The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Alexie, Sherman (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Boston: Little Brown. 240 pages.
So you know that I’m always a little wary of award-winners, especially when people keep recommending them to me. It’s like I refuse to believe that if so many people exclaim and gush over a book, it could actually be that good. I’m extra suspicious of award-winning titles by known “adult” authors because I feel like they’re colonizing the form. In the case of Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary, I might just have to eat my hat. The book is that good. By now you probably know the story: fourteen-year-old Junior decides to transfer from the underfunded school on his Spokane Indian reservation to a better (and mostly white) small-town school about 20 miles away. His decision to go to the white school compels many of his rez friends to turn their backs while his new and “Oriental” status in the neighboring town leads to unexpected (albeit minor) popularity.
Alexie’s book, told in the first person and illustrated by Ellen Forney, describes Junior’s first year “abroad” as he finds his (almost daily) way to and from the reservation, and lives outside and beside the white world. Although some pretty crappy things happen to Junior–several people die, many of alcohol-related deaths–the novel maintains an upbeat and even perversely funny tone that is enhanced by Forney’s drawings (meant to represent Junior’s own comic artwork). As naively insightful as Charlie (from Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower) but with an almost smart-alecky wit (a la Nick Twisp from C.D. Payne’s Youth in Revolt), Alexie’s Junior is one of those rare protagonists whose sageness doesn’t get on your last nerve and whose voice manages to believably blend optimism and world-weariness. Even the moments when Junior is making these broad statements (that may as well be pre-highlighted for the benefit of folks assigned this book for English classes) about how we are all immigrants and outcasts don’t feel forced, maybe because they also feel so true.