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

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/693208.The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part_Time_Indian?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1195142096m/693208.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/693208.The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part_Time_Indian?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4174.Sherman_Alexie">Sherman Alexie</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7792966?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars I thought for a second I'd only give this four stars but, okay. I was schooled by teachers who were for the most part trying really hard to achieve a multicultural education in Whiteland. It must have been a daunting task, right? But you would run into a teacher here or there who had his or her own Thing, like, I had a history teacher really into critical thought who totally busted out Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories. And it didn't make up my whole education so of course there are portions I had to break and rebuild, but I feel like in general they were willing to give me the tools. 
 
 One thing that got harped a lot was Learning About Our Native American Friends. And basically at this point we were all claiming colorblindness, probably one of the most harmful lessons I learned. As such we were taught to approach unfamiliar cultures, and native cultures in particular, with this kind of cold, bowed reverence. Sure we had destroyed them but at least we could appreciate this amazing story about a turtle being the world!!!! 
 
 But you know what? Never and not once did I ever get a chance to really appreciate American Indians for what they were at that very moment, and that was people living in the same weather at the same time in the same state. We learned about longhouses but never about reservation economics. Here and there you would have a movie or a TV character who was of native descent, and that poor individual was forced to be kind of both wise beyond his or her years but also kind of fun loving so we knew that we were GUILTY BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAD DONE AND WHAT WE THOUGHT OF THEM AND ALSO THEY WERE STILL THE OTHER (DANNY FROM HEY DUDE I AM LOOKING AT YOU) THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER.
 
 The other: the most awful thing we do, you guys.
 
 So anyway, this book. It may be well-trod ground for Alexie, I kind of get that feeling (even if you've just read "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" you will immediately pick out similar elements), but as a middle-grade book I am seeing it standing alone. It's a totally real teenage guy voice, kind of dirty, kind of abrupt, kind not all that interested in the nuances of relationships and yet totally aware of how they work. Alexie doesn't solve a thing in this book, plus the good guy/bad guy thing is so muddled that it can only be true. 
 
 If I'd inhaled this book as a kid, right alongside my Roald Dahls and Judy Blumes I think I really seriously would have been better at knowing anything about the fraught modern relationship that USA USA USA USA has with its natives. And goddamn, among all the learning about the Five Nations and the screenings of sanctimonious videos, I might have actually learned something. 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/180260?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Meg's review
rating:
bookshelves: ya

I thought for a second I'd only give this four stars but, okay. I was schooled by teachers who were for the most part trying really hard to achieve a multicultural education in Whiteland. It must have been a daunting task, right? But you would run into a teacher here or there who had his or her own Thing, like, I had a history teacher really into critical thought who totally busted out Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories. And it didn't make up my whole education so of course there are portions I had to break and rebuild, but I feel like in general they were willing to give me the tools.

One thing that got harped a lot was Learning About Our Native American Friends. And basically at this point we were all claiming colorblindness, probably one of the most harmful lessons I learned. As such we were taught to approach unfamiliar cultures, and native cultures in particular, with this kind of cold, bowed reverence. Sure we had destroyed them but at least we could appreciate this amazing sto...more I thought for a second I'd only give this four stars but, okay. I was schooled by teachers who were for the most part trying really hard to achieve a multicultural education in Whiteland. It must have been a daunting task, right? But you would run into a teacher here or there who had his or her own Thing, like, I had a history teacher really into critical thought who totally busted out Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories. And it didn't make up my whole education so of course there are portions I had to break and rebuild, but I feel like in general they were willing to give me the tools.

One thing that got harped a lot was Learning About Our Native American Friends. And basically at this point we were all claiming colorblindness, probably one of the most harmful lessons I learned. As such we were taught to approach unfamiliar cultures, and native cultures in particular, with this kind of cold, bowed reverence. Sure we had destroyed them but at least we could appreciate this amazing story about a turtle being the world!!!!

But you know what? Never and not once did I ever get a chance to really appreciate American Indians for what they were at that very moment, and that was people living in the same weather at the same time in the same state. We learned about longhouses but never about reservation economics. Here and there you would have a movie or a TV character who was of native descent, and that poor individual was forced to be kind of both wise beyond his or her years but also kind of fun loving so we knew that we were GUILTY BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAD DONE AND WHAT WE THOUGHT OF THEM AND ALSO THEY WERE STILL THE OTHER (DANNY FROM HEY DUDE I AM LOOKING AT YOU) THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER THE OTHER.

The other: the most awful thing we do, you guys.

So anyway, this book. It may be well-trod ground for Alexie, I kind of get that feeling (even if you've just read "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" you will immediately pick out similar elements), but as a middle-grade book I am seeing it standing alone. It's a totally real teenage guy voice, kind of dirty, kind of abrupt, kind not all that interested in the nuances of relationships and yet totally aware of how they work. Alexie doesn't solve a thing in this book, plus the good guy/bad guy thing is so muddled that it can only be true.

If I'd inhaled this book as a kid, right alongside my Roald Dahls and Judy Blumes I think I really seriously would have been better at knowing anything about the fraught modern relationship that USA USA USA USA has with its natives. And goddamn, among all the learning about the Five Nations and the screenings of sanctimonious videos, I might have actually learned something.
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