The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Book Review)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a story about a Native American boy by the name of Junior. He has lived on the Spokane Indian reservation his whole life. Born with a plethora of health conditions that left him often bullied and ostracized, Junior begins to realize that maybe Spokane isn’t meant to be his only home.

Junior makes the bold decision to attend an all-white school outside of the rez. During his first year of high school, Junior faces discrimination, ridicule, and tragedy. Despite it all, he continues to attack the obstacles with humor, wit, and his original cartoons.

I’ve been hearing great things about this book for years now but I never got around to reading it, until recently. I was lucky enough to find this beauty at my local thrift store for a major bargain. I’m happy to add this to my book shelf.

Junior’s struggle was so raw, so honest. His ostracization from the people of the reserve for not being Indian enough and the discrimination he encountered at his school were well described. I could empathize with Junior’s situation.

I breezed through this novel in two days. It was absolutely wonderful and I’m already thinking about giving it a second read. This is definitely a five star book.

5/5 Stars

Author: Rachelle Saint Louis

Rachelle Saint Louis is a Haitian-American writer, born and raised in South Florida. She received a 2018 Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition for her poem “Red Blood Cell.” She is currently a Psychology and English double major at Florida Atlantic University. Her poetry has been published in Rigorous Magazine. Rachelle has been writing poetry since the 7th grade and you can often find her performing Spoken Word at local open mics. View all posts by Rachelle Saint Louis

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