Friday, November 8, 2013

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

                I thought that the illustrations in the book were an interesting touch because they offered more explanations of what had happened in certain instances (such as when Junior throws the book at Mr. P) or they further demonstrated Junior’s points. In addition, these pictures help to show Junior’s comic expertise and help to further explain his character. Overall, they were a nice touch, especially in a story that is structured in the manner that this one is.
                Overall, I thought that this book was interesting, albeit definitely written in the persona of a fourteen year old boy (I think that is how old Junior was supposed to be). In other words, I can see where there would be some controversy with using this text in a high school classroom. I mean, Alexie references a variety issues and words that parents could find offensive for their children to read about, so I could definitely see where this could be perhaps not such a good choice for teaching material.

                I think that Alexie does a good job of showcasing the different people in Junior’s life. I mean, the book is pretty short, but Alexie offers enough information on everyone to allow readers to get a general idea of any one of the characters as well as have an implied notion of them as well. I’ll be honest, I’m not overly fond of Alexie’s works, but I will say that he does do a pretty decent job of establishing his characters and allowing readers to figure out their motivations and personalities, even if those traits aren’t explicitly stated. In other words, I think Alexie tends to offer less details in this novel in order to allow readers to have more of an abstract idea about characters rather than one that specifically states all the details of the characters. 

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