The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time Indian is essentially everything the title promises it
will be and more. Told from the voice of Arnold Spirit (AKA Junior), this is a
stark, eye-opening portrayal of what it means to be an Indian in a modern day
white man's world.
Junior has grown up on a reservation with his family, but he
finds himself struggling to fit in. As a teenager, he has already been to
forty-two funerals and recognizes his inevitable future if he holds onto his
way of life. When he realizes early on that he is destined for alcoholism,
poverty, and a young death if he follows the footsteps of those that came before
him, he applies to a ritzy school off the reservation, where the population is
predominantly white (and the mascot is actually an Indian).
Though Junior does well enough at his new school, he finds
himself ostracized from both sides, from his family for betraying them, and
from his new classmates for trying to fit in when he so clearly doesn't. It's
difficult to imagine the hellish struggle he must encounter on a day-to-day
basis, but Junior takes everything in stride. He actually does not complain a
whole lot given the dire circumstances that make up his life.
One of his coping mechanisms is the artwork that decorates
the pages of his "diary." Said art is nothing short of superb. I feel
as thought it contributed a great deal to the story as a whole, gives the
reader a much deeper insight into Junior's mind, and provides an even richer
dimension to the humor with which he relays the story. Most of the drawings are
very simple, but they are still a great insight into how he sees the world.
They invite us into his universe. I applaud cartoonist Ellen Forney for both
her creativity and her ability to draw in the role of a teenage boy. Though the
illustrations are very subtle, you can see a great deal of talent.
Given his circumstances, Junior is surprisingly well
adjusted. He is smart, witty, loyal, and delightfully self-deprecating. He
functions through his art. He is devoted to his family, to his tribe, and to
their way of life, but, at the same time, he is unwilling to give up the
prospects for his own future to appease other people's feelings. He has found a
healthy balance between respecting others and his own self-preservation.
Though Junior is the voice in which the story is told, the
side characters are just as relatable. I especially enjoyed hearing about his
sister, who is a twenty-something still living in the parents' basement doing
nothing and going nowhere. According to Junior, his sister just froze after she
finished school. She has sort of been living as a non-person, drifting through
life neither caring about what will happen nor acknowledging time as it passes.
It's only when she sees her younger brother attempting to rise above their
circumstances that she begins trying to live her own life.
Every single one of the characters feels real-Rowdy,
Junior's parents, even the classmates at his new school. Particularly within
the tribe, it is astounding to see people with great differences become so
unified due to death. For a moment, everyone can put aside all petty squabbles
and disputes. This story has a whole lot of important issues: racism, death,
alcoholism, stereotypes, struggles that go along with growing up... It's so
refreshing, stunning, wonderful.
The most daunting thing that this book depicts is that this
is the reality for an entire group of people. They are still confined to
specific areas with little work and little opportunity and have somehow
survived decades of scarcity. It's just a little mind-blowing. Unlike most
other American Indian literature, which conveys a version of history and not
issues from the present-day, this is a contemporary portrayal of a teenager
fighting his way out of the mold with all the strength he has.
I kid you not: at times, the writing in this book is
laugh-out-loud funny. But, on the other hand, it can be gut wrenching and tear
jerking, too. This is the rare kind of book that can snatch you up, drop you
down into the pages, and force you to not only sympathize for the character as
a witness but to make you experience everything alongside him as well. This
book is comedy, tragedy, fiction, and reality all weaved into one. I'm so
terribly glad I read it. I wish more books existed exactly like this one.
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