Wrapped Up in Books

While some of my friends are able to waste an entire evening eating bad Thai food and playing dealer's choice card games like "Pass the Trash" like a bunch of losers, I've been busy spending the past 6 weeks reading 8 novels for my writing class.  In addition to the few books I read before and after this class this year, I'm well on my way to matching Largeheartedboy's brilliant idea for a regular posting series, 52 Books in 52 Weeks.  Sadly, I'm not nearly as ambitious as he is and although I am going to attempt to read one book a week for the remainder of the year, I'm not sure I'll have the time or energy to post about each one I read (especially if they're not very good -- and believe me, a lot of the books I've read recently aren't that good).  But for at least this week, I'm going to try with a book review post (and a new Vague Space category of posts.)  We'll see how long this lasts.  If your idea of reading is the back of a cereal carton or your favorite author is Mike Lupica, this is probably not the proper forum for you.  But if you are interested in a little culture, click on through and come back next week for more (hopefully). 

• Download Belle & Sebastian - "Wrapped Up in Books".mp3
• Download Belle & Sebastian - "Put the Book Back on the Shelf".mp3
• Download Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - "Black Book".mp3
• Download Joanna Newsom - "The Book of Right-On".mp3
• Download Caspian - "Book Nine".mp3
• Download Stars - "My Favourite Book".mp3
• Download Camera Obscura - "Books Written for Girls".mp3
• Download Morrissey - "Reader Meet Author".mp3
• Download Unwound - "Fiction Friction".mp3
• Download Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd - "Open Book".mp3

Week 1, Book Review #1

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (2007)
Rating:  Highly Recommended

    The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a novel featuring a 14-year-old Native American narrator who has grown up on a sprawling reservation in Spokane Falls, WA. The setting is crucial to the novel, as the poverty, alcoholism, and inertia inherent in life on reservations is explored along with the strong sense of family and community that becomes threatened when the main character, Junior, decides to attend school outside of the reservation, in a primarily white town. This conflict is the major driving force of the story and helps in the exploration of a more universal coming of age demand to leave one’s family behind and experience the world on your own terms. A series of additional conflicts result from Junior’s decision to leave, including the loss of his best friend Rowdy and alienation in the community from all those who consider him a traitor. The somewhat laughable tragedies that pile on in the midst of his internal trauma – his grandmother’s death, his father’s friend’s death, and his sister eloping across the country and then dying in a trailer fire – are somehow handled without melodrama by the author, the gifted Sherman Alexie.

The language used in the novel is simple, direct, and conversational, which fits the narrator’s personality and fits the diction level of a brainy 14-year-old. An example of this use of simple language comes on page 20: “It was pretty funny, so I laughed.” Alexie also makes effective use of chapter endings, which separate what happens in the preceding chapter from future chapters in a concise and poignant matter. On page 14, chapter 2 ends with “So I heard the boom of my father’s rifle when he shot my best friend [his dog]. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.”

The narrator’s voice is crucial to the story and Alexie is able to imbue the teenage protagonist with a smart, sarcastic, and sensitive wit that makes reading the story of his life enjoyable. The recurring themes of alcohol abuse and poverty, along with Junior’s numerous illnesses and stress-related vomiting, are underscored throughout, but the disaffecting way in which the narrator deals with his crises makes the otherwise tragic nature of the events in his life much more bearable to read. In contrast to adult characters in "literary" novels I've read recently , Junior’s resilience in the face of his unrelenting adversity is both refreshing and bittersweet. Adult cynicism has yet to take over his life.

“My sister is dead,” I said.

“Yes.”

“I was hoping I dreamed that.”

Comments

[Elmer Straw]

It's "Pass The Trash", not "Follow The Trash".

[Bill]

Noted and corrected. Loser.

[switsky]

At least I didnt cheat at "Chicken Little".

I am not that much of a loser.

[Bill]

Chicken Little was the best game ever.