The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Alexis, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. NY. Little Brown.
Junior lives on the reservation and attends high school with high life long friend. Everyone on the reservation is tough and macho and not concerned with learning or much about their later life. Junior decides to go to the white school and feels the hate from his own community, and all the while not being fully accepted in the white school. Junior loses his best friend from the reservation, but gains a girlfriend and some other friends. Junior suffers losses of close family members and proves everyone wrong when it comes to what he accomplishes at the white school.
This was a great read and a great look into the life of a young man on an Indian reservation and his outlook on his future. It gives a great insight into a person trapped between two cultures and not being fully accepted by either culture. Sherman Alexie is a Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Native American writer. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and used his experiences as a Indigenous American with ancestry from several tribes to influence his writing. Other works by Alexie are Reservation Blues and Ten Little Indians.
