Editors Note on Feb 25, 2018: Please see my apology about promoting Alexie's work. --Debbie
~~~~
Fans of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian will be happy to know that he is working on a sequel. I read this in an April 21st interview of Alexie published at a website called failbetter.com.
Some of you may know that he is working on another YA novel called Radioactive Love Song. In the interview, he says he set that book aside to work on a sequel to Diary. In the sequel, Arnold is a sophomore, and there's a romance with Penelope.
The interview is packed with information. He writes about the death of his sister and father. Here's an excerpt, about his appearance on the Colbert show:
You were on the Colbert Report in October—one of the only guests who’s ever been able to make Stephen Colbert speechless. What was it like being on the show?
It was great, but it’s funny because Indians are so invisible and because my career has gotten so big that I think people…they don’t forget that I’m Indian, but it becomes very secondary to the success. When I was on Colbert I had a double consciousness or triple consciousness about it…I was in the moment but then I was also thinking that this is really revolutionary for Indians…a rez boy holding his own verbally with one of the best in the business. It was big. I was proud that I also have that artistic ability. It was fun. He was a great guy. He came into the green room afterwards and congratulated me, which was very decent of him.
Alexie also talks about poetry, his love of writing poetry, and about his new book of poems, Face. Do head over to the site and read the interview.
Disclosure: Readers of American Indians in Children's Literature know I've written a lot about Alexie's Diary and that it is on my lists of recommended books. Recently, a couple of friends have found it problematic for its use of the word 'faggot.' In light of that and the recent suicides of two 11 year old boys who were taunted as gay, I'm going to reread the novel.
He did very well on Colbert -- it was a lovely thing to see.
ReplyDeleteMy recollection, having read the novel recently, is that the word wasn't used in a way which had...I suppose I'd call it narrative approval. I didn't come out of it thinking, oh, Sherman Alexie's got a bias (but then, I'm familiar with "The Business of Fancydancing," so I suppose I'd usually be inclined to give Alexie the benefit of the doubt -- which can sometimes be a good thing, and sometimes not!) I'll be interested to hear what you think after re-reading.
I thought Alexie's book very good, but I've been a fan of his for sometime. I did wonder what you thought though about some of the elements of the book, such as the only way for the character to make it in life is to get off the reservation and a white teacher is the one who gets him to do that. His parents drink too much, his father doesn't make sure he gets to school all of the time and it is the white basketball coach that allows the character to really pour forth his talents. Not to mention the white girlfriend. But just as Alexie is not afraid to tell the truth about his experiences, he is also not afraid to show that discrimination against homosexuals is a real thing teenagers face.
ReplyDeleteJennifer