815 Reviews discussion

Once you have finished a book, you are expected to write a brief review about it.

This review should incorporate the following:
Paragraph 1: Summarize the text without giving away the ending. In your summary, make sure to identify the genre, protagonist, setting, and the primary conflict. This paragraph should be a MINIMUM of five sentences.

Paragraph 2: Reflecting
Answer at least two of the following questions:
1.) Did you like/dislike this book? Why/why not?
2.) To whom would you recommend this text? Why?
3.) What advice would you give to the author? What questions do you have?

I have currently finished the realistic fiction/non-fiction book The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It is about the protagonist named Arnold Spirit who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. His entire life has been on the reservation: he goes to school there, lives there, has friends there, and has his entire family there. Everyone on the reservation is very depressed because nothing new is ever contributed to the Indian culture and they are also too poor to make anything jazzy. Everyone on the reservation has given up on their dreams because they think that since they are Indian, they are not eligible to do things white people can. However, when Arnold goes to school one day and receives a textbook that used to be his mother’s when she went to school on the rez, Arnold gets upset that he has to deal with using the same textbooks their PARENTS used as kids and also the fact of being poor and hopeless that he throws the book at his teacher, Mr. P. He was suspended. However, during his suspension, Mr. P gives him a very influential speech that involved everyone not having hope except for Arnold. Mr. P believed that Arnold was smart and hopeful enough to leave the rez and become successful. So, that is what Arnold did. He left the reservation for good and attended an all whites school called Reardan. At first, he felt like an outcast due to the fact that he was the only Indian kid there. But as time went on, he finally made friends and (even a girlfriend!) became popular, although he lost his best friend Rowdy because Rowdy was mad at him for ditching the rez (and Rowdy himself) for Reardan. And although Arnold was happy with his reputation in school as well as his academic performance, he experienced a tremendous amount of grief throughout the book due to his father’s best friend, Eugene, his grandmother, and his sister’s death. All of these deaths involved alcoholism in some way. Arnold was devastated and depressed for a long time until he realized that although people come and go on the rez, you have to live your life with them in your heart; you have to move on with hope. Arnold was very successful due to the fact that he had high hopes and dreams. Thus, this books message was all about multiplying hope by hope and to never give up on even the slightest feeling of hope.
I loved this book because it was very influential to read about someone going through so much in such a bad environment. It also made me appreciate how much I have, although I continually keep asking for more. I can’t even believe that there would be a place like the Spokane Indian Reservation with alcoholics and multiple deaths each year. I wish I was as brave and courageous as Arnold to leave the rez and move forward when someone passed. A question I have is why does Arnold choose Reardan as a school? Couldn’t there have been a closer school to him, considering Reardan is twenty-two miles away from the Spokane Indian Reservation?

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie non fiction book, Sherman Alexie tells us about a Native American teenager, Arnold “Junior” Spirit, who has many disabilities, during his first year in high school. Throughout the book Arnold uses humor to soften the difficult and emotional times. Sherman Alexie creates a loveable, misfit protagonist who readers cannot help but root for. This book is fueled with action, romance, humor, grief and sincerity. Junior lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation, where he discovers that alcohol is more important to most residents than an education is, sadly. Arnold decides to transfer from his reservation school (Wellpinit) to Reardan, a white school that is twenty two miles away. Once he arrives at Reardan, Arnold finds that he is the there. His best friend on the reservation, Rowdy, stays behind and vows never to speak to Arnold the “traitor” ever again. Meanwhile, most of the students at Reardan treat Arnold as an outcast as well. Basically where ever Arnold is, he is an out cast and has always been made fun of for it. Through out the book Arnold talks a lot about having hope. He is searching for hope the entire book. Although he is stimulated by the intellectual challenges of Reardan’s advanced curriculum, Arnold must fight to improve his social standing both on and off the reservation. At the beginning of the book when he first arrives at Reardan he tries very hard to be popular and noticed. He accomplishes this accidentally when he tried out for Reardan’s basketball team. He surprises himself when (as a freshman) he makes the varsity team. Arnold’s biggest challenge comes when he must play against his former basketball team from the reservation, whose star player is none other than Arnold’s ex–best friend, Rowdy. What will happen to Arnold in Reardan?
I loved this book. The greatest thing about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was no the interesting and humors characters, not the amazing drawings on the side, not even the story itself. The best thing about this book is how it tackles real life situations and issues from a believable perspective. Arnold has to deal with so much in a short amount of time. He lives with an alcoholic father, an eccentric mother, and an absent sister. He faces multiple bullies through out the book. He watches people close to him die. His best friend hates him the entire book. Despite all Arnold's hardships he manages to make the basketball team, makes new friends, create a new life in Reardan and draw often. He refuses to sit by and let life pass him. It is a story of hope for all teenagers. I recommend this book for all teenagers. Arnold shows that you can survive life as a teenager and most importantly, find happiness. I have so many questions for Sherman Alexie. My biggest question to him would be to tell me the similarities and differences between Arnold and himself. I think it would be very interesting to compare lives.

