The descriptions of the characters are sparse but I came away with a complete sense of who they are. Alexie doesn't spend a lot of time showing us what a good writer he is. He just writes and we're drawn in to the world. It's a sparse but flavorful place to live.

An absolutely wonderful book. This book made us both cry and laugh within the same sentences. Heartfelt and will certainly produce much discussion.

I am a huge fan of Alexie's short stories, so you can understand my disappointment in this short novel. He writes this book like an extended short story, full of pithy and ironic phrases that have worked well for him in his collections, but fail to form a compelling narrative in a novel. It just doesn't work, and is not a fun read.

I liked this book. I liked how I felt I knew Junior/Arnold, the main character who was living in between two worlds. Once he started at the white school, he didn't have a home in either place. There are very serious issued addressed with humor and without being heavy handed and that's a nice way to start a conversation. I was glad to have a peek into a life that is very eye opening to me.

This book was insightful, funny, and disturbing. But what made it a wonderful read for a book club is the discussions provoked about prejudging individuals by their race, looks, age and upbringing. There were paragraphs that made me laugh and cry all at one time. I highly recommend this book for anyone one who wants a peek into a teenage boy's inner thoughts. That in itself is scary, but also enlightening.

I wasn't sure I would like this book, but I did. It's written from the standpoint of a 14-year-old boy, so there is some juvenile humor, but it shed light on some pretty intense cultural issues and led to a lot of lively discussion in my book club.

A book everyone should read.

Plenty to talk about with the controversial young adult book. Our club read this for Banned Book Week. While not difficult to see why the book has sparked such debate, we still felt it a worthy read.