Ruth Sadelle Alderson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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50books_poc2009-06-01 09:53 pm
rsadelle) wrote in 50books_poc2009-06-01 09:53 pm
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Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
I have to stop reading books without knowing anything about them ahead of time. I knew that a lot of people liked Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, but I didn't know it was going to break my heart pretty much from the first page.
The book is about Junior and what happens the year he decides to leave the reservation school and go to Reardan, a small-town white high school twenty-two miles away. Junior is a cartoonist, and the book also includes his cartoons, from artist Ellen Forney. In a lot of ways, the book is ultimately hopeful. Junior navigates his way into life at Reardan, makes friends there, and reconciles with his best friend on the reservation. But it's not an easy road. Probably the most heartbreaking part was this:
I listened to Empires' "Spit the Dark" (acoustic version at their MySpace or download Howl with the album version I was listening to from their website) on repeat the whole time I was reading the book. (Yes, I'm the kind of person who will listen to one song on repeat for hours and hours and hours.) The lyrics that catch my ear are "I will guide you in the night" and "will you join me?" I also read the vision statement of To Write Love On Her Arms yesterday. Both of those things were in my head, and by the time I got to the end of the book, I felt opened up and full of love. It reminded me that one of happiness commandments is Love.
On a more intellectual note, part of why I wanted to read this is that one of the characters in the paranormal mystery novel I'm writing is Native American and grew up on a reservation, and one of the things I'd like to do someday is write a prequel novel that tells her story. This book certainly gave me a lot to think about.
My instinctive white privilege/child of a social worker response to the issues of alcoholism and poverty was to think, "How could this be fixed?" And then my anti-racism resources reading/family support/strengthening side kicked in and said, "This is not your place to come up with a solution." I'm still left curious about what the perspectives of Native Americans are. The conclusion the book comes to is that what Junior has to do to break the cycle is to leave the reservation. If everyone leaves, what happens to the culture? Do other people have other solutions or is this the accepted solution? I don't expect anyone reading this to answer my questions, but they're certainly something I'll be thinking about to direct more of my reading.
In a different intellectual direction, the book design is awesome. If you're at all interested in books, I suggest taking a look at this for the design alone, even if you don't ultimately read it.
The book is about Junior and what happens the year he decides to leave the reservation school and go to Reardan, a small-town white high school twenty-two miles away. Junior is a cartoonist, and the book also includes his cartoons, from artist Ellen Forney. In a lot of ways, the book is ultimately hopeful. Junior navigates his way into life at Reardan, makes friends there, and reconciles with his best friend on the reservation. But it's not an easy road. Probably the most heartbreaking part was this:
Jeez, I've been to so many funerals in my short life.I kept being reminded of a video (I think) I've never seen but have read descriptions of. The video is of black men and white men talking about racism, and one of the white men doesn't believe the PoC experience, and they keep pushing, and eventually he says something like he can't believe it because he can't live with the idea that our world can be like that. I felt like that guy reading this book. The first couple of times Junior talks about what it means to be Indian and poor, I felt myself resisting it. I don't want to believe that our world can be like that. Once I noticed myself resisting, though, I was able to let go of it and listen to Junior tell me his story.
I'm fourteen years old and I've been to forty-two funerals.
That's really the biggest difference between Indians and white people.
A few of my white classmates have been to a grandparent's funeral. And a few have lost an uncle or aunt. And one guy's brother died of leukemia when he was in third grade.
But there's nobody who has been to more than five funerals.
All my white friends can count their deaths on one hand.
I can count my fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, ears, nose, penis, butt cheeks, and nipples, and still not get close to my deaths.
I listened to Empires' "Spit the Dark" (acoustic version at their MySpace or download Howl with the album version I was listening to from their website) on repeat the whole time I was reading the book. (Yes, I'm the kind of person who will listen to one song on repeat for hours and hours and hours.) The lyrics that catch my ear are "I will guide you in the night" and "will you join me?" I also read the vision statement of To Write Love On Her Arms yesterday. Both of those things were in my head, and by the time I got to the end of the book, I felt opened up and full of love. It reminded me that one of happiness commandments is Love.
On a more intellectual note, part of why I wanted to read this is that one of the characters in the paranormal mystery novel I'm writing is Native American and grew up on a reservation, and one of the things I'd like to do someday is write a prequel novel that tells her story. This book certainly gave me a lot to think about.
My instinctive white privilege/child of a social worker response to the issues of alcoholism and poverty was to think, "How could this be fixed?" And then my anti-racism resources reading/family support/strengthening side kicked in and said, "This is not your place to come up with a solution." I'm still left curious about what the perspectives of Native Americans are. The conclusion the book comes to is that what Junior has to do to break the cycle is to leave the reservation. If everyone leaves, what happens to the culture? Do other people have other solutions or is this the accepted solution? I don't expect anyone reading this to answer my questions, but they're certainly something I'll be thinking about to direct more of my reading.
In a different intellectual direction, the book design is awesome. If you're at all interested in books, I suggest taking a look at this for the design alone, even if you don't ultimately read it.