The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)

Damaged on arrival, it just the top front and side- only impacted a few pages but hope next time shipping is more efficient.

Reliable service. Books are always as described. Noting ex-library copies or unmarked pages is appreciated. Not all sellers are that forthcoming.

Very unique, funny and engaging perspective on adolescent struggles and triumphs in a population that typically doesn't get a lot of attention.

For Arnold Spirit, Jr., two worlds existed, the tightly knit impoverished community on the reservation and the outside world filled with White people and possibilities. When he's handed a textbook used over 20 years ago by his mother, he realizes his reservation school will never prepare him for college or offer him the opportunity to escape poverty. He makes the decision to go to a school in a predominantly White farming town. Arnold must learn to believe he is worthy of a better education and a different life. During his journey, Arnold becomes stuck in between the two worlds, not quite an Indian and not quite White - a traitor to his community and an outsider at his school. Arnold 's world is based on the author's own experiences dealing with food scarcity, alcoholic family members, bullying, poverty,and hopelessness. What makes this story unique is the author's use of humor as a coping mechanism and a reflection of the joy he derives from his family and friends. You'll laugh and cry as you read this; parts will make you angry about the injustices in our society, but you'll also learn about hope and the power of education.

This refreshing book, which examines the dynamics between reservation life and the privileged whites just outside of town, keeps you reading chapter after chapter captivated by Junior’s sagas.

The book ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ is an awesome read that I would recommend to anyone and everyone with $15 in their wallet and a few hours of time.First off, let me speak about the build quality and the service provided by Amazon. The book arrived in good shape, and had no visible damage on it. I believe this took 3 or 4 days to arrive, which is a nice amount of time for free delivery. I couldn’t really ask more from Amazon.The book is a good read. The age range is for teenagers about 12-16, so it should be a very simple read for just about anyone. The book recounts Sherman Alexie’s high school career, and his struggles with bullying, racism, and the American school system on and off the Spokane reservation.Junior, the protagonist, does not fit in. He is a nerd who keeps getting beat up and bullied by his peers as well as adults in his community. As an impoverished Indian, he struggles with getting to school, and when he transfers schools he has to walk miles on end.The drawings and cartoons lighten up the read from the otherwise dark and depressing topics of systemic racism and hate towards the protagonist. If you want to get somewhat emotional, while still being entertained and having a laugh once in a while, this book will take you on that roller coaster ride. It is an easy read, and relates to high school students the most. If you are in high school, chances are you have read this book at least once, maybe twice already. I would still recommend reading this book regardless.Overall, I really liked this book. I am giving it 5 stars for the good price point, great story itself and the ease of the read. I would recommend this book to anyone, and I will probably read it again in the future.

Not bad but not my vibe. I purchased it for school

I have a personal connection to this book, so I had to buy it for my library. I knew Sherman when I was a little kid. He was about 10 years older than me and in high school at the time... yes, the same high school he writes about in this book. It was interesting to me to read this and try to figure out who he was writing about. He did change most of the names, but some were obvious...lol. Most people won't have the same experience as I did reading this book, but I still recommend it to everyone since the subject matter is worth learning about. Being that it is a young adult book, it is an easy read... but there is a lot of meaning in the story as well. I love the humor in it too. Love it!

Product was received in good condition. Was concerned about tracking and contacted seller, who was very prompt in responding and clarifying. Although it shows sent via USPS, the tracking number can only be used with TrackYourOrder.info. Once I received that information, It was fine. I did receive the order several days ago; however, tracking shows it will be arriving next week.

I read this book for my middle school homeschooler to do an assignment on. I realized I didn't know much about Native American culture and he definitely knew none. I read this book in a number of hours in just a day. I'm an avid reader but nothing usually holds my attention that long, I usually have to break reading up a bit.I think what made it so fascinating was that I identified with pain immediately in the book, I was crying by like the second or third chapter. Then, there wasn't really a flow. I would not be able to accurately describe a beginning, middle and end to the book, other than the story moves chronologically through his school year. BUT, that's what makes it interesting. There's no real solutions to most of the family problems, and that makes it realistic. It's just a kid writing about a small part of his life that was impactful for him. Lots of things happen and he doesn't "deal" with half of it. He reminds me a lot of my son and his inability to relate to others, empathize and copy with issues. I think it will help my son understand that everyone has problems and there's not always a resolution to them right away (if ever).Also, if its description of reservation life is accurate, I really didn't know anything about a whole group of people in our country. Really makes me want to read more at the adult level and try to understand that culture.

