[Book] #14. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Hilarious and Sad Adolescence of a 14-year-old Boy

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One of the good things that you have a family or friends is you can rely on them when you feel sad and down. But what if people around you are all sad and down? What if family members, friends, relatives and all the townspeople around you are depressed and frustrated, and you're living in a place where you can't possibly find a sliver of hope? Then what would happen? Would you be able to leave it all behind and start fresh or would you waste your life moping about your terrible environment?

The main character of this book Arnold(he was called 'Junior' in neighbor) is a 14-year-old Native American boy who's living in reservations. Arnold was a weak and small boy, victim to other bully boys. His dad was an (and all the other Native Americans living in his neighbor were) alcoholics, every one of them was poor, and they were gripped by defeat and frustration through their whole lives. Arnold was smart, but Arnold (and everyone in his neighborhood) thought "What good was it?" Because none in his family, friends, relatives or anyone living in the reservations had ever gone to college.

Then one day, Arnold decided to break the shell and come out of it: He decided to get transferred to a high scholl located outside of the reservations, 22 miles away from home. It was the kind of high school that if you're smart enough, they encourage you to apply for colleges.

Since he lived too far out, no school bus was arranged for him. His dad had to drive him to school. Whenever his dad was drunk or the car was out of gas or there was no gas money or his dad used the gas money to get drunk, then he had to walk all the way to school. Would he be alright?
In his new school, the only other Native American other than him was the school mascot, and everyone else (including teachers) were all white. Would he be alright?
He was branded as a traitor because his friends and neighbors thought he wanted to be a white. They all hated him. Would he be alright?

Well, he might be alright. Because for the first time in his life, he had tasted what hope was like; He realized that there could be "college" in his future and he heard "You can do it!" for the first time; And he learned that he could do it.

This is based on the biography of the author. He himself used to live in the Spokane Indian Reservation.

((People thought he was a traitor. They called him an apple because they thought he was red on the outside and white on the inside. So he started calling himself "part-time Indian" sarcastically because he didn't feel like a real Indian.))

Image Source: Goodreads

This is a hilarious book describing a wonderful journey of a 14-year-old boy to the uncharted future. Cute comics in the book (presumably drawn by Arnold) will add the fun reading this book. This book is written in the first person, so that it's easy for teenagers to get empathized. If you want to read a book that's both funny and touching, I strongly recommend this one.

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A Few Good Lines from the Book

1))
Getting frustrated, Arnold threw a book to a teacher. The teacher told him to stay after class. He thought he'd get scolded, but the teacher surprised him.

“You’re the smartest kid in the school. And I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to fade away. You deserve better.”

“I didn’t feel smart.”

“I want you to say it,” Mr. P said.

“Say what?”

“I want you to say that you deserve better.”

I couldn’t say it. It wasn’t true. I mean, I wanted to have it better, but I didn’t deserve it. I was the kid who threw books at teachers.

“You are a good kid. You deserve the world.”

Wow. I wanted to cry. No teacher had ever said anything so nice, so incredibly nice to me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Now say it.”

“I can’t.” And then I did cry. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt so weak.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

2))
When Arnold went to Wellpinit in the Reservation, he wasn't a good basketball player. But in the new school Reardan, he was different.

Overnight, I became a good player.

I suppose it had something to do with confidence. I mean, I’d always been the lowest Indian on the reservation totem pole – I wasn’t expected to be good so I wasn’t. But in Reardan, my coach and the other players wanted me to be good. They needed me to be good. They expected me to be good. And so I became good.

I wanted to live up to expectations.

I guess that’s what it comes down to.

The power of expectations.

And as they expected more of me, I expected more of myself, and it just grew and grew until I was scoring twelve points a game.(p.180)

3))

“You can do it.”

“I can do it.”

Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It’s one of the simplest sentence in the world, just four words, but they’re the four hugest words in the world when they’re put together.

You can do it.

I can do it.

Let’s do it. (p.189)

4))
The basketball match between Reardan(Arnold's new school) and Wellpinit(Arnold's old school). Everyone in his old school laughed at Arnold, but he was able to score the first shoot of the game that no one expected him to succeed. And that changed everything.

Yep, all of that fuss and the score was only 3 to 0.

But, trust me, the game was over.

It only took, like, ten seconds to happen. But the game was already over. Really. It can happen that way. One play can determine the course of a game. One play can change your momentum forever.

We beat Wellpinit by forty points. (p.194)

This kind of thing happens in our lives, too. It seems small and nothing at first, but it could change you forever: the courage, the decision, and epiphany that'll change the course of your life.
One play that Arnold succeeded. I hope there will be that one play in your life, too. I hope you can pull off that one play. And I sincerely hope you can be reborn because of that one play.

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Title: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Note: National Book Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, New York Times Best Seller

Disclaimer) There's only first part of the storyline in this review to introduce the book. No major spoiler included.

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