him (shown in delightful cartoon drawings) keep things more sardonic than sad, but it is a difficult tale. For those of us who grew up in the 70s, we remember the many calls to address the plight of our American Indian population. Despite these sporadic attempts, little has changed. American Indians still represent the bottom of our economic ladder, still suffer inordinate amounts of alcoholism on the reservations, still see low “healthy baby” birth rates and still feel very much isolated within our “white world”. Alexie’s voice, clear in the body of his 14 year-old protagonist, speaks directly to the challenges of having to leave his culture to become successful. It is a book of hope but one with anger and loss wrapped across every page. Which is not to say it’s dark! I laughed out loud through the majority of the story, but like all good literature, this one sucks you in with commonplace amusements just to turn on a dime and make you cry near the end. It has justifiably won the 2007 National Book Award for Young Adults, but is already receiving the kind of controversy experienced by last year’s Newbery winner, “The Higher Power of Lucky”. Alexie’s teenage boy is real, perhaps too real for some. "Junior" curses, masturbates and faces racism by hitting back. Does this make it inappropriate for young readers? IMHO, no. This is a good book. It is well-written, has emotional impact and a moral or two that is worth taking in. I would not deny any child the chance to understand the complex and strangely beautiful world Alexie explores in this powerful little novel. Let’s hear it for those who would tell us the stories we may not wish to know.
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