Reviews with content warning for Racism - Night of the Living Rez

I started reading 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘻 purposefully. It was the night they caught the mass shooter whose name I’m omitting, and I wanted to read a book that was quintessentially Maine. Author Morgan Talty is a Penobscot writer. He teaches at UMaine Orono, which is where my husband went to school.
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I am also reading haunting or horror books this month and thought this was a horror book because of the title. It’s not! I mean, yes it deals with the horrors of marginalization, poverty, and addiction, but it wouldn’t be found in the horror section.
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I found myself smiling at moments and cringing at others. Talty’s characters are very human, sometimes unbearably so. Family, friendship, and love are themes that move them along with and against each other. This book broke my heart and at the same time satisfied my urge to want to read something beautifully Maine.

Content Warnings

nicoleisalwaysreading's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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samkcs's review

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reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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natashaarvanitidis's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A+ storytelling

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heatherjchin's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

These interconnected stories were so raw yet tender. Focusing on friends and family, generational trauma, life on the reservation, and just the general pains of growing up, Talty explores these themes through David, who serves as a protagonist of sorts for each story. Each story has its pain and grief that the characters go through, but there’s always space to show love still exists, despite everything.

Talty is a phenomenal storyteller, tugging at your heartstrings during some moments due to heart wrenching loss, but then having you laughing at others. These stories resist glamor and comfort in favor of presenting everyday life as is, the realities of one Penobscot boy’s/man’s world. This isn’t to say that the writing is plain— Quite the contrary, Talty has a really wonderful way with words, especially when it comes to dialogue; you really get a sense of each character’s persona and beliefs from these conversations.

I think the one thing that threw me off a little was the jumping around in time, which, in turn, affected the pacing a little. In some instances, we’re looking at the world from David’s perspective as a boy. In others, he’s a young man. It was a little hard to get into the stories at times, as a result, but I will say that I don’t think I was in the right headspace to fully appreciate these stories.

Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to what more Talty has in store for his readers. This collection of short stories really packed a punch.

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