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Read Wolves!
Welcome to WELL REaD, the reading blog of the Niles West High School IRC. We want to hear what our students and staff have to say about books. To comment about anything you read here, click on the comment link at the bottom of the post.
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16 comments:
In the book of the part time indian the main character Junior (his reservation name) has a life I would never expect anyone to have. He lives in this place called the reservation where only indians live and everyone living there is pretty much his cousin. As I was reading I learned he was really really poor which i thought was bad but then I soon learned that he was born with major brain damage which makes his life even ore complicated! Wow, I do not know how this kid goes through life, but this book pretty much sows it all. To me it seems impossible but to him it is just life. --- Nathan Ard.
To me, Junior seems like one of those guys that encounters many obstacles in his life and learns from each and every one of them. It seems that he gets stronger after each obstacle. When he played his reservation school the second time, he proved to himself that he could do anything he sets his mind to. I liked how he came in with a mentality that he is the best because I believe in order to be successful in life, you need to have that kind of mentality.
-Joe Kosir
Racism and discrimination are both represented throughout Sherman Alexie’s, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Arnold (also referred to as Junior) lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The reservation is impoverished and everyone experiences the poverty in more ways than just lack of necessities. The poverty drives many to look to alcohol to settle the problems on the reservation; however, the alcohol causes many deaths and tears apart families. Arnold also references racism and discrimination that the Indians often feel. From only half as much Novocain to lack of government funding and the one that seems to bother him is the looks that he receives from some people. Arnold has a mentality that holds him strong. He does not want to be another failure on the reservation, he wants to be able to do something more with his life. This mentality takes Arnold far through the book and helps him towards some of his goals.
-Ashley C
Period 9
The character of "Junior" is very sympathetic. He feels completely useless, and that he'll never be able to escape the reservation. His only outlet is his doodling. He says he draws because he wants to talk to the world, and he wants the world to pay attention to him. It's depressing to read about his life! He covers his despair in comedy, but it's still incredibly depressing. He can't draw himself out of poverty. And then, in the first 10 pages of the book, his dog dies. More specifically, his dog gets sick, but his family is too poor to help him, so to end the dog's suffering, Junior's dad shoots him because "a bullet only costs two cents, and anybody can afford that.".
-Steven M. Period 5
I think that everyone in the rez hates Junior because he is actually doing something with his life. All Indians are used to the "low life" and that is why they hate him so much. In the end I think he will be respected and successful. Even though he can't even afford a Deny's meal, Penelope will be with him at the end. He has a lot of life struggles, but he will over come. Gordy has made him realize that everyone goes through lonely periods of time and that it is normal. I think Rowdy would be as smart as Gordy if he hit the books and not worry about being so tough. Overall the book flows good.
-Marco Garcia
One small thing, I noticed that after Arnold heard about his sister and romance books, he related a lot of what he was doing to romance. For example, "Was it wrong to stare so much? Was it romantic at all"(113)? Arnold had a seemed to stay a good character thoughout the book. He never really changed in a bad way. He was never against Indians or Whites. Even though they "hated him", he knew it was his fault and he had it coming. I felt bad that he blamed all the bad things that happened throughout the book on himself. He said there was a series of bad luck after he left.
When his sister pat away, he said it was because he left the rez and she felt disgraised and left too. Then she got herself killed. Indian drinking is also a major issue in the book. Junior said he had been to many funerals with deaths involving alcohol. He lost his dad's best friend, Eugene, his sister, Mary, his grandma, grandma, and more that are unmentioned in the book.
-Michael M.
In this book the main character, Arnold (known as Junior on the reservation), lives on an all-Indian reservation. There his whole entire life has been surrounded by poverty and his looks have gotten him beaten up for more than half of his life. Even though Junior encounters many obstacles he still finds ways to get over them and by not giving up in the end things do turn somewhat the way he wants them to. Junior’s escape from the world he lives in is through his drawing because in them he can tell how he feels knowing that the cartoons won’t judge back. It is incredible how even though his life is extremely depressing he is still able to find ways to joke about it. This boy who got picked on all his life for being weak is the one who ends up doing what no one would ever do from his reservation. With the help of his math teacher, he one day decides to go to an all white school because he wanted an equal chance at getting a good education. At Reardan he was the only Indian boy, yet he was able to stand out and show all the white people that he was not an idiot like all others thought. Also, even though he loses his best friend, whom he has depended on all his life, he still manages to make new ones--Daiana Robescu
Junior has had a tough past and has had to encounter severall problems in his life. Both his parents have had experience with acoholism and make it tough for them to connect at times. The only person he can truley trust and go to is his best friend Rowdy. He has pretty much always been there for him, whether its defending him in fights or just cheering him up. There is true friendship between one another. The book has flowed well so far and I.m looking foward to reading more.