I have just finished reading the book called The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I think that Arnold and Rowdy is an antagonist and a protagonist all at the same time. These two boys used to be friends and now they had a fight between eachother. Arnold had done a wrong move to Rowdy and the next thing you know is Arnold is on the ground all beaten up. Arnold went to a white school called Reardan where he was bullied and beaten alot of times. The result of this made him understand what his success was to complete. His families also have died along the way from getting drunk.
I would recommend this book to everyone because the book was so excellent since you have a disorder that can not take the book of your eyes.

The Absolutely True Diary OF A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a non-fiction book was about a boy named Arnold Spirit who lives on a Indian reservation. Arnold's teacher Mr. P says that Arnold needs to find hope and he can't go to school on the reservation because he will not be successful and have a good future like all the other Indians on the rez do not, so Arnold realizes that white people have the most hope and decides to transfer to Reardan a white school where kids will have a bright future.Then everyone on the rez hates Arnold now because he left the rez, and as a Indian your not suppose to do that. Even his best friend Rowdy hates him, and ignores him. At Reardan Arnold is very lonely and nobody wants to be friends with him, because everyone assumes that he is strange because they have never seen a Indian at their school before, and Arnold thinks that all the Reardan kids are rich and mean. Then Arnold meets Penelope, the popular girl at school, and he becomes popular, and has friends like Gordy and Roger. Throughout the book Arnold finds his hope even through his hard times. For example everyone on the reservation hating him, his sister, his dads best friend, and grandma dying. Arnold still dealt with them and achieved what he needed to achieve at Reardan. The protagonist was Arnold, and the setting was Reardan and the Indian reservation.
I liked this book a lot because I really enjoyed Arnold as a character. I thought he was very funny, and I liked to watch him change throughout the book. Advice I would give to Sherman Alexie is to expand more on the ending. For example more about what happened with Rowdy and Arnold. A question I have is if Arnold stayed friends with Rowdy because at the end they didn't seem that friendly playing basketball, and if Arnold's parents ever find hope like Arnold and Mary did.

In the non-fiction novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie is about 14 year old Arnold living on the Spokane Indian reservation and his life. Throughout he is faced with an alcoholic father, 3 deaths due to alcohol, bullying by peers, racism and many other issues. During a school day he had an appifany when he took a 30 year old text book and threw it at a teacher. He realized it is sad he has to use the same text book his mother used. He knew he deserved better and needed better. He gets suspended but during his suspension he is visited by the teacher he threw the book. They talk and the teacher says he should leave the rez to go to a different. He says the rez has no hope and the farther he get away from the rez the more hope he will find. He leaves the Rez School and he goes to an all white school named Reardan where the only other Indian there is the team mascot. Unfortunately his best friend rowdy did not take the news to well and punched Arnold in the face. Throughout his time in reardan he is faced with racist bullies( Roger and friends), finds new friends and gets a girlfriend named Penelope. Due to his poverty he limited to certain things and his new friends understand. The he is faced with 3 deaths. His grandmother got hit by a drunk driver, his dad's best friend died fighting over alcohol and his sister passed after drinking during a party at her and her husband’s house and something caught on fire so they burned to death nut did not even wake up while burning. Arnold went through a lot that school year and when summer vacation came he realized he wished he had his best friend rowdy back but something great happened and he was very happy.
I would recommend this book to a mature audience due to the language that is used throughout the story and the profanity. I enjoyed reading this book because it was interesting to learn about Arnold’s life and his struggle. He is very strong kid and I admire him for that. Also I would like ask Sherman Alexie if he and rowdy still keep in contact and if there is going to be a part two to this book.

