Utopia, Where are you? Book

2018 update - with all of the women coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment from Alexie, I'm no longer comfortable with the glowing review I originally wrote. I still think the book is fantastic, but I don't think the same of its author, and I can't promote his writing with any enthusiasm. I'll leave the original review below.
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I kinda got on the Sherman Alexie bandwagon, as an undergrad, when all freshmen were required to read his The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven. I liked it. Put it next to Plato's Republic and it was pretty damn exciting. But I didn't go out and gobble up all this other books. Plus I'm not the hugest fan of short stories. But you know me, I'm a sucker for YA. And for YA that everyone's been raving about. And that wins the National Book Award.

Here's one of my favorite things about the book: almost everything that makes you laugh is also heartbreaking. This in no way makes it less funny, or less sad. It's both, perfectly, at once. Just like the times when Junior is heartbroken but can't. stop. laughing.

Also, Junior is a book kisser.

I grabbed my book and opened it up.
I wanted to smell it.
Heck, I wanted to kiss it.
Yes, kiss it.
That's right, I'm a book kisser.
Maybe that's kind of perverted or maybe it's just romantic and highly intelligent.

While it certainly packs a punch, it's a quick, engaging read and I think it would be equally engaging to high schoolers and adults. It's one I could pick up and read through again, if I didn't have so many others waiting for me.

Also, the 1 and 2 star reviews on Amazon are pretty diverting. "The protagonist is too similar to all of those annoying protagonists in young adult fiction today," says the 1 star. Yes, they're all so annoying aren't they? They're not, you know, struggling with figuring out who they are and what their place is in the world. They don't have problems with friends or family or school or themselves. They're simply annoying. Oh, teenagers. Both reviews pick on the Catcher in the Rye similarities, but honestly I never thought of Catcher until Junior mentioned it on his list of favorite books. Along with The Grapes of Wrath. And Feed. And Fat Kid Rules the World. And Invisible Man. And some others that I haven't read. But really, I was more struck by the inclusion of Steinbeck and Ellison than the others - you have poverty and you have race, pretty squarely represented. Issues that are much more emphasized, I would say, than any similarities to Holden.