Nomad

All my notes I took while I was writing:

• rowdy cares about him enough to reply to email (using humor to try to be friends?)

• starts to be lucky with suit & roger

• will he get cocky?

• sis too caught up in boy? Will something bad happen because she is caught up with him?

• total underdog, rooting for him at tryouts

• heart hurts when he gets hit in game

• coach cool- was he underdog too?

• christmas :(((((

• maturing, realizes he has good parents

• gay ppl in indian culture magical, true??

• then just killed the grandma so fast after really describing her

• alcoholics end up either dead or in jail or sober (AA saying which seems to hold true in this book)

• will dad stop drinking after g'ma killed?

• forgiveness (is this a theme that is lacking in Indian culture? The g'ma seems like she is a rarity so it would make sense that forgiveness would be semi-rare)

• starts to get happy then sad again

• takes death for them to leave him alone- messed up

• ted: what is his purpose in the novel?

• so much death

• bobby killed eugene then himself (Death/murder/drinking are an evil cycle)

• Junior said he drew more to cope with grief: now more drawings in the novel now

• cultural curse? Thinks he cursed his sister, are curses a cultural belief?

• Gordy is the smarter foil to Rowdy? Or replacement Rowdy?

• They respect junior, which seemed impossible from the start of the book

• list of musicians: puts others favorites first, shows how much he values family members and their thoughts/opinions

• hatred: wanting to beat rowdy, haven't really seen a 'hatred' side in Junior before

• white vs indian ball game- supposed to be like how they used to fight? alluding to the old fights that americans used to have with indians

• was rowdy going easy on junior in the game?

• really maturing for realizing that indians didn’t have anything after he beat them

• desperately wants rowdy back

• dead sister

• mom says 'don’t leave me' but he already kind of has

• did rowdy love Junior's sister and that's why he was hiding in the woods and blaming Junior for her death?

• now junior has to deal with guilt

• Is it worth it to leave the rez? You take the chance of dying 
•  Predictable ending, that they are friends again

 My notes are all over the place, but that's the progression as I was reading. I thought that Junior really matured through this section of the book. He realizes how lucky he is with the parents he has but also he realizes that winning isn't everything. It seems like he starts to get cocky but I think the win actually put him back in his place and made him less cocky which was surprising. In the end, Rowdy and Junior were friends again which was a bit predictable. But it wouldn't have really made sense any other way. I felt like the book was up and down, meaning happy and sad. Just when things were going well, something bad would happen, and then something good, then something bad. But that also made it less predictable too because most of the times YA books are so happy and it was nice to have a somewhat 'darker' one. Everyone seems to die off quickly and unpredictably. Is Alexie trying to make a statement about how life is short or something?
I'm glad we read this book, especially in the spring. It's entertaining and one that I can actually understand. And it has pictures!!! It's also a great time to read this book because as most everyone is getting senioritis, this book keeps people entertained. I also love how we're examining it for deeper meanings, because I've never done that in YA or kids books. I love this book, I really do because while it is still a YA book, it's not one in the traditional sense.