The book " The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie was a book about stereotypes and being indian does not cut down your opportunites. Arnold spirt is a young boy living in Spokane Reservation. When his teacher Mr. P tells him that he should attend an all white school that every body on the reservation is scared of. Arnold makes a big decision and decides to go to Reardan, the all white school. When Arnold tells his best friend Rowdy that he is going Rowdy's reaction is he punches him in the face angrly. When Arnold goes to Reardan at first he gets made fun of and bullied but then after a couple of days the people that were bullying him became friends with him. This one Boy named Roger was one kid that really said some racist jokes to him but then him and Arnold are good friends now. During his school year Arnold's Father's best friend got killed, Arnold's Grandmother, and Arnolds Sister who went to live her life. When Arnold goes to eat dinner with a girl named Penelope and Roger Arnold finally admits that he is poor. Next Arnold decides to join the basketball team and the coach was amazed at how good he was a jump shots. so soon enough Arnold plays agenst Rowdys team and beats them. After the game Arnold feels really sad about him and his team winning because he realizes that most of the players on that team basketball is all they had and they just had a big loss. The last part of the book Arnold and Rowdy become friends again and their friend ship is back together.

I would recommend this book to everybody. Even though i mostly read horror and fantasy i loved this book. this is my favorite book now. If i would tell Sherman something i would tell him to write another one.

This book, Diaries Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is a very good book. It is about the struggle of stereotypes. Arnold Spirit is leaving on the drunken impoverished Spokane Indian reservation and has a need and love for learning. He realizes that he need to find a place with hope other wise it he would never be successful or happy. He moves to a new high school out of the reservation and finally finds hope. Little does he know that there will be a great deal of death and betrayal in the road ahead.

I liked this book a lot. I liked it because it was realistic and Sherman Alexie told the sadness of his life through laughter which is extremely hard to do. I would recommend this book who likes jokes for boys from ages 12 to 15 because that is the kind of humor in it. I think this book is perfect and I don't need to tell the author some advice but I would like to know if the story is 100% accurate about his life.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about Arnold Spirit, a fourteen year old boy who lives on the Spokane Indian reservation in Washington state. Arnold isn't your typical reservation kid; he has hope. Tons of it. Arnold is an avid reader and learner, an oddity on the rez. Also, Arnold has a lot of physical disabilities as well. He has size 11 feet, when he turns sideways he disappears, he was born with water on the brain and had 42 teeth. As I said before, Arnold has hope, but the rez has none. Arnold is sick of being the only one who hopes to amount to anything, so he decides to leave the rez school to go to Reardan, the white kid school. Arnold doesn't know what to expect at Reardan, but soon finds out it isn't what he thought it would be at all.

I absolutely loved this book. Sherman Alexie's style of writing is humorous, yet serious and very deep. I would also recommend this book to boys from age twelve to any age above as long as you still have a twelve year old's sense of humor. I have no advice for Sherman. I thought the book was amazing and is one of my favorite books of all time.

In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie Arnold lives in a a really poor Reservation. Every Indian on the rez, lost there hope. Arnold still has his. So one day while talking to Mr.P, he tells Arnold that he has to leave the rez. He says that they rez with kill his hopes and dreams. That Arnold still had a chance to survive. So Arnold leaves the rez and goes to school in Readen, a racist white 23 miles away high school. All the students there are rich, have great futures and they lives are perfect or so he thinks. As he get closer to the students he realizes that there lives aren't that perfect. But during the school year, his grandmother dies, his sister dies and he's dad best friend dies. Also Rowdy hates him for going to Readen.

I love this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who just loves reading. Its well written and very funny. I'm hoping in the near future he'll write a sequel. I would defiantly buy it!

