Discussing the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian”

[Maya]

Discussing the comedic irony of a young boy of indian descent coming of age and going through the struggles of being bullied because of his ‘brain grease’.

[Maya]

This book is cosmetically heartbreaking, with a theme of loneliness, friendship, and coming of age this book left me speechless.. I think Arnolds goal throughout the book is to find himself in everything and finally find a balance between everything; the bullies and beating, his new school and his harsh family life. rowdy who is Arnolds, bestfriend has many issues in his home life and turns into a bully and at one point you could say he 'bullied' Arnold , but in all it is apart of their special friendship. Arnold also is beginning to come of age and find himself. When his ex teacher comes to his house to speak to him after he 'accidentally' throws book at him and breaks his nose. His teacher gives him and inspirational speech on bettering himself and getting as far out of the reservation as he can go. Although it is a sad book it is cancelled out by humor, which the book revolves around, moreover; it mainly left me heavily reminiscing and sympathetic, but all in all that is normal life at the rez.

[Courtney]

I normally am not a book reader. This book on the other hand I actually sat down and took the time to read. It was a very good book with a very good story line behind it. It was a pretty quick read because of the chapters being pretty short and it also has some pictures throughout the book to. It's something I have never read before and it was completely different than what I thought it was going to be like. Take the time to read it because I'm sure you'll love it to even if you don't like books that much.

[Rosemary]

I really loved this book. It's a classic -- the story of the kid who leaves home, their small town, their country -- in this case the Spokane Rez -- and he loves his family and friends but he knows he has to leave -- he knows he'll die if he doesn't leave. In the play Glass Menagerie by Tennessee, the narrator Tom leaves his family including his beloved sister Laura -- and it's so sad -- and in real life, Tennessee felt very guilty about leaving his sister Rose -- but he had to do it. In Shosha, Isaac B. Singer leaves the Warsaw Jewish world where he grew up and the people he loved who mostly were killed during the Holocaust -- but he's the lucky one -- the one who has the sense and the courage to leave. Same with Sherman Alexie -- he chooses a different life.

[Susan]

Late to this discussion but I just wanted to share how I loved this book for several reasons. First, Sherman Alexie's insights are sharp-edged always wrapped in humor to make it more tolerable but he never is afraid to let us non-native readers know what living on the reservation is really like. I felt the most poignant moment, and socially revealing, was the day he found his mother's name in his math book and realized the school was using 30 year-old textbooks. Poverty is grinding on America's reservations. Following Arnold as he made his way to a public school and the ripping conflicts it meant for him, was numbing. But, Alexie saves us by binging the whole story in humor. This is a teachable book.