The story follows a teenage Indian boy, Junior, from the Spokane reservation during his first year in high school. He has had to make some tough decisions to set himself on a different path from his family. Author, Alexie, takes you on a very relatable journey through the raw emotions Junior experiences through the joys of a basketball game to the loss of a loved one. Alexie describes in very plain but descriptive detail as he faces deep, almost adult situations and emotions of regret and watch as his tribe abandons him then accepts him again. I cried and laughed along with the narrative. This child, boy, young man went through truly adult experiences and even handled it than most adults would have in his situation. I am fairly certain someone out there has probably felt the pain and experienced what he has. This book was an emotional roller coaster as a reader, something I am grateful for with the tale it is opening up to us. This book is full of conflict and deep emotion the moment you read the first page, something that I truly appreciated from the author. The amount of introspection Junior has is astounding for a damaged young boy. If there was a quote that stuck out with me it was “You can do it”. Simple? Yes, but where it is used is so important to the story. I would recommend everyone of appropriate age read this book. There are real things teen boys do experience in this and I think it is important for parents to read this prior to their son/daughter reading it. It is enlightening, soul wrenching, and a joy to read though it does sting a bit here and there. It condemns what has historically been done to the Native American land/traditions, but on the other hand has another thought about how people need to also help themselves. It is a difficult topic to bring up and I think Alexie did a good job handling it from a young man's perspective. My recommendation: Read the book.

Before reading Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian I had very low hopes of the book being any good. Personally, I am not much of a reader, but I decided to give this book a try. Let me tell you, I enjoyed the book, from the comics to the actual story, it was so entertaining! As I flipped through the pages, absorbing more of the story, I found myself getting more into the book. Within a few hours, I was done with the book. As a teenager, I loved the humor carefully crafted by the author, it seemed like I was reading an actual book from a teenager.Before doing research on the book, it made me surprised the story was fiction. The story can be entirely made up, but I imagined the story was a close spitting image of what some Native-Americans on reservations have to go through. However, after I’ve done my research Alexie said, “If I were to guess at the percentage, it would be about seventy-eight percent true” (Horn Book Magazine). The book was published September 12 in 2007. Over 10 years later, the humor is still funny and it is pretty relatable. The author, Sherman Alexie, grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and is best known for writing stories and films about his experiences as an Indigenous American. For this book specifically, he changed few details by making it more humorous to fit the category for young adult fiction.The overall plot of the book is a young teen named Arnold Spirit Jr. who lives on an Indian reservation and feels the whole world is against him. Born with birth defects easily prone to seizures and suffering from a stutter, he was raised by alcoholic parents who had very little to nothing money income. Junior was constantly bullied and to escape from this, Junior was passionate about drawing cartoons. After a talk with an important figure at school, Junior realizes he has to get out of the reservation. Junior transferred to an all-white high school called Reardon High School. There and then he faces even more bullying and tragedies in his life, from being called a traitor by his own people to important people in his life dying. Despite all this, Junior continued to draw cartoons and used humor to get over all the hardships and eventually found himself no longer feeling like an outcast.The most compelling part of the book was the characters. Overall, the characters were well developed. Every character has their own unique and distinct personality. I sometimes find myself confused or lost when a book has so many characters and very little information on them. However, Sherman Alexie was able to establish each character memorably. On another note, I wish more historical context of each character were provided, I really wanted to know more about the mysterious, drunk Eugene (when you read the book, you’ll know exactly what I mean).Sherman Alexie seemed to have put a lot of thought into the making of this book. Reading the book, everything flowed perfectly. The introduction of himself and his family to the transition of how life is like on the reservation then to Reardon High including all the hardships he had to face, the transitions were so smooth. I never found myself lost while reading this book. The book was not predictable at all, it is for sure an intriguing and original piece.While reading the book, there were few things that may seem controversial to other readers. There were few accounts where profanity and sexual references were used. The book also discusses alcohol, abuse, and bullying related to mental disabilities several times. However, I think all these controversial topics are important to learn about because it’s real life. In life, people use profanity, alcoholics exist, and those with mental disabilities do suffer from bullying. Topics like these make the book relatable in a way and the audience can have a good laugh from the dark humor.The overall message of the book appears to be a message of how important it is to have hope. Even if it seems like you are doomed to fail, you should have a positive hope and outtake for everything and you’ll achieve to what once seemed to be the impossible. From reading this, I have learned some of the few hardships of many that Native-Americans who live on reservations may have. I was close-minded to all the stereotypical things about Native-Americans to realize things like the stories in the book mentioned can actually happen. A reader can take away the hardships of a Native-American teenager who wants to live two lives as Junior from the Rez and as Arnold from Reardon High School.I would recommend teenagers in high school and young adults to read Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the book would be most humorous and relatable to those in that age group. In addition, the book is a great tool to become open-minded of the issues that Natives who live in reservations must face. I would not recommend to younger children or even teenagers in middle school because of the few co...

