I am not even sure where to start with these two books. I want to fit both of them in here somehow. I LOVED both of them.
I'll start with Frankie because I read her first. I found her so relatable and smart. I wish I had been that confident as a teenager, (hell, I'm not that confident now). It's easy to get caught up in wanting to prove yourself to people who aren't worth it and I think that was Frankie's only real problem (obviously a problem necessary to the plot). She felt the need to remain in that inner circle but knew being herself around them would cause her to be ostracised.
Although, I did find myself wishing she would create a girls only organization where she lead the girls to do the cool pranks. And, I sorta I wanted her to end up with Alpha, even though I think he was a jerk. I am not sure why they called her psycho at the end, it was brilliant--I didn't find any of it particularly crazy.
It may be because I read "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" more recently, but I think I liked it a little bit more than Frankie. (What's with the crazy long titles? I'm not even sure I'm getting them right, but I don't feel like googling them right now) I loved Junior. I laughed and cried throughout the book, cliche but true. I cried on the F train and I am sure I looked very strange. I think what was so great about him was that he was so self-aware. He knew his flaws and he knew what it meant to be Indian and what it meant to leave, but he still had to do it anyway. All these sad things were happening around him but he still managed to try really hard and overcome the obstacles. A lot of people have a lot less hardship and can't get it together to succeed. How many kids would walk that far to school? It was heartbreaking when his grandmother died, (and having been hit by a drunk driver this year I found it doubly upsetting, and that's the part that made me cry).
Look at that, a whole post without Twilight...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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I think you could talk about self-awareness and Twilight and Frankie and Part Time Indian...I'm not sure how much self-awareness Bella has, but Frankie and Junior definitely has lots. It's a trait that if you have it you can do anything, and those two characters do just about that.
As for the psycho thing at the end of Frankie, I think that's just an honest boy reaction. One of my friends from college used to call every girl that he broke up with or she broke up with him, psycho. It depends on how you read it, but for me I think it's more of a defense tactic than anything. It's a way of cutting down the person that may or may not have beaten you. For Frankie, this is particularly double edged because she basically intruded upon and manipulated the boys in the club. In a way, I think they're pretty dumb, but in another way, I can see how they might have a right to be upset at her intrusion...Like I said, totally double edged.
Junior intrudes on the kids and community of the white school at his res, with different results, though. But like Frankie, he used self-awareness to move forward. And, unlike Frankie (or maybe like her...depends on how you interpret), he succeeded.
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