Banned Books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I remember, as a kid, I avoided books from a male POV like the flu. Even into my teenage life have I tended to cling to my beloved girl MCs. Which is funny, since most literature is written from the points of view of men.

Reading The Absolutely True Diary, I realized this:
Thus far, I have read The Perks, The Kite Runner, The Catcher in the Rye, and this book. Those four books have three things in common:
1. They're written in first person.
2. They're narrated by a male character.
3. They're all a lot more depressing than you expect them to be.
This, in turn, made me realize three other things:
1. I read many books written in first person.
2. I would have been reluctant to pick these books up in the past.
3. I am not helping myself by reading these saddening coming-of-age novels during my least favorite time of the year: the start of school.

Justification: Not granted

Anthem: Couldn't find one

Rating: ***

Risk: XX


Review: Seriously, though, Huckleberry Finn better be a little uplifting. I have this annual ritual by which I fight my way through September. It's called EGBiA, which is short for Everything Gets Better in Autumn. This has several reasons.
1. My body and soul need about a month to accustom to school life again after six weeks of detoxification.
2. My body and soul need about a month to accustom to optional new friends and/or classmates after six weeks of social isolation.
3. Literally all my good memories are connected to October. I first read THG in October. I realized I wouldn't be bullied in my third year (Dutch counting) in October. I first started reading HP in October! (If it's up to me, I'll try to publish my first book in October.)
September is just super depressing to me, so if I'd known the first part of my reading list was so depressing, I would have spun the whole thing around. Long story short: I was not happy with the grievous turn this novel took. These banned books are going to make me end up in therapy.

I don't like to label by gender, but I must admit that I think this is more of a guy-book? For example, a more girl book would never feature so many sports. I don't give a crap about basketball or football or any other Muggle sports. The only sports rules I have ever completely grasped are Quidditch rules. Get your exercise and health away from me!

I'm happy I learned so much about the life of Native Americans in the US. However, this does oblige me to love the book as a story. It's like rice to me. I'm grateful for its existence and it aiding a lot of people in their struggle for life. That doesn't mean I appreciate consuming rice myself, though. I don't hate it, but I don't really love eating it.

In the Spirit of Arnold/Junior, I will add an illustration to each reason.

My favorite.

The following will contain spoilers for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Drugs/alcohol/smoking

This is ridiculous to me. HIS SISTERS DIES BECAUSE OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION! How does that not encourage good life choices in teenagers? Junior constantly mourns his tribe's alcohol problems. He's almost like a literary impersonification of one of those awareness videos, and every parent adores those. Even if they don't work, I don't get why someone would have issues with this.

This is a recurring phenomenon in book banning. Okay, we can argue about violence in THG, but drugs in Go Ask Alice is a no-brainer, as is racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. This only proves that these novels are quoted, but not read.

Gambling

This is the same idea as the previous one. Seeing a father gambling away the money to feed his family will NOT tempt teenagers to gamble. Junior only once suggests he gambles, at the powwow festival.
Still, looking at the chart under this text, I understand your fear.

Gambling is a slippery slope, and slippery slopes scare parents and teachers. But showing gambling on a background of poverty won't tempt teens into doing it, I think. The connection between the two is just too obvious.

Offensive language

Funny how cursing is a big deal in literature, while, in the rest of pop culture, people tend to scroll over it. A difference might be that, for example, Spotify warns listeners for 'explicit' language. But content warnings in books would look really weird. Can you imagine picking up a hardcover, flipping to the flaps to glance at the blurb, and finding a grocery list at the bottom?

Warning:
4 d@mns
12 variations on oh my God
2 c[_]nts *collective gasps in the distance*
3 F-bombs

Fun Fact: the Dutch variation on c[_]nt is a frequently used, mild curse, where god damn it is a very serious, little-used curse. If you compare the grammatical use of our respective curse words, you will find differences, too, even with words that share the same meaning.

Judging a book by its curse words is a very superficial way to filter a TBR. I don't recommend it.

Religious viewpoint

I wanted this to be funny and relatable to all of us.

After everyone in Junior's life starts dropping dead, he's angry with God. I suppose some people might find this offensive. I don't. The way I see it, the portrayal of atheism or any other diverting religious viewpoint is not wrong at all. It's merely a reflection of reality. I think a Christian should be able to write a book from the view of an agnostic MC and vice versa. I think your faith becomes more valuable if you know other people's views because it's more well-considered.
But Junior is angry with God, so he isn't even an atheist. Every religious person spends at least one moment in their life angry with God. It's only natural. Imagine an all-powerful force ruling your life, and you don't understand its intentions or further plans. When something awful happens, of course, you will feel perplexed and a little mad. That all-powerful force could have prevented it from happening, and that knowledge (or belief) stings. That's okay. It's good to know that it's okay.

Sexually explicit

Well, at least I didn't need to search hard for this one. It's obviously the various references to erection and masturbation that do the trick here. Being the female that I am, I can't judge the realism on that first one. For the second, the statistics tell me that both genders do this, and neither should feel judged because of it.
The majority of the teenage population is informed about both of these things. (Except one of my friends, who's as naive as a newborn baby.) Shit, half the teenage population won't be able to escape this part of their biological instruction manual. It truly is appropriate for this to be discussed in a YA book. If there had been pictures, granted, I would understand, but this seems fairly innocent to me.

Unsuited for age group

I'd say 14 and up?

Anti-family

In want of a better picture.

I don't understand why this challenge is listed. I see three options:
1. The one also mentioned in 'sexually explicit'. I don't think this one is a good argument to ban a book, though. Not all 'activity' has to serve procreation. It's not like married people only do the dirty when their wife has her ovulation and they intend to have a kid.
2. There aren't even gay people in this book.
3. The challenger thinks Junior doesn't spend enough time with his poor, drunk family members and is often the opinion that this is antisocial. That would be strange, though, because he loves his parents, raves over his grandma, and mourns his sister.

Racism/discrimination

Look, another thing we don't ever learn about in school properly! Also, I think the same rule from 'alcohol/drugs/smoking' applies here. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian opposes racism, rather than supporting it, and gives a very real, frank view of racism in schools.
Now some book banners might suggest teenagers are too young to discuss such an unpleasant issue.

We have been ingrained, from a young age, with a very warped perspective on Native Americans and their cultures. If I'm honest, I'll have to admit I didn't even have too clear of a view of their culture and current place in the US community. I didn't know they were poor or lived in bad conditions in reservations. (Bear in mind that I have an excuse for being uninformed and ignorant: I'm not a US citizen.) It shocked me that the government allows this type of divisions in their country.

Racism and racial segregation are still real and alive today, and I think adults are trying to ban this book to keep their children uneducated. But just because something isn't fun to discuss doesn't mean it shouldn't be. Quite the opposite, actually.

Ah, you can just see the hopes and dreams slipping out throughout the years.

Violence

All violence in this novel is depicted in the form of bullying. The bullying of a physically aberrant and vulnerable young boy.

What's the use of banning a book that deals with physical bullying when 14 percent of 6th graders is already injured at school as a result of bullying? Being confronted with the harsh consequences of bullying for a person (in this case, Junior), might help teens face the fruits of their behavior. In that way, first person POV is a powerful tool to convey the characters emotions to the reader. In the case of bullying, this can supply victims with a companion and bullies with a daunting reality check.