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    Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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    Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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    Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
    Audiobook4 hours

    Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

    Published by Recorded Books Audio

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie delivers a captivating, semi-autobiographical account of one Spokane Indian’s struggle against incredible obstacles. Born poor and hydrocephalic, Arnold Spirit survives brain surgery. But his enormous skull, lopsided eyes, profound stuttering, and frequent seizures target him for abuse on his Indian reservation. Protected by a formidable friend, the book-loving artist survives childhood. And then—convinced his future lies off the rez—the bright 14-year-old enrolls in an all-white high school 22 miles away.


    “… delivers a positive message …”—School Library Journal, starred review

    Editor's Note

    Comedic & somber…

    Alexie’s award-winning, semi-autobiographical novel is one of the most beloved and most challenged in YA. It tackles racial identity, poverty, bullying, and death with a charming combination of comedy and somberness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2008
    ISBN9781436116572
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

    4.5/5

    3,603 ratings458 reviews

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    • 5/5
      First impression of True Diary by just the cover and the inside pages is that this is a book for a much younger audience. But that belief is certainly not true, in fact I would go as far as to say, this is a book for everyone and anyone, whether your young, old, or in-between. The subject matters talked about in this story runs the gamut from mild to sometimes pretty dark, and yet somehow told from a place of lightheartedness and humor. I've never used this phrase in a review before, but I was blown away by Mr. Alexie's storytelling. I loved how easy and uncomplicated the story flowed, and the way it was delivered in first-person narrative made me felt like I was sitting in front of Junior as he tells me his story.

      Junior was born with a lot medical issues, physical and speech impediments which made life living on the Rez difficult. He was picked on and bullied by everyone. Life on the Rez is hard and most of the residents don't have much of a future to aspire to, no hope or dreams to look forward to. Junior's life seems to be headed down this path, but with some good advice, he decides to have hope and do the unthinkable and unforgivable, by going off Rez for a better education. Following Junior's journey I got to see a smart, witty, and determined young mans coming of age struggle with wanting to break the cycle of accepting the status quo and expecting more for yourself.

      Don't know how much of this story is autobiographical, (as stated on book jacket, based on the authors experiences) but I have no idea if life on the Indian Reservations of today are really how it's portrayed in this book. If that's the case, then I thank the author for opening my eyes and bringing it to my attention. I feel very ashamed that I knew none of this, definitely an eye opener.

      Alcoholism, abuse, death, poverty, all very heavy topics, which made it that more unexpected that I would find myself laughing so much. Illustrator Ellen Forney did a fantastic job depicting Junior's life, fears and frustrations with her drawings, which along with Junior's humor helped bring a lightness to a story with such heavy topics. These little graphics added a lot of feeling to the story, though some of them got pretty dark there at times, it really helped to put me in the mindset of Junior.

      You will be choked up, angry, laughing etc., as you devour this book. I really appreciated Mr. Alexie's honesty in his storytelling. I liked that he didn't hold back on how Non-Native Americans are seen and thought of. I also learned a lot about a culture that I find very fascinating and mystical, it was an eye opener to learn that the story is not always as shiny and enchanting as what you see on the outside.
    • 4/5
      I voted for this for the CBR book club, because it’s been on my to-read list for a couple of years and I knew this would be the motivation I needed. And I’m so glad it was selected, because this was really a great book.

      I didn’t entirely know what to expect, but I think the chapter early on (was it the second one) really set the tone. He talks about the worst thing about being poor wasn’t being hungry; it was not being able to take the dog to the vet when he was sick. That was just a big slap in the face of reality, and let me know that this wasn’t going to be a generic young adult book (not that I was expecting generic from Mr. Alexie).

      The book follows Junior, a Spokane Indian who is motivated by a teacher to get a better education by attending the white high school 20 miles outside the reservation. The book somehow manages to address poverty, racism, opportunity, motivation, success, fear, alcoholism, and relationships with equal parts humor and depth. The book sounds like it could be the inner thoughts of a 14-year-old boy, and I mean that in the best way possible.

