Reading Response- April 22nd, 2010

I have recently finished reading a book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie. This book was very interesting because this author actually was an ordinary skinny Spokane Indian boy living in the rez (reservation) and he writes about his personal life experiences and created it into a book. Junior was just an ordinary boy living in the rez and then moving into an all-white school for a better education. Although he is picked, teased, issued with serious medical problems and is considered a traitor to the tribe, he is determined to go to Reardan-the all-white school- and in the school, finds a strength inside him that he never knew about. He auditions for the basketball team and surprisingly gets in because the coach believes in him. In a basketball season, Junior then has to face the rez team which looks so betrayed, in the contrary, throwing stones at Junior. This book made me feel happy when Junior found his victory after going through a lot of pain and sad when he was teased and vomited with his disease of cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull. I can relate to him because I've remembered times when I felt like nobody liked me at all. I admit, I wasn't as brave as Junior or Arnold Spirit (his Reardan name) through times such as these, but I could sense the feelings he was having which helped me understand the book. I think this was a just right book because I could feel what Junior was feeling with my experiences and I could understand the plot perfectly.

I think the two most influential characters are Junior and Rowdy, Juniors best friend. Junior is a skinny, uncool guy and Rowdy is a tough, hardcore kind of guy. Even though their differences, they were still best friends. A punch in the face was a sign of love to them. They were different kind of people but had a feeling deep in their gut's which made the best of friends. In the beginning of the story, Junior as I said is the nerdy guy trying to join the basketball team in Reardan (yeah, right!). Towards the end, he proves himself to be brave, best player in the basketball team but most of all, just wants to be good ol' pals with Rowdy again who hates him too ever since he left the rez. It's amazing to read how different the Indians and the American's were. The Spokane tribe was a crazy half drunken tribe and attending at least 42 funerals in an entire 13 years was no big thing. Yes they were crazy, but they had love. A love they had for each other in the tribe. They show it very differently and they're proud of it. Rowdy changed because in the beginning he was tough and a bit mean, typical Rowdy, but at the end of the book he forgave Junior which was a major event.

The problem of the story is solved by Rowdy and Junior becoming best buds again. Also Junior forgets about her sister dying in an accident in another country. He was proud to be an "explorer of the world"- going to Reardan and facing all the challenges. In truth, I really don't know what I would change about the book because everything fits in nicely. Even though this is pretty minor, I would not include the smart and intelligent guy in Reardan as Junior's friend because he didn't act as any major character in the book and wouldn't have made a difference if he wasn't included in the book.

When I closed the book, I didn't feel worried or scared for Junior, I felt proud for what decisions and choices he had made.









3 comments:

  1. I really liked how you gave your connection to the book. But you could talk about how Junior got really good at basketball? Did he get confidence from his friend or did he practice...... but I really, really enjoyed your reading response.

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  2. I like how you wrote in what you thought about the book and I like how you described the book a lot. I also liked how you put in a connection to the story in your blog.One thing I think you should work on is putting in more information about the book in your blog. But I really enjoyed your blog.

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  3. I really liked how you described a lot about the characters, and how you wrote connections to this story. I kind of wanted, to see what changes you would make more.

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