The book "The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie is a confusing genre because it in someway is a combination of an autobiography and a fiction book, which is pretty interesting from my point, but it seems like all of his books are somewhat like that. The protagonist in this story is Arnold Spirit, a 14 year old scrawny boy with tons of birth defects such as a lisp, a stutter, water on the brain, massive head and feet, and bad eyes. A billion defects, even in the Native American world. The main setting is in a Native American reservation is Eastern Washington, waaay down west. The primary conflict of the book is the choice that Arnold had to make in moving to Rearden and gaining some hope from his vanishing memory of the rez. By going to Rearden, he gave himself even more conflict. But as a wise man once said, "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." and he went to Rearden and went through a lot of conflict which made it better and worse as the outcome because harder, but better at the same time.

I extremely loved this book because of its bravery in language, searching through religion, and friendship. Arnold and Rowdy's friendship in no way was a real friendship because of the way Rowdy treated Arnold. Rowdy was a complete jerk to him, and made him seem scrawny, but Arnold made Rowdy seem scrawny at the basketball game, making that friendship very interesting, confusing, but mostly exiting. I would recommend this book to someone who has just given up on something they really want, because Arnold gave his sister the motivation she needed to try and move on from whatever is holding her back, what makes a difference between you and Mary? You could get out of a theoretical ditch in your life by reading this book. I would recommend to the author to make a sequel to this book because this is by far the best book I've read in a really long time, considering the last book that was this good, I read about 4 years ago. To sum it all up, great book by Sherman Alexie, his comedy in real life shows in the book, and I love the truth of his reading because usually writers are afraid to put sexual references, and cursing in their books, but not Sherman Alexie, he really spoke the truth, I love that in a writer because that is how I write in my pieces. Me and Sherman have a lot in common, but my story starts at the first day at sleep away camp. My story isn't as harsh, but is has some resemblance to his book, and thats why is love this book and how much I can relate to it.

In the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. The main character in the story, is Arnold Spirit. Arnold Spirit is born with too much brain grease in his head, which means he does everything slowly. Arnold lives in a Spokane indian reservation. Arnold's dad is an alcoholic. Arnold has a sister called "Mary Runs Away" because she always runs away and then come back. Arnold have a mean best friend called Rowdy; Rowdy is one of the toughest kids in the reservation. Later, in the story Arnold has to make a big decision he could stay in the reservation and give up hope like everybody else in the reservation. Or he can go attend Reardon high school to learn more things and never give up hope. Aronld chose to go to Reardon but now everybody in the reservation thinks he is an Apple. Why? Because outside he is a indian but in the inside he is a white person. Aronld is trying to blend in like everbody else in Reardon.

To whoever is reading this review, I suggest that you should go to B&N and buy it. This book is amazing. This is my second time reading this story. I never get tired of reading this story. I like this book, because I don't imagine anybody who has a lots of problems in their lives. I never knew how it felt like to be an indian and live in a reservation.

In the realistic fiction book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character is Arnold Spirit. Arnold lives on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Arnold is the protagonist, and society is the antagonist. The primary conflict is that Arnold lives on a very poor Indian Rez, and it is hard to find hope and a good school system. Arnold deals with a lot of racism and criticism throughout the book also because of his race. A mini-conflict in the book is alcoholism and how it affects lives and families, especially on Indian reservations. As an example, Arnold's grandmother, sister, and dad's best friend all died because of some kind of alcoholism.

I liked this book. I liked it because there were a lot of connections I could make to the text. I also liked all of the pictures, because they really made the book come alive. I completely love the idea of this book. It's such a unique theme, which I really appreciated. I made one connection to a 20/20 piece I saw. It basically showed me that Indian Rez's are really poor wastelands that have no hope in them. An 11 person family lives in a one person house with no water and no heat. It's so sad how much Sherman Alexie captures reality into this fictional book. I would reccomend this book to someone who's not afraid to be persistent with it and keep reading. Sometimes, I feel the book gets a little boring and you kind of have to keep reading on to get to the interesting parts.

In the realistic fiction novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a story about a highly damaged Indian boy who is trying to pop out from the murky waters of the Indian reservation gold fish bowl into the air. Like a goldfish escaping his polluted bowl, young Arnold Spirit wants to leave the terrible place he has grown up in, and try for something better. The setting for this story is a Indian reservation outside of Spokane. Arnold was born with water on the brain and some other difficulties that apparently should have doomed him to a life of systemic alcoholism. Instead, Arnold rises up to become an athlete, and a scholar. This, seemingly impossible story is told with humor and great tenderness. This kid suffers many losses throughout the story, but it is interesting because each tragedy seems to promote him.