The word “Indian” conjures up images of men on horses and in buckskin pants, who live in teepees and are wild, untamed,and savage. The word “Indian” is not even politically correct anymore, now the term is Native American. People do not think of modern day Native Americans as much as the older Native Americans. A distant idea of reservations comes to mind when thinking of Native Americans now, but they are mostly gone from the public’s mind. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian looks at the world from an untapped and unexpected perspective of a teenaged Native American boy on a dirt-poor reservation. The Native American author’s past has influenced his writing of this book ,as most white authors would write about Native Americans in a historical context.Reading the book is overall an enjoyable experience. This book is rife with social commentary and observations about human nature which is what I enjoyed most.The immaturity of the main character is a bit off-putting, but fits with Arnold being a fourteen year old. The main character is likable and the reader wants to see his “coming of age” story end with a happy ending. The tone is light-hearted because Arnold has an unusual outlook on life and tries not to take anything seriously. Arnold is an artist who draws cartoons and there are pictures scattered throughout the book. They offer some comic relief and illustrate plot points and emotions. The drawings are very witting and clever as well as artistically pleasing.I choose this book from a list of books with a hero's journey to read alongside The Odyssey. As a freshman in an Enriched I did not recognize the author, but I was intrigued by the summary so I picked it over classics liked Alice in Wonderland, Siddhartha, and the Hobbit. Arnold’s hero’s journey is different than the classics but it has the same basic steps. I would not have read this book on my own. The unknown author and unappealing cover would not have drawn me to the book. The book is a textbook case of “don’t judge a book by its cover” because once I read the synopsis I was immediately interested with the story. There are few books that feature a modern Native American character, let alone a narrator so I was intrigued.As a whole, the book appeals to a younger audience and uses sarcasm, drawings and musings of the world to connect with them. This book draws you in with emotional connections to the character and once you get attached it is hard to put down.

Sherman Alexie's moving story about the life of a teenage indian boy, living on a Spokane indian reservation, believed to be trapped in the same vicious cylce of every indian, including his parents, who "came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the first poor person". But Arnold Spirit is different than his ancestors, or anyone on the reservation. Not only physically different, given the Arnold was born with excess fluid in his brain and sufffered from seizures in his early childhood, but also different in his willingness to leave the reservation and lead a life that he wants to live. Arnold refuses to become another durken, impoverished indian like all of the others on the "rez." Most extraordinary is the accuracy in which Sherman Alexie is able to capture the thoughts of not only a teenage boy, but one who has endured so much hardship in his life and has been an outcast since the day he was born.Aside from the childish jokes of the typical teenage boy and the cartoons hand drawn by Arnold, the book has a very valuable lesson to learn about the hardships in life. Specifically, how we choose to let these hardships control/ decide our next decisions in life. I would recommend this book for anyone who is going through a hard time. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is an eye-opener, demonstarting that even when we have hard time sin our life there will always be those who are suffering through many more, and even continuing to laugh like Arnold Spirit laughs. Most importantly, Sherman Alexie's book demonstrates the true meaning/value of love and family. Even when Junior's father leaves them on Christmas to spend their very little money on a drinking binge, Junior understands the love that his father feels towards him and his family. An extraordinary book with an extraordinary protagonist, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is an excellent read.

