Recommendations
Books Like The Absolutely True Diary
Best books to read after The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
If The Absolutely True Diary moved you — Junior's cartoons and his decision to leave the reservation for Reardan, the losses that keep coming, the way the novel holds comedy and heartbreak in the same sentence — these eight books share its portrait of young people between worlds, its Native American literary tradition, or its engagement with what it costs to want more than your community can offer.
- 1Buy
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
by Sherman Alexie
Stories about the Spokane Indian reservation — Alexie's debut story collection is the direct companion to The Absolutely True Diary: the same Spokane reservation world, but seen from inside rather than from the perspective of a teenager leaving; Junior's world is the adult world of these stories, and reading them shows what the reservation becomes for the men who stay
- 2Buy
Reservation Blues
by Sherman Alexie
Robert Johnson arriving on the Spokane reservation with his guitar and his deal with the devil — Alexie's debut novel is the companion to The Absolutely True Diary in its portrait of the same reservation community; more adult in its material and more surreal in its treatment of the same themes of reservation poverty, basketball, music, and escape
- 3Buy
Love Medicine
by Louise Erdrich
Two Ojibwe families on a North Dakota reservation — Erdrich's debut is the adult literary companion to The Absolutely True Diary: the same engagement with reservation life from inside the community, the same investment in Native American family and community bonds, and the same portrait of the costs of staying and the costs of leaving; recommended for readers who want to move from Alexie's accessible mode to Erdrich's more demanding literary fiction
- 4Buy
Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya
Antonio Márez growing up between Catholic and indigenous spiritual worlds in New Mexico — Anaya's foundational Chicano novel shares The Absolutely True Diary's portrait of a boy whose intelligence and sensitivity make him aware of the inadequacy of both worlds available to him; where Junior is caught between reservation and white high school, Antonio is caught between his mother's pueblo traditions and his father's llano freedom
- 5Buy
The House on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
Esperanza Cordero growing up in a Chicago barrio and dreaming of leaving — Cisneros's debut is the Chicana companion to The Absolutely True Diary: the same portrait of a teenager from a poor community who wants more than the community seems able to offer, the same engagement with the guilt of leaving and the promise of return, and the same investment in artistic expression (Esperanza's writing, Junior's cartooning) as the medium of self-creation
- 6Buy
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
Charlie, a freshman in high school, navigating friendship and trauma in suburban Pittsburgh — Chbosky's novel shares The Absolutely True Diary's portrait of a teenager whose sensitivity makes him both vulnerable and capable of deep connection; where Junior's sensitivity is shaped by his identity as a Spokane Indian between worlds, Charlie's is shaped by a trauma he doesn't fully understand; both novels are organized around a young person finding a community that can receive them
- 7Buy
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Melinda Sordino starting high school unable to talk about the rape that happened at a party the previous summer — Anderson's landmark young adult novel shares The Absolutely True Diary's portrait of a teenager carrying a secret that isolates her from the people around her; where Junior's secret is his ambition and his decision to leave the reservation, Melinda's is a trauma; both novels are organized around a young person's gradual finding of their voice
- 8Buy
Ceremony
by Leslie Marmon Silko
Tayo, a Laguna veteran, healing through traditional ceremony — Silko's novel is the adult literary companion to The Absolutely True Diary in the Native American literary tradition: both are organized around the question of what Native American identity means in the contemporary world and what the traditional ceremonial and community resources of Native life can do for people who are not sure how to access them; recommended for readers who loved The Absolutely True Diary and want to engage with the tradition it belongs to at a higher level of literary difficulty
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