Reviews

This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples

thepetitepunk's review against another edition

3.0

I had really high hopes for This Town Sleeps but unfortunately it didn’t really meet my expectations. Our main character is Marion, whose point of view is in the first person. I did enjoy Marion as a character; however, there were other miscellaneous, sometimes disconnected, POVs scattered throughout the book that I didn’t understand the purpose of. Marion’s romantic interest has a POV in the second person and there are some POVs in the third person. I thought this was quite confusing and distracted from the central story. I also wish Marion and Shannon’s relationship was further explored—it just felt so shameful and secretive and angst...which I guess was the point, but I think it’s time to deviate from this narrative.

Other than that, I still thought that this book was enjoyable. Also, let me include a quote that stuck with me: ”You don’t look like a warrior. You look like a dried potato.”

seeceeread's review against another edition

When crossing into the reservation where my mother lives, and any reservation, really, there's an interesting transformation: the land becomes a mix of feral beauty and man-made blight. On one side of the highway you can see nature at its finest, and on the other, humans at their worst.

Marion has returned to the small town where he grew up. He adopts a dog and starts a relationship with a closeted former classmate. And then he's visited by a revenant, a once-murdered teen who sometimes inhabits the ghostly body of a wolf. As he tries to figure out why this spirit trails him, he uncovers some dark connections.

Staples compellingly digs into reservation details: basketball as a symbol of social mobility, brotherhoods of young men labeled gangs, substance misuse, despair. We skip from a man riddled with shame at his sexuality to a weird encounter in a sweat lodge, and from an alcoholic mother who's just fallen out of sobriety to a young woman who's love never met their daughter. I think this is meant to be interconnected short stories, with various chapters narrated by different people. Perhaps it was the flat audio delivery that rendered too many characters in a similar voice, or maybe it was the similarity in perspective granted too many characters ... but this felt unpolished. I never felt invested in the plot, either; I kept waiting for the part that would bring everything together to hook me, but the jawbone family tale that's supposed to fill that space left me unimpressed.

bookwrm526's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

radikaliseradgroda's review against another edition

3.0

The first 60% or so flew by but after that it really lost its way. It also could have really used some family trees to help keep track of all the POV characters.

aldomadour's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I enjoyed the main story, which is essentially what kept me reading. I did not enjoy the writing but appreciated the initiative of the author. It was a bold move to include so many points of view, but I ended up feeling distracted by this and felt it did not meaningfully contribute to the story, especially because we never spend much time with these additional characters. It is an interesting and a complex story but not necessarily an entertaining read.

starbits140's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

ajb24's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting. Bittersweet but poetic, it hit an emotional nerve in me where I feel deeply moved by a story, but I also feel like some things went over my head. Or something like that. Can't fully explain what prevents me from giving this a 5 stars, but it could be a 4.5. I think perhaps audio was not the best format for the book - I wholly enjoyed the narration, but the unannounced shifting of POVs forced me to pause and recalibrate what exactly was happening one too many times for me to say I *loved* this book.

theangrystackrat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

1goodkaren's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really liked this exploration of community, sexuality, indigeneity, and family. It was funny, tender, and felt emotionally true. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

justjussy__'s review against another edition

This ended up being not going where I thought it was, and just wasn’t for me.