The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian / by Sherman Alexie ; art by Ellen Forney.— New York : Little, Brown, c2007.
229 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9780316013680

1. Basketball – Fiction. 2. Children of alcoholics – Fiction. 3. Indian reservations -- Fiction. 4. Indians of North America -- Washington (State) -- Fiction. 5. Race relations – Fiction. 6. Spokane Indians -- Fiction.

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The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian / written and narrated by Sherman Alexie.— Prince Frederick : Recorded Books, 2008.
5 sound discs (5 hrs.)
Compact discs
ISBN: 9781428182974 (Library edition)

1. Basketball – Fiction. 2. Children of alcoholics – Fiction. 3. Indian reservations -- Fiction. 4. Indians of North America -- Washington (State) -- Fiction. 5. Race relations – Fiction. 6. Spokane Indians -- Fiction.

813.54


Arnold Spirit, Junior is a hydrocephalic Spokane Indian attending an otherwise all-white high school off the reservation. He tells his story in the first person and in cartoons; it’s by turns tragic and comic, but even when Arnold (his name at school) or Junior (his name back on the reservation) boils over with frustration at his Indian friends who reject him for attending the town high school or at his white classmates can’t accept him for being an Indian, he never abandons his sharp wit and irony. This makes a story, peppered with the pain of racism, death, poverty, and alcoholism, one of triumph and good humor, and not one of maudlin sorrow.

Forney’s illustrations in the print edition reinforce the humor in the text, but the author’s narration on the audio edition turn a superior piece of fiction into an unqualified masterpiece.