Content warning for this book: it contains racism, racial slurs, eating disorder mentions as well as one of the characters having an ED, depression, abuse/bullying, death/loss of both family members and friends, alcoholism, religion and homophobic slurs. 
 This book was honestly amazing, despite the slurs and poorly talked about mental illnesses, it was really good, though I believe the poor talk about mental illness was due to the characters and the place they grew up in so it was part of them and their (lack of) education. 
 The line that stood out for me the most was, "It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it." It made me really think about how some people have it. How poorer groups of people, or even specific races, have that vicious cycle of always being born into poverty or growing up feeling worthless or following the footsteps of their parents and becoming alcoholics (or anything bad). 
 Like most of the Indians on the rez, Junior believes he'll grow up to be nothing, to be worthless. Just like his parents, never going to college, never doing anything with his life, staying with his tribe just like everyone else. He realizes this. This vicious cycle. But instead of allowing it to happen he decides to make a difference for himself. 
 He decides to leave the rez, go to a different school, give himself the chance and hope. He decides to make things better for himself and learns from others that you need to strive and work hard to create a better future for yourself. 
 Moving onto when Junior starts his new school. He's the only Indian kid in a white school. You can probably guess what happens. Bullying, abuse, the, unfortunate, usual stuff. After punching the 'alpha dog' of the school, Junior's popularity basically sky rockets. Everyone starts to respect him. And soon a few people start to befriend him and actually get to know him. Those that originally yelled slurs and beat him around, now cared for him and loved him. It shows that if people just took time to get to know a person rather than basing them on their skin colour, religion, sexuality, gender identity, etc. they'd find out they're just as human as they are, that you might even have something in common. 
 The wide range of friends that Junior has is incredible, I loved them all for their individuality. We have Roger, basically the 'alpha dog' of the school, the varsity guy, the sporty guy. Gordy the nerdy type, loves books, loves studying, loves facts and big words, oh boy, the big words. And Penelope, originally someone who I thought I was going to absolutely hate but she turned out to be a really sweet and caring girl. Rowdy at the reservation who is a complete hot head and just loves to punch things and always seems angry yet also has a sense of humor when it comes to his comics and being around Junior. 
 Each of these characters were in some way beautiful and written amazingly, no matter whether a major or minor character, the all had their own backstory and real life feel. A way to relate to any of them. From Junior to his friends, to his parents, to even his Grandmother, even she had her own story and personality. 
 Finally, Junior has to figure himself out, through very tough times too. From losing his best friend when he leaves school to the deaths of family members and family friends, his journey and life are in absolute turmoil and he's just a young boy trying to get through it all. 
 All in all, this was a great story and I would love to read another book by Sherman Alexie. I'll have to check the library soon.