A Native American boy, Michael, better known as Zits throughout the book, has gone through a series of foster homes. He breaks out of his latest one after assaulting his foster parents, and is arrested by two cops who know him very well after arresting him on many previous occasions. In the juvenile detention facility, he meets a white boy whose only name is Justice, who teaches Zits to fire guns.
Zits walks into a bank with two loaded ones…a paintball gun, and a real gun. He shoots a lot of people in the bank, and ends up getting shot in the head by the bank guard. After that, he goes through a series of flashbacks of the atrocities committed by and against Native Americans in which he plays a role in the killing of others. The last role he plays is that of his own father, who is a drunk and homeless Native American. After that, it flashes back to the bank, before he pulls out the weapons. He finds the two officers who arrested him before, and tells him to take the guns away from him before he does something bad with them. After that, he finds a foster home that he can live with.
I really do like the level of fun that, as a Native American himself, Alexie is able to poke fun at his own culture, and yet, show the atrocities and the negativity surrounding how America has treated (and continues to treat) Native American tribes, from the "Trail of Tears" that was motivated by then-President Andrew Jackson, to the modern-day government bureau of Indian Affairs. He maintains this while making Michael a very solid character based on his race, his personality, and his circumstances; many people, regardless of their walks of life, can appreciate what Michael is going through. This book is a very good read for anyone!
~Jason A. Wright~
No comments:
Post a Comment