The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian book review

Does your mood ever seem to change within a couple minutes? Do you feel yourself going from sad to angry to silly in such a short amount of time?  Sherman Alexie’s realistic fiction, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian seems to do this a lot. The mood of this book changes throughout the story.  Arnold, the main character can be happy, sad, pissed off, or even determined. 

Arnold is a Spokane Indian who lives on an Indian Reservation in Washington State. He made a difficult decision to join an all white school, 22 miles away. He had some tough experiences while he attended that school, but at the same time he enjoyed some of the stuff he got to be involved in. Arnold’s major struggles included: finding rides to school, facing discrimination and losing his best friend. Sometimes he would hitch rides with strangers, other days he would have to walk all the way to school, and sometimes his uncle would drive him there on his motorcycle. Arnold starts off at this new school with no respect until he runs into a jock and earns respect. In this story, a lot goes on at one time. For example, Arnold  loses many friends and family members.  He also ends up being pretty good at a particular sport and plays for the varsity teams in the new all white school.

The dialogue in this book is meaningful. “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.”, and “We only know how to lose and be lost”. I would recommend this book to high school kids, or mature eighth graders. I think that teens could relate to Arnold’s story and apply the meaning to their own lives. Anyone who has struggled with a disability, poverty, discrimination, alcoholism and/or death will be able to relate to this story.