      Really the only issue I took with it was the liberal use of the gay slur that starts with the letter f. I get that he’s trying to give us insight into how adolescent boys talk, but it was so jarring and I thought wasn’t necessary.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this coming of age story.
    • 5/5
      Okay. That was weird. I was reading this book in a shopping center while my family shopped, and I don't know how it happened, it felt so weird. I mean, one second I was reading and the next it just ended. I know that's how books end. But this was so weird. I was reading on my phone, so I hadn't realized I was close to the end. When I came up to the end, I was so baffled that I flipped back twice to make sure it really had ended. That's how engrossing The Diary was!

      The characters, the setting, they were all so real. And the cartoons were an added bonus that always cracked me up. The book itself was super hilarious too. The author is so good at making you laugh that you end up laughing at the sad parts too, just like the hero of the story, Junior.

      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian also taught me a lot about native Americans that I didn't know before. I'd always been confused by the term 'Indian' because I knew that they weren't talking about us (people who live in India) but I hadn't known what it actually meant. Over time, by stumbling upon the term in various books, I finally understood who they were. But through this book, I came to know them. And for that, I'm very thankful to the author.

      The Diary is definitely a must read for just about anyone!
    • 4/5
      My grandma and I always listen to audiobooks when we go to an aunt's house. This was our Thanksgiving audiobook. I always like it when the author reads the book themselves, and Sherman Alexie is no exception. He does a great job. The story itself was a little more depressing than I was expecting, but I guess that shouldn't be too surprising given that it is about a poor family living on a reservation. It just seemed like tragedy after tragedy happened. Junior/Arnold couldn't catch a break. He did learn how to make his own way, though. And that's the important part of a YA book. I have a paper copy of the book too, and I recommend looking at one since throughout the book Junior is drawing cartoons and diagrams, which are printed in the paper copy. I'm not sure how much of this book is factual, but it definitely felt true.
    • 4/5
      Arnold Spirit, or Junior, is a Spokane Indian who is growing up on an Indian Reservation. Bullied because of his physical and health issues, Arnold decides to leave the rez school and attend a predominately white school. Told through Arnold's cartoons and his "colourful" language, this is an unfiltered story of what it is like to be an Indigenous teenager looking to improve your lot in life. Will be a definite hit with teenage boys.
    • 4/5
      semi-autobiographical account of the author first year in high school while living on an Indian Reservation
    • 5/5
      Great YA and semi graphic novel. Loved the narrative--and the insights of being outside all of the communities that you are trying to be part of as a teen.
    • 5/5
      When I brought this book home from the library, my 16-year-old exclaimed, "Oh, I LOVE that book!" I knew I was in for a treat!
      This book was so funny--the supporting artwork was terrific! It was astonishingly honest--I mean, I really felt like I was reading a 15-year-old Native American Reservation resident's diary!
      I won't go on and on about it--I just want to say that I could see myself making this one of those books I re-read again and again; and I'll definitely be checking out more of Alexie's work!
    • 5/5
      This book has been challenged, but I have trouble imagining any reader would find the questionable material (a little language, a little sexuality) detracted at all from the worth of this truly amazing book. I'm a fairly protective mom, and I encouraged my daughter to read this when she was 12-- she loved it. It tells about the challenges faced by a gifted, studious Native American boy who is given a scholarship to a white school off his reservation.
    • 4/5
      Despite the somewhat offputting title, a very funny but insightful remembrance of an American Indian's youth. He gradually and reluctantly is forced to abandon his reservation because of its hopelessness. He describes how he decides to get an education in schools where he's only a token even tho it makes him more and more a stranger to his own family.
    • 5/5
      This was a beautiful book. I was crying as the story came to a close. Arnold Spirit (aka Junior) was a Spokane Indian boy who lived on a reservation ("rez", to him). In an effort to improve his situation, he asked permission from his parents to attend an all-white school, also on the reservation, but a vast distance from his home and with students and faculty who were more affluent and not the drunks who were his family and friends on the rez. Arnold's story touches on what it means to be a part of a family, how friendship really works, how cultural differences can be a barrier, and how to deal with death and other difficulties. The artwork in the book, by Ellen Forney, was excellent. It represented drawings done by Arnold to illustrate the high and low points of his life and the characters who filled his days.I know this was a novel, but Junior sounded like a real person. I often wondered, while I was reading this book, just how much of Sherman Alexie himself was embodied in Arnold Spirit.
    • 5/5
      Found this book hilarious and at time heartbreaking! Felt for Junior and his struggles living on a reservation while trying to better his life and education.
    • 5/5
