The "Other America"

Alright, Native Americans...the forgotten minority. I mean really, after the early Americans colonized the land and relegated the natives to small chunks of more or less useless land, they were basically removed from the American conscious. Sure, I've visited Cahokia Mounds, the local archaeological site of an old Indian city, but other than that, I sometimes forget that there are still tribes living on reservations. I am not, in other words, fully aware of a very important part of our population. When I picked up The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, I wasn't sure if it was about a Native American Indian or a India Indian. I just thought is sounded interesting. Turns out, it is about Junior, a Native American living on a reservation. Junior becomes infuriated one day at school when he sees his mother's name in a school book he is given. The book is at least 25 years older than he is! Losing his temper, he throws the book at his teacher's head. Later, that teacher stops by and urges Junior to get off the reservation forever, for, he says, hope cannot be found in the devastating poverty and rampant alcoholism of reservation life. Junior must make a tough decision. Either stay on the reservation and remain trapped in the cycle of despair, or leave and risk alienation by his tribe. Junior decides to leave and tells his parents he will be attending the white high school off the rez. In the process he loses his best friend and is thrown into a world where at first, he is just the Native American kid. As Junior attempts to chase his dreams and faces devastating loss, one cannot help being sucked into his world and find oneself fervently hoping for things to work out.

I very much appreciated the insight this book gave me into reservation life. I am not Native American, nor do I live near a reservation, so I am glad Alexie gave a voice to a portion of our population that doesn't always get the attention it deserves. This book is both hilarious and heartrending, depressing and inspiring. The narrator is witty and caustic, not hiding any of the ugly side of life. As an added bonus, the author plays with format, including illustrations that really add to the story itself. Alongside humor, however, is the devastating poverty of life on the reservation, the sub-par quality of education, and the rampant alcoholism that destroys families. The reservation is a hopeless place, full of the pain of death and the despair of being unable to dream. At one point, Junior says that his white friends can count the funerals they have attended on one hand. He on the other hand can use every body part and still not get close to the number of deaths he's experienced. The worst part, he says is that "About 90 percent of the deaths have been because of alcohol." Many people don't realize the immense problem that alcohol presents to Native American families. As Junior puts it, you're either an alcoholic, or you don't drink. And alcohol merely leads to more death and despair. It is horrendously sad because it is a reality for many people everyday. However, at the same time, this book is also inspiring, watching Junior commit to hope and dream, refusing to give up like so many of his family and friends. We all leave our families at some point. Whether it is to go to college or move to another country, we all experience the pain, uncertainty, and loneliness of leaving behind one's beginnings, one's core identity. Junior still loves his tribe and his reservation but he knows he must leave and he only prays that they forgive him and that he can forgive himself.

This is a great book, truly excellent. It gives us insight into an often ignored perspective, into the "other America," that really isn't so other. It forces us to recognize the reality of extreme poverty, rampant alcoholism, and lack of options through education prevalent on reservations as well as our own ignorance of it which helps keep it in existence. It also teaches us to hope and to dream, to never settle with what we are given, to never give up. It is a story of determined persistence, of humanity, of life, and ultimately, of hope.