I recommend this to everyone who appreciates a good, and humorous exposé. It is told from the perspective from a fourteen year old boy who doesn't realize it, but just happens to be an Indian. It is a Salingeresque story of teenage angst with alot of greek tragedy. The language of the story is very explicit, but portrays a fourteen year old boy from any culture rather well. I liked this book because it really makes me appreciate my own culture. I feel that the culture I belong to can sometimes be stereotypical and mean, but also kind-hearted and tolerent. I don't think any other culture would accept a outsider to their schools and cultures. For example, if I were to go into a reservation school, they would not accept me, and probably beat the crap out of me daily.

We all/I have recently finished the realistic fiction novel(based on a true story) "The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. In the book, the main character and protagonist, Arnold Spirit faces a lot of racism, stereotypes against him and deaths in his family as he steps off the land of his reservation that lives in poverty onto a whole new land where the white people walk, and Arnold is destined to find hope among them and become successful. After a conversation with his teacher Mr. P about how Arnold was sorry about throwing a book at his teacher's nose, Mr. P tells Arnold that he needs to leave the reservation, now! He says that everybody here has given up, but if Arnold (also known as Junior)can leave the rez and find 'hope', he can become successful and do things that his ancestors had never done, like go to college. So Arnold follows what his teacher said and transfers to a school called Reardan which is a school with only white kids. The transfer causes Arnold to leave his friendship with his best friend Rowdy behind after having a huge fight when Arnold told Rowdy he was leaving. At Reardan Arnold experiences things he never would before if he stayed on the rez and learned many new things from his friends at Reardan and about himself. In the end, Arnold comes to realization with his new learned life lessons and his true friends as he battles a war trying to gain hope and happiness in his life.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I liked getting to know Arnold as a character because i feel as if I now know so much about him and it was very interesting to see his character change throughout the book. I learned many life lessons from Arnold for example: alcohol can ruin lives as well as not to stereotype people because a lot of times it could be wrong and to always take risks because sometimes it will be worth it. I really loved getting to know some of the other characters as well, like Rowdy and Penelope because the diverseness between the characters really helped guide the story. If I was able to talk to Sherman Alexie I would definitely ask him to tell are class a little bit about his own real life Rowdy and he really needs to hurry up and write the sequel because I really want to read it! In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone really, but if you like a great laugh-out-loud funny book with great characters and a great plot with a tone of great life lessons, ATD is the book for you!

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part–Time Indian is realistc fiction about Arnold Spirit, a 14–year–old boy who loves to write and cartoon. Arnold is an Indian boy who lives on a reservation. He explores his experiences with his family life, deaths, and school through writing and cartooning. He is the protagonist. He writes of what he sees on his reservation and what he experiences being, one of the only Indian kids at a white school. Arnold’s primary conflict is to find what place he has in this world. He struggles with being an Indian from the “res” at the same time he is a Reardan student at a mostly white school off the res. He is also a basketball player, a friend, and a cartoonist. He is an athlete, but he also thinks of himself as handicapped because he was born with a head deformity. He starts out thinking that being an Indian from the res means having no hope and no way of getting his dreams to come true, and the conflict in his heart is that he wants his dreams to come true and so he works for them. That goes back to his identity questions as the real main conflict.

I have mixed feelings about a book named The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part–Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The book had violence, had cursing, and people being paupers (without money). Sherman Alexie repeats a lot about Indians being poor, hopeless, and alcoholic. Sometimes, this made me not pay attention, because I heard/read it before, so I didn’t pay as much attention as I do to newer material, and the curse words were distracting. Sherman Alexie could edit this book for that, and with the extra space, he could tell us more contrasts in the way people do things outside the res from inside the res. Sherman Alexie tells a good story in his The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part–Time Indian and he gives us a view of life that most New York City kids never get to see or think about. I would recommend this book to other eight graders who like realistic fiction about places that are foreign to them, especially if they also like to write or cartoon.

