The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

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Fourteen-year-old Arnold Spirit, a Spokane Indian, decides to leave the res and attend a predominantly white high school, making a daring, possibly desperate choice to grasp his future and step away from his culture, identity, and familiar life. The idiosyncratic first-person voice that Alexie creates for Arnold is the most distinctive feature of this alternately harrowing and funny semiautobiographical novel. Alexie is the perfect choice to read his own story. Hearing his interpretation of Arnold in a somewhat elliptical speech pattern and somewhat hesitant pace, reflective of Arnold’s cognitive dissonance (he survived brain surgery as an infant), more than makes up for the missing cartoons, sketches, and caricatures in the printed text. In contrast, a woman’s voice introducing and concluding each CD almost punctures the mood. The final paragraph—one of the most perfect in teen literature—is undercut by a jarring pronouncement: “The End.” Although some (probably most) will find Alexie’s unique reading style takes getting used to, those who persevere will soon find themselves inside the mind of a most unusual and remarkable teen. Alexie allows us to hear Arnold’s voice for what it is: courageous, outrageous, and ultimately illuminating. Before long, it is all too clear that Arnold is not only shooting from the hip but speaking from the heart.