Chosen as a recommended read by Jenny Downham, January 2011 Guest Editor:
"This is a book I discovered only recently. It made me jealous because the writing is so acute and the writer so talented! It delighted me for the very same reasons. This is the funniest, wisest book I’ve read in a long time. A complex story of identity. Truly beautiful."
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A remarkable and heart warming story of survival that avoids sadness or sentimentality because of its original story telling and brilliant black humour. Junior relates the complicated journey of his life travelling from the poverty and lack of opportunity on a reservation to a new life with different problems a shrewd eye, compassion and exceptional understanding. A fantastic journey of discovery for all readers.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Synopsis
In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white high school.
This heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written tale, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, is based on the author's own experience and chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he seems destined to live. It is illustrated in a contemporary cartoon style by Ellen Forney.
'I have no doubt that in a year or so it'll be winning awards and being banned.' Neil Gaiman
'Overflows with truth, pain and black comedy amid lacerating memories of life on the rez... the novel is an unforgettable portrait of getting by in harsh circumstances, then getting out.' New York Times
Author
About Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie combines his successful writing career with stand-up comedy. His siblings, with whom he grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation in the east of Washington state, are surprised people find him funny, he says. "I was always the depressed guy in the basement. But I've borrowed their sense of humour and made it darker and more deadly - a weapon of self-defence. Being funny you win hearts quicker; people laughing are more apt to listen."
