What kind of childhood did John have?

John was raised on the reservation..... a hybrid of the Indian and Utopian cultures. On the one hand, he was exposed to Shakespeare, on the other, he fought to beling. John was for the most part a lonely young man, who was excluded from the rituals and ceremony of the reservation.

Also, he didn't enjoy a good upbringing by his mother Linda. He was not able to reach through and get emotional with her, see Ch. 8: "I'm not your mother. I won't be your mother." After that flashback, Linda changes her view and starts to educate her son John with reading, but their relationship is still bad.

Moreover, she is drugged most of the time or having sex with Pepe or other men.

I think, John being a hybrid explains it best: On the one hand, Linda can't condition him and make him a "cell of her society"; on the other hand, he is not accepted by the native Indians, inter alia for his white skin color.