I was not aware of Banned Books Week until several weeks ago, when a blogger I follow, Eclectic Ali, shared a post about it.  I was surprised to find that a book I already own was in the number two spot out of the top ten banned (or “challenged”) books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.

I found this book at my local library book sale last year, and it’s been on my TBR ever since.  I didn’t know it was banned (or “challenged”.. whatever) and bought it just based on the synopsis on the back cover.  Upon learning of Banned Books Week, I shelved my current read, Unbury Carol, to participate.

I’m actually a day late and a dollar short, as I thought Banned Books Week ended September 30th, and was happy that, yay, I finished the book within the deadline!  But I visited the website and learned that the official week was Sunday, September 23rd to yesterday, Saturday, September 29th.

Sigh.

Oh well. I surprised myself that I finished the book this week at all, (I seriously envy and don’t quite understand those that finish five books a month – it takes me two or three months to get through one book depending on the length) but it turned out to be a very quick read and I snuck in a few extra hours of reading this weekend.

I’ll also confess I’ve never done a book review on my blog before, so please be gentle.

This book was a very easy read and difficult to put down. It’s outside of my normal genre, Stephen King, Joe Hill, anything haunted, paranormal, horror-related. It’s a glimpse into what life is like for a native american teenager on the reservation: in a word, bleak. Which is haunting in itself.

There is a mix of emotions as the author takes you through the main character’s freshman year of high school, and amid the heartbreak, there are moments of joy and triumph.  According to bannedbooksweek.org, the book was challenged because of its depiction of poverty, alcoholism and sexual situations, none of which I felt were terribly extreme, IMHO, even for high school curriculum.  It’s a semi-autobiography of the author and includes many true details of his life, according to Alexie’s Wikipedia page.

That’s about as detailed as I’d like to get, without giving away much more. If you’re looking for a new title, I’d recommend it. It’s definitely a book in which you feel right there with the main character, and can empathize with them, whether you’ve experienced their challenges first hand or not.

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