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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
A very sweet, very "balm to the soul" YA novel. As one humorously bland review put it, it has "good values". Yeah, I agree. It's in the same vein as Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I spent maybe 75% of the book with my face covered in tears.
Arnold Spirit Jr. is a young Spokane Indian kid who decides, one day, to leave the reservation and attend the nearby all-white school. He's an earnest goof, an aspiring cartoonist, a little teen horndog and a lover of basketball. He's also hyper-aware of the tension between being an individual and being the member of a community; and he struggles with how his personal ambitions alienate him from the rest of the Spokane Indian community. There are some moments of poverty and despair; but the book is fundamentally big-hearted, generous and forgiving - the white bigots rise above their initial racism, the school jerk comes around, Arnold's alcoholic parents shower him with love. Shit happens, but they feel like apersonal tragedies - echoes of a cruel history.
In fact, you get a sense that the historical cruelties and continuing structural injustice, as dehumanizing as it has been to the Indian community (and I read somewhere Alexie prefers that term, over "Native American" or "American Indian"?), can be kept at bay by people's individual will and striving. Hmm, I guess this makes it a VERY American novel: social mobility predicated on personal ambition and grit and determination. The ultimate triumph of individualism?
Anyway, as with all good YA novels, there are some inspiring moments of Good Values indeed: I loved the loving paean to the joy of learning (getting a "boner - a metaphorical boner!" over all the books in the library), the drama and triumph of school sports (the basketball game scene!), and the everyday gestures of kindness that the book is peppered with. If Feed and Watership Down are the YA books I'd give a teen to show them that shit can get really real (so watch out!), I'd also give them Perks of Being a Wallflower and this to then reassure them that there can be great hope in human kindness.
Side note: I listened to this on audiobook, since - okay - I'm a guilty white liberal dork and linguistics nerd, and I wanted to hear the accent. Sherman Alexie does the reading, and it's an enthusiastic, breathless, very Teen Boy reading. Again, the basketball scene!!
Arnold Spirit Jr. is a young Spokane Indian kid who decides, one day, to leave the reservation and attend the nearby all-white school. He's an earnest goof, an aspiring cartoonist, a little teen horndog and a lover of basketball. He's also hyper-aware of the tension between being an individual and being the member of a community; and he struggles with how his personal ambitions alienate him from the rest of the Spokane Indian community. There are some moments of poverty and despair; but the book is fundamentally big-hearted, generous and forgiving - the white bigots rise above their initial racism, the school jerk comes around, Arnold's alcoholic parents shower him with love. Shit happens, but they feel like apersonal tragedies - echoes of a cruel history.
In fact, you get a sense that the historical cruelties and continuing structural injustice, as dehumanizing as it has been to the Indian community (and I read somewhere Alexie prefers that term, over "Native American" or "American Indian"?), can be kept at bay by people's individual will and striving. Hmm, I guess this makes it a VERY American novel: social mobility predicated on personal ambition and grit and determination. The ultimate triumph of individualism?
Anyway, as with all good YA novels, there are some inspiring moments of Good Values indeed: I loved the loving paean to the joy of learning (getting a "boner - a metaphorical boner!" over all the books in the library), the drama and triumph of school sports (the basketball game scene!), and the everyday gestures of kindness that the book is peppered with. If Feed and Watership Down are the YA books I'd give a teen to show them that shit can get really real (so watch out!), I'd also give them Perks of Being a Wallflower and this to then reassure them that there can be great hope in human kindness.
Side note: I listened to this on audiobook, since - okay - I'm a guilty white liberal dork and linguistics nerd, and I wanted to hear the accent. Sherman Alexie does the reading, and it's an enthusiastic, breathless, very Teen Boy reading. Again, the basketball scene!!
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
inspiring
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
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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
Written for YA, so not my first choice. Easy fun read.
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Dammit, I knew I should have written this review when I first finished the book, but I decided to push it off because it seemed too hard to try and sum up all my feeeeelings, but joke’s on me, now it’s even harder!
