I’m torn! When I first picked up a hard copy of Alexie’s new novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I knew it would be excellent. I’m already an Alexie fan (I teach The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven as part of a Native American literature unit) and was thrilled that he had produced a work for teens.
The novel is visually intriguing. Junior, the narrator, is a cartoonist, so the book is peppered with Ellen Forney’s clever drawings (you can check out her site athttp://www.ellenforney.com/index.html but it is worth flipping through the novel itself to see what she has done. The images seem to me to be a strange mix of Crumb and The Preppy Handbook.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to read the book before I had to return it to the library. Wanting to read it since it has been winning awards left and right (including the Boston Globe – Horn Book for fiction), I picked up the Recorded Book version, seeing it as the next best option.
I didn’t realize that Alexie himself performed the recording. It is wonderful. At first, I wondered if I could stand his sing-song voice (Alexie writes that all Indians talk “weird” as though they are always reciting bad poetry) through all five disks, but I was hooked midway through the first chapter. His reading is clear and poignant and powerful.
So here’s the problem – do you read it or listen to it? I think the only option is to do both.
** Note, this title definitely falls under the category of teen fiction! Topics from masturbation to drunk driving are covered in an honest and earnest manner that is compelling and powerful – but be aware that the content is mature.
The novel is visually intriguing. Junior, the narrator, is a cartoonist, so the book is peppered with Ellen Forney’s clever drawings (you can check out her site at
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to read the book before I had to return it to the library. Wanting to read it since it has been winning awards left and right (including the Boston Globe – Horn Book for fiction), I picked up the Recorded Book version, seeing it as the next best option.
I didn’t realize that Alexie himself performed the recording. It is wonderful. At first, I wondered if I could stand his sing-song voice (Alexie writes that all Indians talk “weird” as though they are always reciting bad poetry) through all five disks, but I was hooked midway through the first chapter. His reading is clear and poignant and powerful.
So here’s the problem – do you read it or listen to it? I think the only option is to do both.
** Note, this title definitely falls under the category of teen fiction! Topics from masturbation to drunk driving are covered in an honest and earnest manner that is compelling and powerful – but be aware that the content is mature.
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