      I first read this book 10ish years ago, before I was reviewing every book I read. I remembered it as an incredibly book about a kid living on a reservation,figuring who who is.What I didn't remember is just how amazing this book is. Junior/Arnold needs to leave the reservation if he is going to survive. His best friend, Rowdy, at age 14, has already given up on life. His older sister graduated, than spent the next 7 year not doing anything. His folks love him dearly, but are stuck in cycle of drinking. Even the teachers at his reservation school have given up on life. When Junior throws his 30 year geometry book at his teacher, a conversation changes his whole life.Where this book is amazing, it captures the casual racism of Arnold's life, without casting judgement on anyone. From the small town bigotry of small town white America - to the rampant alcoholism fueled reservation life. Its a rare author who can create understanding on both sides of a painful divide without pulling any punches.
    • 5/5
      Love this book. Sherman Alexie at his best! Don't let the cartoons fool you into thinking that this is a children's book!
    • 4/5
      Loved, loved, loved this National Book Award Winner. It's YA, I guess, and I hope a lot of young adults are reading it for pleasure. I'm fairly sure it's being required here and there, for the wisdom that's in it; I'm also keenly aware that it's probably being challenged for its language and subject matter by misguided parents, who think their kids ought not read about adolescents having the thoughts and feelings adolescents have, or about tough issues like alcoholism and racism and poverty. Foo. This is heart-wrenching and laughter-inducing in equal measure, and every kid who has ever felt awkward, out of place, or at odds with his best friend, or conflicted about his family (ALL of 'em, in other words) should feel better after reading this novel. It'd be good for the grown-ups too.
    • 5/5
      Heartwarming excellent audiobook read by the author.
    • 5/5
      Just read this for the 2nd time. A 14-year-old Indian lad cooks up hope in a hopeless place by attending a white school off the "rez." His voice is "absolutely true," simply and frankly expressed, including jokes and curses and references to hormonal drives. It's a quick read, helped along by illustrations (represented as Junior's cartoons and drawings) that split open Junior's ruminations like an exacto knife cutting along the dotted lines. The language is like the drawings: in a few deft strokes, Alexie gets to the heart of Indian life: its alcohol-fueled penchant for violence and death, its desolate machismo, its tight-knit community, its deep reservoirs of loneliness and love. In depicting Junior's strike for a better life off the reservation, Alexie simultaneously celebrates his pluck and bravery and shows that he has a lot of help (and luck) along the way -- sensitive friends, encouraging teachers, supportive parents. You can't build anything alone.
    • 4/5
      This novel by Sherman Alexie is a bildungsroman novel about Arnold Spirit Jr. (Junior) who is a Native-American teen living on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior is advised by his reservation school teacher to attend an all white high school off the reservation, and this narrative recounts Junior's experiences. This narrative is punctuated with comic illustrations which act a punch lines for some of the anecdotes. The language and subject matter in the text are serious in nature and Sherman has a blunt, direct writing style. Topics include sexuality, bullying,racism, poverty, alcohol, and mental disability. In addition, the tragic death of characters can be difficult for young readers.Junior experiences all of these topics. That being said, I believe that today's teens are exposed to the language and subject matter in high schools today. Moreover, the perspective of the Native American citizen is important to explore. I like to use this novel as a per-cursor to graphic novels. On a positive note, class discussion can center around friendship and hope. I use this novel as a paired reading with poetry by Claude McKay and Langston Hughes.
    • 5/5
      I started reading this for class, and finished it up on my own. I have to say this is the most I have ever enjoyed a book I read for school. This book is YA, but it is easily enjoyable by adults as well. In fact, if you have a young adult reader in your home, I recommend you read this before your young adult reader does. I am in no way saying that teenagers shouldn't read this book. But, there are themes in it that would be inappropriate for kids of certain ages if they are too young. I totally recommend this book for teenagers, as age appropriate, though. Yes, this book is challenged and banned a lot, and I can see why. But this book deals with things that probably every teenager on the planet goes through at some point, in one way or another. As a parent, though, I related to a couple of things in this book; not from Arthur's point of view, but from his parents' point of view. Please keep in mind that this book doesn't pull any punches. Sherman Alexie pretty much tells it like it is, and doesn't seem to be afraid of what anyone will think about it...because, after all, he is just saying it like it is. And I completely respect that. This book had me laughing and tearing up, and it made me disgusted and angry, and I feel like my feelings were on a roller coaster, but it was worth it for this amazing book.
    • 4/5
      I read this in one sitting. I could not put it down. I love this style of writing. Short, simple, very vivid. The story itself was both uplifting and sad. The second basketball game, when Junior realized his victory may not be as triumphant as he'd imagined, made me cry.

