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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Book discussion worthy. Kid from Indian Reservation chooses to go to white school. Drawings included throughout. Authentic voice of teenage boy. Code switching analyzed. Poignant & funny.
I need to read more First Nations/Native American fiction! Especially as a kid, I read a LOT of white people. Good white people, but still. This would have been great to read as a teen.
Also, how is this one of the most-banned books in America? Get a grip people. "The Color Purple" was assigned reading in high school and that shit was disturbing. this = not
Also, how is this one of the most-banned books in America? Get a grip people. "The Color Purple" was assigned reading in high school and that shit was disturbing. this = not
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow!!
This is a truly remarkable book about a young man's coming of age and his eventually triumphant struggle to break free of the crushing poverty and social stigmas of life on an Indian reservation (“The rez”).
14-year old Junior has lots of problems – a stutter, a lisp, nearsighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other, and membership in the “black eye of the month club” to mention a few. He is also highly intelligent, a great basketball player and skilled satirical cartoonist who realizes that in order to succeed he needs a good education both at the high school and college levels. His eagerly awaited high school career starts with a horrendous jolt when he opens his textbook and finds his mother's name written in it from over 30 years ago. In a rage, he throws his textbook at the wall, misses, and breaks his teacher's nose. The teacher, Mr. P. later thanks Junior as it helps assuage the guilt he feels a a white man for the injustices he himself, and white society as a whole, have inflicted on the Indians. With Mr. P's help Junior realizes he has to leave the rez and go to the white school in town, over 20 miles away, where the only other Indian is the school mascot. As a result, the whole reservation including his best friend Rowdy, turn their backs on him (literally, in the case of a basketball game played on the rez).
The subject matter of this book is heavy – alcohol abuse, bullying, poverty, and injustices perpetrated on Indians are all major topics, but Alexie writes about them using humour , cartoons, and a sharp, incisive writing style exposing the problems but not dwelling on the them. It is a gripping, largely autobiographical novel that in the end celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over all adversities.
This is a truly remarkable book about a young man's coming of age and his eventually triumphant struggle to break free of the crushing poverty and social stigmas of life on an Indian reservation (“The rez”).
14-year old Junior has lots of problems – a stutter, a lisp, nearsighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other, and membership in the “black eye of the month club” to mention a few. He is also highly intelligent, a great basketball player and skilled satirical cartoonist who realizes that in order to succeed he needs a good education both at the high school and college levels. His eagerly awaited high school career starts with a horrendous jolt when he opens his textbook and finds his mother's name written in it from over 30 years ago. In a rage, he throws his textbook at the wall, misses, and breaks his teacher's nose. The teacher, Mr. P. later thanks Junior as it helps assuage the guilt he feels a a white man for the injustices he himself, and white society as a whole, have inflicted on the Indians. With Mr. P's help Junior realizes he has to leave the rez and go to the white school in town, over 20 miles away, where the only other Indian is the school mascot. As a result, the whole reservation including his best friend Rowdy, turn their backs on him (literally, in the case of a basketball game played on the rez).
The subject matter of this book is heavy – alcohol abuse, bullying, poverty, and injustices perpetrated on Indians are all major topics, but Alexie writes about them using humour , cartoons, and a sharp, incisive writing style exposing the problems but not dwelling on the them. It is a gripping, largely autobiographical novel that in the end celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over all adversities.
Been reading a lot of YA lately (thanks high school library), and this is another great one. Arnold Spirit is an outcast and a secret ass-kicker. So secret is his ass-kicking in fact that he doesn't know it himself. It takes him leaving the rez to head to the whitey school down the road to realize he has the courage and strength to stick his bony middle finger out to the world and see what happens. Plus, avid Sonics-fan Alexie gets to drop in a heart-breaking "One day you'll play for the Sonics" line for the novel's basketball star. It's among his better soul-crushing swings at the long odds of the Native American dream.
Fun to read a young adult book. It required a different kind of attention than the adult 'literary' fiction I'm used to. Took me a while to read it on its own terms, but once I did I was charmed.
A story about an American Indian boy who wrestles with feelings of betrayal, guilt, and confused identity when he leaves his tribe's reservation to pursue a better education in a 'white' school.
The book wrestled with some pretty gnarly themes, not least the issues faced by indigenous peoples. It was refreshing to read something that tackled these head on, at the risk of treading on toes. Teenagers have finely tuned BS detectors so this frankness was essential for the book's success.
Pitching humour for YA readers must be like playing darts with the lights off. I think on the whole Alexie pulled it off with a few grating exceptions.
I also loved the way the drawings were not just plonked into the text as an extra but formed a living part of the whole, being used instead of text sometimes. I think adult fiction should be less snobby about including illustrations.
I'm told this book features on US high school curricula, which is a cool thing. It's neat to overhear part of the formation of a generation of young minds.
A story about an American Indian boy who wrestles with feelings of betrayal, guilt, and confused identity when he leaves his tribe's reservation to pursue a better education in a 'white' school.
The book wrestled with some pretty gnarly themes, not least the issues faced by indigenous peoples. It was refreshing to read something that tackled these head on, at the risk of treading on toes. Teenagers have finely tuned BS detectors so this frankness was essential for the book's success.
Pitching humour for YA readers must be like playing darts with the lights off. I think on the whole Alexie pulled it off with a few grating exceptions.
I also loved the way the drawings were not just plonked into the text as an extra but formed a living part of the whole, being used instead of text sometimes. I think adult fiction should be less snobby about including illustrations.
I'm told this book features on US high school curricula, which is a cool thing. It's neat to overhear part of the formation of a generation of young minds.
My godson loved this book, and he hates to read!! He suffered massive brain trauma after being hit by a car two years ago, so he feels a lot like the book's main character. He read the book in two days. Anyone who has book recommendations for a 16-year old who hates to read and whose attention span is short due to his injury, please send them my way.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
