Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

((Summer has officially begun! That means I can actually read and not feel like I'm dying in school the next day because there is a significant difference between the amount I sleep when I find a good book compared to when I just sleep without reading.))
((I heard that this book had won very prestigious awards, so I naturally wanted to check it out. Plus a lot of my friends read it in school this year and told me it was interesting, so I did read it!))

The cover-




((My thought is that there is no accurate way for me to summarize this because I wrote at least three different summary paragraphs and deleted all of them because they sucked. Please just look up the summary somewhere online because I was more pumped to write the commentary than a summary....))

My thoughts-

Though it's not a very long book, I just could not put it down. I read all of it in about two nights! This book was written so well that I am not very surprised that it got so many awards.

It goes to show you how much poverty Native Americans in today's world live in, even after all this time. Arnold makes too many painful points about alcoholism in his community because he sees it all the time. His father himself is an alcoholic and sometimes Arnold and his mother have to walk miles to every pub they know of to drag their father back home. He also explains the root cause of his people turning to alcohol to solve their problems. They don't have hope for the future because of their situation. Because they are poor, there are few opportunities for jobs or even an education. This makes people feel unfulfilled in their lives, which makes them turn to alcohol as a way to cope with their frustration.
One particular example of the lack of hope that he and his community has that struck me the most was when basketball coach was praising him for his great shooting skills, saying that within a few years he could be playing in college basketball teams. The only point that Arnold is hung on is the word "college". He says that he's never heard the words "Indian" and "College" in the same sentence before. That is the nature of his situation.

Though what struck me more than Arnold's way of powering through the culture that he is surrounded with was his struggle to be both European and Native American at the same time. He says it as when he's on the reservation, he's "half white" and when he's in school, he's "half Indian". Like he's kind of a traitor on both sides.
I for one, know that feeling, to a lesser extent than Arnold, but I too have had to cope with it. I'm Indian (like the real India Indian) by heritage, but American by circumstance (I was born and brought up here). When I go to India, I feel a little "off", because from my walk and from my talk, anyone can tell that I'm not from anywhere near there. To them, I'm just "that kid from America". And here, when something happens that reminds me that I really don't know much about this country and its culture, I suddenly feel like I'm just "that Indian kid" and don't really belong here too. I guess I too am a traitor on both sides. But if I don't belong on either side, then where do I belong? That's the question that Arnold has to face throughout the book after he made the decision. Whether it is worth leaving his Native American roots for American culture or doing the opposite? Or is there even the possibility of a happy medium where he can be both at the same time? But with the silent animosity between both groups of people, he doesn't know what he should do.
Arnold's decision to go to Reardan High School has made the other teenagers on the reservation more wary of him, like he's a spy for the white people. They give him funny looks and generally stay away from him more than they did before. What really does it for him is the basketball game at the end of the book where the Reardan team has a rematch against the team from his old high school. Above everything, Arnold is most nervous for the game because he has to go up against Rowdy. The thought of having to beat the boy he spent years reading comic books with reminds him that even beyond this game, he is a Native American and the fact that he goes to a school off the reservation doesn't change that. Despite everything he has gone through, this thought helps him power through the game.

I would like to take some time to look at the ending of the book because I found that very interesting as well. (Those who haven't read it, turn away now... Don't blame me for spoilers...) Mostly that the book did not end with just the basketball game. I was very sure that the ultimate showdown would be the end of the book, but the ending was very mellow and less intense than everything else.
The book ended with the reconnecting of Arnold and Rowdy. It was a rather fitting ending. Arnold said sometime in the book that he could handle the others looking weirdly at him when he started going to Reardan, but what hurt him the most was when Rowdy wouldn't even look at him. Though he could not outwardly admit it, Arnold really did treasure Rowdy as his best friend, even if they were so different. I feel that it brought back the feeling of belonging and being back with one's people that Arnold had lost and regained throughout the book. It brought a calm closure to a whole storyline full of conflicting emotions.



Age Rating (14-16+)

It's not so much difficulty of the context or the language, but the content. There are very mature themes underlying the plot at all times. Once or twice the book touches upon topics that may be slightly uncomfortable for some people, but they do not take away from the plot. There is frequent use of curse words and is very explicit, but that simply adds to the raw feeling that is prevalent throughout.

On this topic I would like to say that this book has got a bad reputation because of the themes it possesses. In fact, the author has defended it multiple times saying that his intention was to describe every little thing that was usually going through a teenager's mind. Even if it was deemed too inappropriate for a book, it was true.
In fact this book made its home at the number one spot for the most challenged books of 2014 because of all this. I fully loved the story and the message beyond it, but I'm just saying this to remind anyone who wants to read it that this book is not for younger kids. Much more so than probably any other book that I've reviewed so far.

It's just a word of caution, not a red "X". I fully loved Arnold's sense of sarcasm that he weaves through the events in his life. The cartoons were beautiful and added lots of depth. This book was wonderful and probably made it on my list of favorites!