Sherman Alexie has been one of my favorite writers since I was in college and one of my English comp teachers made us watch Smoke Signals, which is based off Alexie’s short story, “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” and for which he also wrote the screenplay. I thought the film was hilarious (and sad) and so decided to look up the source material. I’m not usually one for short stories (even short story collections by my favorite authors, for instance Neil Gaiman, have a hard time holding my attention). I much prefer longer narratives (and as a young person, the longer the better) so as to really have the time and space to get invested. But for some reason, Sherman Alexie was instantly an exception. I own all his short story collections, and have re-read them several times. When I taught English comp myself, I regularly taught my favorite of his stories, “Dear John Wayne” as a way to have the kiddos engage critically on the subject of gender roles and race. In fact, until I read this book, I had ONLY read his short stories. Why did I do this? I have no idea. I love Sherman Alexie in short form, why wouldn’t I love him in long form as well, my preferred medium?
It also shouldn’t have surprised me that he’d be so good at writing for young people. He’s almost brutal about portraying the realities of the world as he sees it. Kids love that brutal honesty shit. We really shouldn’t coddle them if they’re willing to listen. They’re the ones it’s easy to change. He’s also hilariously funny, as per the usual. And what’s even better is that he’s funny in the service of his narrative, and not just to be goofy. The serious subject matter makes the jokes funnier, and the jokes make the serious subject matter hit home.
This thing seems like it popped up fully formed. (In large part, I’m sure it did, since it seems to be at least partly autobiographical.) Junior’s voice is so, so engaging and unique. The artwork is not only super entertaining (and moving), but it also seamlessly interweaves with the narrative. The book wouldn’t have been the same without it. Alexie juggles so many balls in this book. It’s a coming of age story, and a story about growing up poor. It's about systemic racism, and the social realities of living on a reservation. The pervasive pessimism, the alcoholism. And yet, it’s also optimistic, and it does this without being cloying or naïve. Junior gets out and will ostensibly make something of himself, but not without a cost.
So yeah, I loved this book. Read it in one sitting. I need to own my own copy immediately. I also need to finally get on reading his other novels (Flight, Indian Killer, Reservation Blues). If they’re half as good as this book, I will enjoy myself immensely.
Sherman Alexie has been one of my favorite writers since I was in college and one of my English comp teachers made us watch Smoke Signals, which is based off Alexie’s short story, “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” and for which he also wrote the screenplay. I thought the film was hilarious (and sad) and so decided to look up the source material. I’m not usually one for short stories (even short story collections by my favorite authors, for instance Neil Gaiman, have a hard time holding my attention). I much prefer longer narratives (and as a young person, the longer the better) so as to really have the time and space to get invested. But for some reason, Sherman Alexie was instantly an exception. I own all his short story collections, and have re-read them several times. When I taught English comp myself, I regularly taught my favorite of his stories, “Dear John Wayne” as a way to have the kiddos engage critically on the subject of gender roles and race. In fact, until I read this book, I had ONLY read his short stories. Why did I do this? I have no idea. I love Sherman Alexie in short form, why wouldn’t I love him in long form as well, my preferred medium?
It also shouldn’t have surprised me that he’d be so good at writing for young people. He’s almost brutal about portraying the realities of the world as he sees it. Kids love that brutal honesty shit. We really shouldn’t coddle them if they’re willing to listen. They’re the ones it’s easy to change. He’s also hilariously funny, as per the usual. And what’s even better is that he’s funny in the service of his narrative, and not just to be goofy. The serious subject matter makes the jokes funnier, and the jokes make the serious subject matter hit home.
This thing seems like it popped up fully formed. (In large part, I’m sure it did, since it seems to be at least partly autobiographical.) Junior’s voice is so, so engaging and unique. The artwork is not only super entertaining (and moving), but it also seamlessly interweaves with the narrative. The book wouldn’t have been the same without it. Alexie juggles so many balls in this book. It’s a coming of age story, and a story about growing up poor. It's about systemic racism, and the social realities of living on a reservation. The pervasive pessimism, the alcoholism. And yet, it’s also optimistic, and it does this without being cloying or naïve. Junior gets out and will ostensibly make something of himself, but not without a cost.
So yeah, I loved this book. Read it in one sitting. I need to own my own copy immediately. I also need to finally get on reading his other novels (Flight, Indian Killer, Reservation Blues). If they’re half as good as this book, I will enjoy myself immensely.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Late to get to Sherman Alexie and really enjoyed this work. Funny, moving, like Reservation Dogs.
EDIT: Found out this author sucks, ew.
EDIT: Found out this author sucks, ew.