I already knew about the author’s checkered history before I started the book . So the audiobook put me on the struggle bus. I took a break, found the kindle version and gave it another go. And this time around, I got it. Clearly, if I’m going into a book with an unfavorable opinion about the author, an audiobook narrated BY the author, is by no means a way to separate the artist from the art.
There’s so much to love in this book. And I can absolutely see why teenagers would love it too. The simplicity of the writing in the book makes it accessible to everyone. And it is easy enough to find characters one would relate to. And if you do not relate to a character, you’ll still relate to the tussle between fitting in and standing out.
There’s the protagonist -Junior who is from the reservation and yet determinedly doing everything he can to get off the reservation. And while in the beginning Junior seems the lone misfit, by the end you see how every single teenager in this story is a misfit. And honestly – who has not related to that feeling from their own growing up years?
Of the themes that the book talks about, the generational trauma that hounds even current day native Americans was something that will stay with me. There’s this part of the book where when trying to understand his own grief, Junior stumbles on a quote – What greater grief than the loss of one’s native land? What does it really mean to lose the land that one called home and to then live with daily reminders of that loss of their land and culture and language and song and dance? Is this the burden that is passed from one generation to the next – manifesting in higher rates of addiction..
Like the petrified wood that is wood merely in name, displaced by minerals that have taken up the shape of the wood and turned it into all but rock, does clawing his way out of the reservation and assimilating with the whit society around him, leave Junior an Indian only in name?.. And what happens when grief and loss permeate into every aspect of someone’s life, eventually leaving the shape of a life minus everything that makes life worth living? Is this what generational trauma is? Is this what leaves scars that lead to higher rates of addictions and death? How easy is it then to have the ability to find joy in this life shaped grief. Even for a 14 year old, with a brain that can find humor in everything and the support of family and friends, it isn’t easy. But he does it. He makes lists of everything that brings him joy to remind himself that he can feel joy. He takes the thoughts in his head and makes it into tangible images. Like the idea of an absentee parent. When Junior says, “..those white dads can completely disappear without ever leaving the living room. They can just BLEND into their chairs. They become their chairs.”.. I feel it and I see it. The imagery of a parent who is a chair. As a cartoonist, even with his words, Junior draws images.
One of the bonus chapters was a note from a high school teacher who mentioned that this is the most loved book in their class and sometimes even the first book that a student has read fully. And while so much of Junior’s book has emotions, anyone can relate to, I also feel like the book itself has female characters who are not fully fleshed out. And perhaps that remains true to the voice in which the book is written – that of a 14 year old teenage boy. What it did within its (not enough, if you ask me) pages is tell the story of a Native American boy from a reservation in Spokane who looked at the cards life dealt him and instead of folding, still gave it his best shot – with a sharp understanding of life, indomitable humor and lots of cartoons. One day when my girls are older, maybe I’ll get to revisit Junior’s world again with them.