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quarkie's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
littlemisslibrarian's review
4.0
Confusing and interesting until the end of the story. The reader has to get to the end for the story for it to make sense.
deservingporcupine's review
4.0
This was a really good piece of literature, and very difficult to read. It's a dark, slightly hopeful look at human cruelty and how our choices throughout time have affected us. And how they affect children, which made it feel almost too brutal. Not as much humor as other Alexie.
mandler_'s review
4.0
This book reminds me of Alexander Lloyd’s Time Cat—although it has been a long time since I read the book, so someone correct me if I’m completely wrong.
The book tells the tale of 15 year old Zits, a Native American who is in foster care and has a difficult life. He doesn’t feel loved or taken care of and is frequently in trouble with the law. He meets another teenager who gives him guns and tells him to go shoot up a bank. While Zits goes to do so, he has a magical moment wherein he “jumps” into the bodies of other people in other places throughout time. Through these experiences, he learns empathy, kindness, patience, and to see the world through other’s eyes. He wonders if we aren’t all, “at war” within ourselves about something and finds a changed attitude on his life, situation, and the people around him.
The book does a great job emphasizing the major point that author Sherman Alexie wants to hit. Self-love, acceptance, generational trauma, and empathy for others are all highlighted. I started this book hesitantly, however as it moved, I enjoyed it more. I think it teaches many important points, however, there are some parts that I didn’t enjoy or thought may have come off differently than the author intended—or perhaps Alexie did intend these things. Women are one dimensional and regarded as sexual things, and while yes, the character is a 15 year old male, the question remains, is that the author attempting to tell the story through a 15 year old’s point of view or is it Alexie’s point of view on women? Additionally, I know many native American’s have dealt with alcoholism and substance abuse. I know this book was written many years ago, but I wonder if that has changed. If “life on the rez as an Indian” has changed or if it is still a massive problem like Alexie insinuates. I don’t want to read things and fall into stereotype.
That being said, the book was entertaining. Zits was a fun, humorous narrator and the magical realism in the story gave the messages power. I wish I could jump into others’ bodies and experience life for a little bit as they experience it.
The book tells the tale of 15 year old Zits, a Native American who is in foster care and has a difficult life. He doesn’t feel loved or taken care of and is frequently in trouble with the law. He meets another teenager who gives him guns and tells him to go shoot up a bank. While Zits goes to do so, he has a magical moment wherein he “jumps” into the bodies of other people in other places throughout time. Through these experiences, he learns empathy, kindness, patience, and to see the world through other’s eyes. He wonders if we aren’t all, “at war” within ourselves about something and finds a changed attitude on his life, situation, and the people around him.
The book does a great job emphasizing the major point that author Sherman Alexie wants to hit. Self-love, acceptance, generational trauma, and empathy for others are all highlighted. I started this book hesitantly, however as it moved, I enjoyed it more. I think it teaches many important points, however, there are some parts that I didn’t enjoy or thought may have come off differently than the author intended—or perhaps Alexie did intend these things. Women are one dimensional and regarded as sexual things, and while yes, the character is a 15 year old male, the question remains, is that the author attempting to tell the story through a 15 year old’s point of view or is it Alexie’s point of view on women? Additionally, I know many native American’s have dealt with alcoholism and substance abuse. I know this book was written many years ago, but I wonder if that has changed. If “life on the rez as an Indian” has changed or if it is still a massive problem like Alexie insinuates. I don’t want to read things and fall into stereotype.
That being said, the book was entertaining. Zits was a fun, humorous narrator and the magical realism in the story gave the messages power. I wish I could jump into others’ bodies and experience life for a little bit as they experience it.
cluna's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
marmoset737's review
3.0
Not as strong as Reservation Blues or Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian mainly because I didn't really get a strong sense of Zits as a character until the last five pages or so. Alexie is gifted at writing deeply flawed characters, but Zits wasn't so much simply flawed as kind of flat and boring - more of a storytelling, hatred-spewing device rather than a multi-faceted character with deep-rooted issues to overcome. Still though - an interesting introduction to many historical violent events in Native American history and a relatively quick-read.
collkay10's review
3.0
2.5/3 loved how quick this was to read and Zits’ narrative voice was so strong. The plot was a little strange, but I still feel confident with a 4 based on the ending and the issues related to foster care as well as stereotypes for American Indians that are brought up.
annebennett1957's review
4.0
An important expose about the long-reaching tentacles of hatred and the need for revenge. Zits, our protagonist time-travels and gains insight into why he is so angry and lonely. This book is very important.
jmrich's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dlberglund's review
5.0
This book took longer than I expected to draw me in, but once it did, I was hooked. The narrator is a 15 year old boy (which I didn't realize when I picked it up...I just thought ooh! A Sherman Alexie novel is on sale!!) living in Seattle. His absent father is Indian, but he was raised by his white mom until he was 6 and she died. Then he bounces around to dozens of homes, running away and getting kicked out. The book shifts after he meets the slightly older Justice, while in jail. Justice changes the narrator's perspective and brings him to the pivotal moment in the narrator's life. At that moment, the book switches to magical realism. The narrator is zapped out of his body into the bodies of a series of people in other times and places. This is when the book had me hooked. I loved his journey through other people's pivotal moments, and loved the struggle between what the person's body wanted to do and what the narrator brought to the experience.
This was a very fast read for me, and I'd highly recommend it.
This was a very fast read for me, and I'd highly recommend it.