The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (reading response)

 I can only describe this book with one word; blunt. It was completely blunt. Basically, the protagonist, Junior, is Indian and he lives on a reservation (its like an area where all the Indians in the same tribe live together in that place,I learned this in twilight) and he basically thinks he's too smart to be in a school where he's learning the same exact things his mom learned 30 years ago. He doesn't like the idea that they didn't advance their education in that school, so he decides he's going to attend a white school in Reardan where his education would better fit him. That may sound like no big deal to you, but in the reservation, that's a huge deal. He's already bullied as it is, and now everyone's going to hate him even more because they think he thinks he's better than them. Especially his bestfriend Rowdy.

 Rowdy is the same age as Junior (14) and they're best friends, but Rowdy is really mean to Junior. He makes fun of him, makes him cry (even though Junior is kind of sensitive for a teenage boy), and he doesn't really treat him with respect most of the time. BUT I think he does value Junior's friendship because when Junior got beat up by three 30 year old men (yup you heard me 30) Rowdy gets them back by cutting one of the brothers' hair off. Also, I think Rowdy's mean like that because his father abuses him. Both verbally and physically. I kind of feel bad for him.

 Anyways, back to Junior. So, yeah, the school in Rearden brings Junior both happiness and sadness. When he told Rowdy that he was going to transfer, Rowdy told him that they weren't friends anymore, and that made Junior cry. The first day there, he embarrassed himself in front of a girl he liked by telling her one name, and the teacher calling out another. Also, he punched a bully in the face and it turns out that that's never how they resolve their problems in Rearden, whereas on the reservation that was the only way to resolve problems. So, yeah, that was a bust...So, his first day was pretty bad.

  Along the way, he goes out with the girl who he embarrassed himself in front of, he becomes friends with the bully he punched in the face, he became best friends with a nerdy kid who's almost just like him, and he gets his old best friend back in the end. The bad things that happened were : his sister died, his grandmother died, and a person from the reservation died. A lot of dying in this book. But I think in the end, the story ends on a positive note. I wouldn't mind being Junior for a couple of months.