Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a decent jumpshot, spends his time lamenting life on the "poor-ass" Spokane Indian reservation, drawing cartoons (which accompany, and often provide more insight than, the narrative), and, along with his aptly named pal Rowdy, laughing those laughs over anything and nothing that affix best friends so intricately together. When a teacher pleads with Arnold to want more, to escape the hopelessness of the rez, Arnold switches to a rich white school and immediately becomes as much an outcast in his own community as he is a curiosity in his new one. He weathers the typical teenage indignations and triumphs like a champ but soon faces far more trying ordeals as his home life begins to crumble and decay amit the suffocating mire of alcoholism on the reservation. Alexie's humor and prose are easygoing and well suited, and he doesn't pull many punches as he levels his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt. This book ultimately affirms the incredible power of best friends to hurt and heal in equal measure. Readers looking for the strength to lift themselves out of rough situations would do well to start here.