-CJ Funes
I really enjoyed reading this book. I have never read more than 30 pages on any book in one sitting, but I was able to read this one in two days. Its not my favorite book, but is a very good one. It is a very good, easy, fun read. The pictures make it funny and interesting but also makes you feel like you're too old to be reading this. I didn't mind though, it was good to have pictures every once in a while. It helped me stay focused on the book. The pictures also helped me picture things so i didn't misinterpret anything. You run through a lot on emotions through this book. I felt bad for all the deaths and alcohol and hated involved in Arnold's life. The deaths he had experienced were not even natural deaths, many were alcohol involved and could have been avoided. While reading this, I was always looking for a positive turn for Junior in the book. It was hard to reach though; he kept on having major obsticles to go through. For example, how his best friend Rowdy hated him after he left, the death of his grandma, dad's best friend, and sister, and everyone on the rez hating him. The ending was a good way to wrap up the story, and i completely recommend this book to everyone.
-Michael Mani
After finishing the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I was glad that Rowdy and Junior were friends again (even though it was a cheesy way to end a book). I believe that something like that should not tear a friendship apart; however, I do understand that people are very attached to the reservation and have a hard time leaving it. Junior and Rowdy both live a hard life on the reservation, but together they help each other. Although Junior’s comics and Rowdy’s fighting won’t end the poverty on the reservation, it helps them get through it. In terms of Rowdy, I do not agree with the idea of fighting to express feelings. Overall the book was okay, it had a mediocre story line, but it did show some aspects of living on the reservation.
Ashley Chambers
Period 9
This book was something else to me. In life, I hate to read. In my past English classes I would always complain about reading books. But this time Mrs. Graham let us choose our own books, which I liked very much, and ended up choosing this book. While finishing up this book I came to realize that not only did I read the whole book but I also enjoyed it. This book maybe a bit slow in the beginning but after it catches your attention and you want to keep going and going and by the time your at the end it happens very quickly. It happens so quickly that it makes you made because you want to know whats going to happen next. This kid Junior who goes thorugh many difficulties in his life has done it all. Then I heard he's created another book for his sophmore year in high school. I'm thinking wow how does this kid do it? and what more could he go through in the reservation? This book was an exciteing high school experience that no kid in Chicago could ever have. This is one book you could enjoy reading. ---Nathan Ard.
This book was thoroughly depressing. It seems every other page some soul crushing event takes place.Junior gets beaten up by 3 thirty year old men. Junior's dog has to be shot by his dad because his family is to poor to help it. His school has books that his parents used when they were kids. His grandmother is hit by a drunk driver. His dad's best friend is shot in the head when his friend gets drunk. His sister and her fiance burn to death in a trailer because they were drunk. Junior's best friend Rowdy is constantly beaten by his father, a chronic alcoholic. When Junior transfers schools to try and give himself a future, his best and only friend, as well as the entire population of the reservation hates him for it. The worst and most depressing part is the diary is "Absolutely True". This is the life indians living on reservations face. That haunting fact is what I left this book with.
Steven Marky
Period 9
In comparison to all the other books I have read in the past this book was completely different. It was able to make me want to cry (for example when they had to shoot his dog because they could not afford to take him to the vet) but at the same time there were many parts that made me laugh too. Reading this book made me realize that there are people out there who have lives like Junior or Rowdy, which is why we need to start appreciating what we have more. We tend to make such big deals about things that are truly not that important, while Junior faces real depressing situations yet he always tires to make the best out of them by covering up his hurt with jokes. It is shocking to see how alcohol can ruin so many lives. For example the person he admired the most in his life, his grandma, was killed by a drunk driver, his dad’s best friend, Eugene, was shot with by another friend because both were too drunk to realize what was going on and even his sister and husband were burned to death in their home because they were too drunk to wake up. I mean it is hard to think that things would be able to get worse. Since he did not give up and stayed strong, things turned somewhat good for him. The only Indian kid in an all white school surprisingly became popular. Junior started to go out with his dream girl, Penelope; he became friends with the best football player and even made the varsity basketball team as a freshman. Also in the biggest game of the season Junior, the kid that was once seen weak by everyone and all would beat whenever they got the chance was actually able to beat the unstoppable Rowdy. Even though he had to face many scary and depressing situations at such a young age, Junior was strong enough to set up his life for a future full of hopes and dreams.
This book proved to be a pretty funny book to me. When i usually read, i tend to lose focus and tend to daydream a lot. When i was reading this book, the author kept me wanting to read more and it made me really like the book. I liked how there was a lot of comedy involved because it helped me stayed involved. I think the author exxagerated a little bit too much in this book but for the most part, it is believable. Apart from the comedy of the book, the deaths made the book kind of sad. I didnt like how so many people that Junior knew died around him but I guess thats how life really is on the rez. Im glad that Rowdy and Junior are friends again and i hope Junior stayed friends with his "white" friends also.
-Joe Kosir
After I finished the book, I was happy that Junior and Rowdy were friends again. It was a vary cheesy way to end a book but I was still happy. After all it seems as though all of Juniors problems were worsened by Rowdy’s absence. Sherman Alexie is funny, if his books drag something funny happens, and it picks up again. He has this way of really making you want Juniors life to work out instead he is thrown every obstacle and instead overcomes everyone. He makes you want to keep reading also. I found that there were times when I didn’t want to put the book down… lots of people died but that is a reality that some kids face and on a reservation it is heightened by the alcoholism. This book is somewhat exaggerated for humor but yet still sort of believable. It was one of the better contemporary book I have read for school.
~Alexis Wych 9th Period~
This is one of my all time favorite books!
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