Never Tire of this Book

I have a feeling that the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian will be one of those books that I will want to read every year.  I have a few of those, The Outsiders is one and Ramona the Pest is another, and the other is  Tex.  Not too many and so, obviously, it isn't often that I add a book to this short list.  True Diary is an amazing book.  If it were a place it would be a place where you experience all of the seasons.  If it were a restaurant it would be an all-encompassing buffet filled with the best of the best delicacies.  The themes in this book are at the same time personal and broad.  It is hilarious and heartbreaking.  Arnold "Junior" Spirit is a young man torn between his reservation and heritage and the "white world" and hope for a future different from his family.  The first story in which Arnold talks about the worst thing about being poor is just breaks my heart every time I read it or hear it, even though I know it's coming.  The last tragedy just takes my breath away with pain.  But it isn't all a sob story.  It is full of hope and promise and good, no, great humor.  Arnold's coming of age story is unique, as it is told from the perspective a young Spokane, but yet universal, as he falls in love and worries about being beaten up and accepted.  Everyone should read this book, for sure.