Wow. This novel took me completely by surprise. I’m not sure what I expected, but Alexie created a unique and beautiful story of a boy who learned the value of human life by “walking in someone else’s shoes.” Zits is a fifteen-year-old, half-breed (white and Indian) foster kid who is angry with the world: he's angry with his drunk Indian father who abandoned him the day he was born, he's angry with his beautiful white mother for dying, and he's angry with all of the people who abused him throughout his life. In an act of revenge, he decides to go into a bank and kill everyone for the sins of all of the others. As bullets begin to fly and bodies begin to fall, Zits gets shot in the head and transported to different times and places throughout history that teach him that all life is precious, and who is he to cut it short?
This novel does an excellent job of mixing fact with fiction; however, it gets extremely graphic in places. Although it could be used to create poignant discussions, the audience needs to be mature. In addition, there is quite a bit of language, which might make this text difficult to teach in a classroom.
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