I was supposed to read this book about a year ago--it was one of the selections in my book club, but I wasn't going to be able to attend that meeting so I ended up not reading this book. Then, I needed something to read on my phone during National Library week (or whatever) and this book had come up as being the most challenged book in libraries. Well, I love a good controversy, so I finally got around to reading this.And, here is my question...what is supposed to be so controversial about this book. According to the ALA, it is:Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”Anti-family? Really? If anything, this book is incredibly pro-family! Junior's parents are not perfect, but they are the best they can be and they love Junior and Junior loves him,. I'm not sure how that qualifies as being anti-family. Cultural insensitivity? This is one of the most culturally sensitive books I have ever read. And, yes there are some scenes of drugs/alcohol/smoking, a few f-bombs here and there, and a description of what Junior does in his alone time (I'll give you a hint--it's the same thing almost every single 14 year old boy on the planet does). However, none of that is presented in a gratuitous way. It's Junior's life and this book would not be true with a white-washed version of his life.Look, I'm not going to go any further arguing the so-called "reasons" for challenging this book--it just makes me too upset. I'll get off my soap box now....Obviously, I loved this book. Junior was a fantastic character and I fell a little bit in love with him (and then went head over heels for him in the scene where he's interviewed by local media). The depictions of life on the reservation are hard to read, but I believe that they are realistic. I know life is hard on the reservations, and Alexie does not shy away from that. Yet, at the same time, he does not fall into self-pity.What I found unexpected was how Alexie contrasts Juniors reservation world and his "white" world. In short, neither world is perfect, but neither world is doomed. People are people and everyone has their own value and their own struggles. I don't know if I was expected for own group to come out ahead of the other in some way, but I am very glad that didn't happen.I truly feel that this is an important book for young people to read. Yes, it examines the struggles of modern Native Americans but, more importantly, it is about finding your own place in the world. And to all those people who try and challenge this book....don't worry, when my children are older, they won't be checking this book out of the library. I'm going to buy them their own copies.

Sherman Alexie is one of the finest writers working in America – or anywhere – today. His novels, short stories, and poetry often depict life on Alexie’s home turf, the Spokane Indian Reservation, and his writings are peopled with characters who are desperately real.In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Alexie created an alter-ego, Arnold Spirit (a.k.a. “Junior) who lived on the Spokane “Rez.” Junior was fourteen-years-old at the time of this story, and he had already been to forty-two funerals in his relatively short lifetime. He noted in his diary that most of the deaths were the result of drinking, and he constantly struggled with the impact that alcohol had on his family, friends, and his tribe.During the span of just a few pages in this novel, Junior chronicled the death of his beloved grandmother who never had a drink in her life but was run down by a drunk Indian as she was walking home from a powwow, the death of his dad’s best friend who was shot in the face and killed in a deadly disagreement with another Indian man over who should get the last drink in the bottle, and the deaths of his older sister and her husband who were passed out drunk in their small trailer and burned to death when someone at their party turned on a hotplate to warm some soup and then forgot to turn it off.Junior also understood how poverty shaped the lives of him and his friends. Sometimes there was food to eat, sometimes there wasn’t. Sometimes there was gas for his father to take him to school, and sometimes he had to walk and hitchhike. Some years there was money for Christmas gifts, and other years they had to do without – while his father slumped off in shame to get drunk on what little money they did have.But as imperfect as Junior’s parents might have been – and his father was plenty imperfect – Junior also understood that they loved him. He remarked in the diary that his parents were always in attendance at any school function or game in which he was a participant, and he also noted that some of the white parents (at a school he would later attend) would routinely skip their kids’ programs and games. While life did not deal Junior the best of hands, he recognized the good things and did not wallow in self-pity.Junior was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid on the brain and had to undergo surgeries and special care as a child. After that rough start, however, he developed into an intelligent boy who liked to read, write, draw cartoons, and play basketball. When he was fourteen he was challenged by a teacher to look beyond the Rez and make something of himself. It was at that point that Junior decided, almost on a whim, that he wanted to leave the Rez school and travel twenty-two miles down the road to a school that was almost entirely white.It was the move to the new school, Reardan, that led Junior to regard himself as a “part-time” Indian. He was Indian when he was on the Rez, and white when he was at Reardan. Many of his friends on the Rez, such as his best friend, Rowdy, turned their backs on him and regarded him as a traitor to his Indian ethnicity, while, as the outsider at Reardan, it took considerable effort on Junior’s part for him to begin to fit in.One develops the notion while reading this amazing novel, that Sherman Alexie, a former Rez Indian who now has a very successful life in Seattle, knows that of which he writes.“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” has been banned in some locales and schools probably due in small part because of casual teen discussion of sexual matters like masturbation and erections. But I suspect that some seek to keep others from reading the book because it starkly portrays the racism that original Americans often have to endure, and it shows the overwhelming poverty in which they must survive. The characters are wonderful, warm, and compassionate, but their circumstances are spare and bleak.Like everything that Sherman Alexie writes, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a masterpiece, one that everyone who thinks they understand the breadth and scope of what America really is, in total, should take the time to read. It is, like many other great works of literature, a mirror on who we are as a people - and like many mirror-images, it can be very disturbing.And great literature, like clear insight, is often disturbing.