We have finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It is a very realistic fiction book. This book is written about a boy that lives on an Indian reservation. His name is Arnold Spirit. He is very smart but goes to a bad school. On the reservation, almost everyone is an alchoholic and has no hope. Arnold does not want to give up hope so he gets away from the reservation and goes to a good school named Reardan. One of the conflicts of the story is being Indian in a white school. He has to make friends and blend in at Reardan. He also has to deal with his one friend on the res and his feelings towards Arnold since he goes to a better school. There is also a lot of examining of stereotypes toward native Americans. It makes you realize just how stupid stereotypes are.

I really liked this book. It made something very sad into something that makes it easier for one to read. It takes the negatives of alcoholism, and turns it into a joke. I really like the jokes that the author chooses to make. I would recommend this to people who are interested in Native-Americans and to people who have a good sense of humor. I would recommend it to these people because that's what the whole book is about. You can also learn a lot about Indians and still laugh while you are learning. I think I might also recommend it to people who are racist or prejudiced because it might get them to realize they are wrong.

In our class we have recently finished reading the realistic fiction book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This book was about a 14 year old boy (Arnold Spirit) living on the Spokane Indian reservation. Arnold has severe brain damage and he constantly gets bullied about it. The Spokane reservation is extremely poor and almost 80% of the adults are alcoholics. After unintentionally throwing a book at his teacher, Mr. P, his teacher has a talk with Arnold and convinces him that if he doesn't leave the reservation he will lose hope. In a desperate search for hope, Arnold transfers to the Reardan school off the reservation. His best friend, Rowdy, is very upset with him for leaving. However, Arnold did what was best for him and he went to Reardan. At Reardan Arnold is still being bullied. The verbal abuse that Arnold has been taking in is too much for him to handle. Finally he punches his bully, Roger, in the face so hard that his nose bleeds. Surprisingly Roger gains some sort of respect for Arnold and he made his first new friend at Reardan. With this achievement Arnold felt brave and he gained the courage to ask the "genius" at his school (Gordy) to be his friend. He accomplished his goal. The point is that by Arnold leaving the reservation and going to Reardan he accomplished many goals in his life, made new friends and regained hope. I really liked this book because it depicted a real life situation in which a young boy raises his expectations by making one decision. I would recommend this book to people who are in situations similar to Arnold's. This is because this book gives tips which are helpful to people in his situation.

We have finished reading the realistic fiction novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. The protagonist of this book is Arnold Spirit or also called Junior. Arnold is freshman in high school living on the Spokane Reservation with his mother, father, sister, and grandmother. Arnold has just been encouraged to go to a place that has hope and that get him somewhere off of the reservation. He struggles to make friends, get used to his new school life at Reardan, and patch things up with Rowdy.

I really enjoyed this book because Sherman Alexie demonstrated so many themes in a single book and so many life lessons that Arnold has learned. This book [to me] was also like a diary of real struggles that Indians have to face. It showed so many problems that Arnold had to face and i never even thought to myself that these issues existed in real life. I didn't know that they had to deal with so much at a very young age none the less. This book really opened my eyes to struggles that not only he had to face but others as well, it made me think of "what's going to happen to them now?" and "why isn't anybody helping them?"

We have finished the realistic fiction book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. The main character of this book is Arnold, who among his tribal members is also known as Junior. Arnold is a Spokane Indian living in a reservation that is basically run by alcohol. Arnold has been born with series of problems, like more teeth, a stutter, a lisp, and excess "brain grease" as he calls it. His only source to get out of the rez, is through his comics that he makes, but that will change later on in the story. He stays on the rez, with his best friend Rowdy until this one day at his school, Wellpinit. When he starts his freshman year their, he notices that the text book that they are using is used from when his mom went to school their. He got so enraged that he threw his book at Mr.P, his teacher. Expecting to get beaten by Mr.P he stays at home because of his suspension. Mr.P comes and visits him and tells him to never let go of his hopes and his dreams. Mr.P tells him to leave the rez, and got where he can find more hope, that if he stays here , he will become as sad as the Natives living here. Arnold takes his advice and goes to the white school of Reardan. Where everyone has a future and the only Indian there is their mascot. Arnold gains prestige, as he stands up to Roger, the most popular boy and probably the tallest kid in Reardan. With the help of his grandma's advice, he learns to understand and accept Roger, but that same concept does not work for Penelope, who is the prettiest freshman and very popular girl. Arnold stays quiet, and stays on the down low for a while, but Rowdy is hating him and avoids any contact with him. Finally, he hears Penelope retching in the bathroom and talks to her. He starts to date her and now he starts to get notice by everyone in the school. As the year passes by, his Grandma dies from getting run over by a drunk driver, finally the rez stops hating him for leaving them. Arnold, continues to go to Reardan, and soon another death from alcohol strikes again. Eugene, his dad's best friend and like an uncle to Arnold dies. He dies when his friend shoots him, over the last sip of wine. With all this sadness, an upcoming game comes, with Reardan and Wellpinit. After Reardan's loss against Wellpinit last time, they intend to win. During the game, Arnold does this amazing play, when he jumps high above Rowdy and takes the ball from and swishes a 3 pointer on him. With that, the game was settled. Reardan wins against Wellpinit, and absolutely crushes them. After all that happiness, his sister dies from her trailer bursting in flames. And guess what? It was because she and her husband drank to much alcohol, that they did not notice the fire and burned to death. Yep alcohol. In order to find out what happens, with Rowdy and Arnold, you have to read this amazing book.

