The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Books & Beer Club reads a banned book each September for Banned Book Week. A few of the classics were selected, but I threw out The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie because that was the banned book that several in my little book club were planning to read for our October meeting observing Banned Book Week. I wanted to read True Diary, but I'd already read and selected The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison as my banned book for October. Figured I could do double duty... True Diary has such awesome reviews.

Then why is it banned? There's profanity, alcoholism, sexuality and violence. I still don't understand what makes those things ban-worthy. This novel is autobiographical, using most characters who are composites of people the author grew up with, and I'll bet it comes very close to reflecting the life of a Native American, an Indian, coming of age in the 1990s on a reservation in Washington State. The author is an Indian and was raised on the reservation.

Junior - or Arnold - comes from a loving family. He lives with his alcoholic father, his mother, his grandmother and his older sister, Mary. If they have nothing else, they have love. And they have each other. Junior was born with health problems and as such, he's the target of many of the bullies on the reservation. The kid bullies - and some adult bullies. Junior is also smarter and more curious than probably all the people on the reservation. He's a reader. A real book lover. Junior's best friend is Rowdy whose home life is not nearly as loving or peaceful. Rowdy is one angry kid, but he's Junior's devoted protector.

The Diary covers Arnold's first year in high school. He starts at the school on the reservation, but after an incident happens on the first day, he transfers to the white high school 22 miles away from where Arnold lives. He works to be accepted at his new school and to still feel a part of the reservation. It's not as easy as one might imagine.

The book is engaging from the start. It's a novel about some pretty heavy, serious stuff but written in a lighthearted humorous manner that makes it easier to read, although that doesn't diminish the seriousness of what Alexie is sharing. Big themes in the novel are bullying, racism, alcoholism, grief, and the meaning of friendships and family. There's also a far share of teenage angst. After all, Arnold is 14-years old.

Junior is also a cartoonist. That's how he handles much of what churns through his mind. Junior's cartoon creations are excellently brought to the pages of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Ellen Forney who somehow gets into Junior's brain as she puts marker to paper. Markers are not her usual medium but they were most probably Junior's. The cartoons come off as being very authentic.

I hope the Books & Beer folks enjoy the book as much as I did. There's certainly a lot to talk about.

Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family and Forgiveness

 

Once again, when I read the blurb about Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin, I didn't read carefully enough. I thought it was going to be about the author trying to cook a dish from every cuisine worldwide. It turns out, that was the purpose of her writing a book. But that this book was about much, much more. It's about what drove her to even attempt such a project. Once I was about a quarter of the way into the book, I went back to goodreads to see what I'd misread. Turns out that the blurb really didn't give much information. So I started skimming the reviews. That's when I truly realized my mistake.

A few of the reviewers likened this to The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Only with food. I tend to agree. There were very many differences, but the vibe was the same. Kids neglected by mother (or parents), trying to come to terms with that while forging ahead in life. Unlike The Glass Castle, Life From Scratch resonated with me. In the past 30-something years of my life, food has played a much more important role than it did in the first 30-something years. Food can be a connection to others, a way to armchair travel, a way to express love.

Sasha and her brother Michael grew up with their single mom who marched to the beat of a different drummer. They were very poor, but because of their mom's creativity and quirkiness, they didn't even realize it. In their small nuclear family, food was important. Events were marked by food. The mom made sure that Sasha and her brother understood their Italian and Hungarian roots - through food.

For about two years, Sasha and Michael were bounced from one foster home to another when the "system" deemed their mom unfit to raise them. When Sasha was nine-years-old, the mom's best high school friend and her husband agree to become the kids' guardians. The family moved from Boston, where their home with their mother was, to Atlanta and eventually, after tragedy strikes, overseas. Sasha is physically and emotionally abandoned by her mother. She leads a troubled teenaged life and only seems content when she's in the kitchen cooking.

Sasha comes into a bit of money when she's at loose ends after college and she decides she's going to use half the money to go to the Culinary Institute of America. She leaves for the first summer to complete an internship in Tulsa and ends up staying in Tulsa and creating a new life. Only after Sasha and her husband have a baby does Sasha realize that food might hold the key to being able to truly move forward. That's when the idea of cooking herself around the world comes in.

When I realized that their was a blog that came before the memoir, off I was to explore the blog. It's called Global Table Adventure and if you are at all into cooking or ethnic foods, it's a worthwhile site to explore. There are some interesting recipes with some beautiful photographs, plus there's a little bit of story telling.

Another memoir this one reminded me of was The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. Even though I enjoyed Life From Scratch and found The Pioneer Woman irritating. Whose table would I rather sit down to eat at? Sasha's. Hands down. But the same idea, figuring out how to move forward with your life with the help of food.

I'd recommend Life From Scratch.

The Reckoning

 

I gave Mary Trump's latest, The Reckoning, only 3 stars on goodreads, but that's mostly because it wasn't the book I was hoping to read. I was looking forward to reading a guide on how to go about healing from all that we've dealt with the past however many years. It wasn't that. She talks about the trauma that COVID and her uncle's presidency added to many of us. But she doesn't tell us how to move forward.

Mary Trump does an excellent job outlining the traumas we have faced as a nation since our inception. Actually, it goes back even further than that. Back to us stealing our land from those who were here before us.

Our country has a less than glorious past. We as Americans, collectively, have considered our nation a great one. Our past, however, has so much that is not great. Events and believes that should bring us pause. That's what Trump's book guides readers through. I guess that's the reckoning. To acknowledge what has happened before, to make actual amends, rather than simply focusing on trying to move forward with blinders on.

One thing that I did while reading was look back on my 11 years of teaching fifth grade social studies. For 10 of those years, I covered Westward Expansion, the Civil War, and then Social Justice - as opposed to the Civil Rights Movement or social injustice. I was thankful for the freedom that I had while teaching those topics. I didn't try to indoctrinate students into holding my view. I encouraged questioning and analysis so my students could come to their own conclusions. It sounds like so much of what I covered - and how I covered it - would be off-limits right now. That made me incredibly sad. And grateful, in a sad way, that I'm no longer in the classroom.

Mary Trump is incredibly smart with an excellent way with language. This was an excellent history book and one that I would encourage anyone to read.