I was looking for a book to write an essay for my Race and Ethnicity class when I came across The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. I had read an excerpt of it about a year ago in a humanities class and remembered that, although short, it was charming. Before I say how much I loved this book, I want to point out that I read a lot of the Amazon reviews about it. I read and five star and some one star. Some of the one star reviews almost scared me away from reading it calling it immature, vulgar, and unintelligent. They said it was wildly inappropriate for teens and some even said it was anti-Christian. I gave it a chance anyway and honestly none of those things are true. I'm not saying there wasn't strong language, or masturbation topics but it was very brief and didn't compromise the integrity of the overall message what so ever.So as a result of the negative reviews I proceeded with caution. My expectations were pretty low going in however I was immediately surprised. I was hooked right away. Junior is a complex and likable character. I was so completely blown away by how amazing this book is. Kids should read this book because it's so relatable. It's real, it's raw, and somehow manages to touch your heart and make you cry. Seriously, you laugh and cry with Junior.As a sociology major, I took a special interest in this book. I was captivated by how Alexie painted such a clear picture of the stereotypes of Native Americans, especially those on the reservations. He included how intimidating and difficult it would be to try to assimilate into a new culture, by using the metaphor that Junior had been rocketed to a different planet where he didn't know the rules. Junior represents minorities who feel oppressed or feel inclined to perpetuate that self fulfilling prophecy. He is the kid who had a dream and gave himself more credit than did the rest of the world. Junior comes from a long line of chronic poverty, alcoholism, addiction, and tragedy. In other words, not very much hope or promise. And although real life is much more complicated than a fiction book, it is a wonderful thing to dream and to be reminded to never sell yourself short.One of my favorite elements Alexie used to portray the racial inequality in his book was by creating two halves of the main character. One is Junior. He's Native American, poor, and lives on a reservation. He is everything traditional Indian, through and through. And you have his other half, Arnold, who identifies as white, who as this bright future, and his cup is overflowing with hope! But we're still talking about the same character. This is so important because it emphasizes how race is a social cultural construct. He says how in traveling between the two towns, the white town and the reservation, he experienced an extreme solitariness, where he was half-Indian in one place and half-white in the other. His identity was changing because he now has this outside influence that was Rearden in his life that was making him less of an Indian by making him more white. Surely the color of his skin or other Indian features did not change into Caucasian features. It's pointing out a very influential socially constructed idea that affects everyone on some level. It's an important thing for people to learn, especially early on.Overall I loved this book, I read it in two days, I will read it again, and I definitely recommend it. I loved following along with Junior in his journey to figure out what he really is capable of. It's an inspiring and down to earth story of a boy who faced stereotypes and racial inequity as well as many deep tragedies and overcame it all. This is a very easy and quick read with such a powerful message. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!