      I had worried for a moment that life on the reservation might be a bit too stereotypical, with so much alcoholism and bleakness, but the author himself is a Native American, and would know the ins and outs of that reality better than this privileged translucent girl.
    • 5/5
      This book is full of WIN.

      The 14-year-old narrator has a way of grabbing your heart from his first words. I found myself (as someone else said), laughing out loud when my heart was breaking. This kid had so many reasons to give in to the despair that ravaged his Spokane Indian reservation, but instead he keeps fighting with the help of some friends, his smarts, and his cartoons.

      This is a story of hope, and I recommend it for EVERYONE.
    • 5/5
      I see why so many people like this book.
      It's very well written. the main character is well developed and the pacing was perfect. I really enjoyed the emotional ups and the downs.
    • 5/5
      "... seriously funny stuff" - Arnold Spirit, aka Junior
    • 4/5
      Excellent book. It makes you appreciate the opportunities you have in life, and feel somewhat ashamed for the ones you've squandered.
    • 4/5
      If you like funny books about how hard it is to be in middle school, especially when you are different from everyone you know, you would like this book. This book is written in autobiographical style and includes some wonderful illustrations.

      Lexile: 600
    • 4/5
      Personal Response:This book tells a very thought-provoking story with a great mix of humor to keep the story from being so heavy that it wouldn't be appropriate for teenagers. Sherman Alexie does a great job of painting a realistic depiction of the struggles facing native american tribes without the resources needed to succeed. Growing up in a small farming community similar to the town Junior goes to school in, I feel the portrayal is realistic and can relate to his feeling like an outsider.Curricular Connections:THis book can be used to open up discussion on facing opposition, alcoholism, poverty and other domestic issues, but it can also be a reminder to teen readers that the native american culture is not something that exists in the history of America. At my current location, we can invite tribal members from our community and the reservation to come in and discuss native culture, crafts and daily life. The teens may become more aware of how they can make a difference in this community and learn to not judge others. A trip could also be planned to attend the traditional powwows held in this area.
    • 5/5
      Intended for teenage readers.
    • 4/5
      Funny, educational.
    • 4/5
      I just finished reading this book for the second time. The first read was shortly after it was published, and I sent it to my young grand-nephew who lives in Seattle. This time around I needed something funny but poignant to take my mind off what's happening in the world. This second reading didn't disappoint. Junior speaks for all of us, doesn't he? Our insecurities, our hopes, our dreams, our struggles to make our lives better. Layered on top of his experience, though, are factors most of us don't have to take into account: racism, poverty, alcoholism, and a pervasive feeling of being an actual Other--not just in the figurative, teen-aged angst filled sense of being different. The pathos lying just beneath the surface of Alexie's writing is what wins me over every time I read his books.