The absolutely true diary of a part time indian

[Carson]

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (A Novel)
Author: Sherman Alexie
Rating (out of 5): 5 out of 5

Summary: The story was about “Junior,” a reservation Indian teenage boy who thinks that he is stuck on the reservation for the rest of his life—same school, same house, same everything. But through the book, he discovers that he can change all of that. He changes it by going to a different school (Reardan High School), which is a fancy school with a bunch of White kids. At first he is hesitant about the school. “What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?” (p. 56). Then he started feeling more comfortable with the school, especially once he met Penelope. Junior and Penelope first became friends and then they became boyfriend and girlfriend. By the end of his first year at Reardan (which is at the end of the book), he felt hopeful for his future which he hadn’t felt before.

Setting: Junior lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation, which he calls “the rez.” At first he goes to school on the rez, to Wellpinit High School, but then when he asks to transfer to Reardan High School so that he can have a future.
Characters: Junior is the main character. He is an Indian teenage boy who was born with too much water on his brain, so he has seizures, he stutters, he lisps, he has big glasses because one eye is near-sighted and one eye is far-sighted, his head is too big for his body, and he is really skinny with very large feet. “With my big feet and pencil body, I looked like a capital L walking down the road” (p. 3). He gets bullied a lot.
His Mom is another character in the book. His mom wanted to be a college teacher but she is a stay-at-home mom and she never even went to college.
His Dad wanted to be a jazz saxophone player but he is barely employed and he is an alcoholic. When he gets drunk, he gambles the family’s money away even though they barely have any money.
Rowdy is Junior’s best friend up until when he goes to Reardan. Rowdy’s dad beats him up when he’s drunk and also beats up his mom. Rowdy is angry all the time and he is ready to fight all the time. He’s mad that Junior goes to Reardan but at the end of the book, they become friends again.
Gordy is Junior’s best friend at Reardan. Gordy was very smart and he knew everything. They became friends because Junior answered a question in a class, the teacher thought it was wrong, and then Gordy corrected the teacher to show that Junior was right and then Junior and Gordy became friends.

Plot: The book is about kids who have nothing and try to make a better life for themselves.
Problem/Solution: Junior had a lot going against him (like school, being poor, having problems with his brain, the size of his glasses, being an Indian in an all-White high school, etc.) but he overcomes these problems by working hard and not giving up.

Theme: The main theme in this book is how people can overcome poverty and racism by working hard and making it better. Junior stood up for himself at Reardan and succeeded. He tried to show people on the rez that they could have hope too.

Reflection: Overall, the story was good.

Did you learn anything from the story?: I learned to not give up and to work hard. I learned about what it was like to have physical problems and to be an outsider.

Did you like the story?: Yes, I like the story. It was good because it was funny (Junior is a cartoonist) and it was not boring.

Overall comments: Overall, I would recommend this book to other teenagers. I think that other teenage boys would like this book because it’s funny, it has lots of pictures, and it is interesting.