This book is absolutely amazing. One of the best books I've ever read. It has humor and a very interesting story line to it. With suspense in every turn, it keeps you wanting to read more. It also teaches us lessons, about life. Many in fact to name. I have very little advice to give to Sherman Alexie. My one advice is to make another book, I would love to see how Arnold's life turns out to be, even though it is based on Sherman's life, I still want to learn more. I recommend this book to anyone who loves humor and a story that tells us how life really is.

I have finished the realistic fiction book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The book was about a poor teenage indian named Arnold Spirit that lives in a reservation at Spokane, Washington and needs to find hope. Arnold needs to find hope because he wants to make a life, be somebody, and just wants to get out of his reservation. During the book, Arnold finds a all-white school called Reardan that is outside of the reservation. Arnold knows if he goes there can be somebody. When him telling his tough friend Rowdy that gets beat up by his drunk dad about leaving the reservation and his school Willpinit and is going to Reardan. When listening to the the information Arnold telling Rowdy he takes it the wrong way and punches Arnold right in the head. After the response Rowdy made, Arnold still goes to Reardan to find his hope. The first person Arnold doesn't like is Roger a huge jock. When Roger comes up to Arnold and says things to him with his friends Arnold realizes he can't take bullies so he punches Roger in the noise which gets him to shut up and be mean to him. Eventually him and Roger become friends when Arnold has a girlfriend that he is in love with from his school names Penelope. She and Roger figure out the Arnold is poor but they still accept him. Arnold also tries out for the basketball team and makes it. During the season they won all games but they lost to Arnold's old school Willpinit. Reardan is going to play them for the championship and Arnold is nervous. Arnold is scared because he doesn't want to face Rowdy which is the best player on the team. During the game Reardan is losing but then Arnold wants to face his fear with Arnold and makes really good plays, with his team. Eventually Rowdy steals the ball from Arnold but he doesn't give up. As Rowdy shoots the 3 pointer, Arnold stuffs the ball from him makes a shot and then makes a couple more shots more throughout the game and Reardan wins the championship. Arnold is happy he defeated Rowdy and the Willpinit team but then realizes the basketball championship is the only thing they have. Thee Reardan are rich have ipods, mp3s, and phones, and the Willpinit kids are poor, some of them sometimes don't have food on the table , and want to win the championship again. Arnold has also had loses in the book. His grandmother, his dad's best friend Eugene, and his sister have all died in the book because of alcohol. His grandmother got run over by a drunk driver, his dad's best friend Eugene got shot in the face by his drunk friend, and his sister died while partying at her trailer house and one of the guests dropping a cigarette on the window cloth and she and her husband passing out on their bed and then a fire happening at the house. Arnold has had hope with Reardan and still needs to understand other thing as well. Arnold has had a amount of hope that he also needs to share with other people in the book.

I liked this book because it taught you can follow your dreams and stand up for it as long as you put your mind to it. I would recommend this book to whom wants a comedy and teaches a lesson about a characters life and what he wants with his hope and with the people he has. I would say to Sherman Alexie of why he ended the book the way he did and will there be a sequel.