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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Wow who new a book about werewolves could be so beautifully heart wrenching!? This novel is very slice of life about a werewolf family and what they have to do day to day to survive, and good god it's devastating. This is my second read from Jones and damn is he good at writing interesting yet so extremely human characters even though some of these characters are part wolf. Another interesting touch is he never gave the main character a name although that did not make him less of an integral part to this story. Overall an amazing novel and I highly recommend if you like werewolves or just a good thriller.
this was so objectively well done, i simply couldn’t grasp onto it due to the writing style and the perspective switches :( but for anyone who wants to read about indigenous werewolves, Highly recommend this one
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a slow read for me, the author goes from past to present in a way that you aren't 100% sure where you are in the story. I did like that you got more and more clues as the story progresses and then you finally get the answer you've been waiting for.
“Always feed a wolf his fill," the old woman quotes out loud, "lest you wake with your throat in his jaws.”
Until very recently, I always thought that lycanthropy was a made up condition. Human beings don't really turn into human-wolf hybrids under a full moon--ripping through their clothes and feasting on hapless prey. But I just finished Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones a few days ago, a buddy read with my pal Mindi and now I'm pretty sure Dr. Jones is an actual werewolf and he wrote this "fictional" handbook of sorts so that horror fans could be believers.
*raising my hand* I'm a believer!
This book has hundreds of reviews so I'm not feeling like I'm going to add anything new to the fray but I want to impress upon anyone who maybe hasn't read this book (I'm the last one to finish, aren't I?) that this is hands down the best novel about werewolves on the market.
Jones has built so much realism into lycanthropy lore that Mongrels could be the gold standard on which all others could be compared.
And just to make the package even more delicious, there's a sweet coming-of-age tale in these pages told in a fashion that I have already come to love about SGJ. If you've read his novella, MAPPING THE INTERIOR, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, I'll say that the 10 year old protagonist in MONGRELS reads like the true-to-life narrative of a real child finding his identity in this world and in the context of his family--a "den of werewolves". My favorite aspect of this story was the thread of change/transformation woven through all the lessons and vignettes.
Will he or won't he? Is he or isn't he? These are the questions between the lines and it was a fantastic way for SGJ to keep his reader invested until the final pages. The ending was exactly what I wanted. As the story wound down to its conclusion, it was infused with emotion and a lingering sense of longing for the story to continue. I could have read about this family for a long time. This stems from everything that SGJ is busy doing in the subtext--because even though this book has its lighter moments and some laugh-out-loud surprises, the weight of the underlying themes were ever present and tugging at my heart strings.
Boys want to belong. They want to have a tribe. They want to feel important, loved for who they are and they want to have a place in this world. To be noticed--and not for being different in a negative way--they want to be different in a way that people celebrate.
This book made my heart explode, honestly.
I'll never see werewolves the same again.
Or French Fries and Pantyhose.
Until very recently, I always thought that lycanthropy was a made up condition. Human beings don't really turn into human-wolf hybrids under a full moon--ripping through their clothes and feasting on hapless prey. But I just finished Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones a few days ago, a buddy read with my pal Mindi and now I'm pretty sure Dr. Jones is an actual werewolf and he wrote this "fictional" handbook of sorts so that horror fans could be believers.
*raising my hand* I'm a believer!
This book has hundreds of reviews so I'm not feeling like I'm going to add anything new to the fray but I want to impress upon anyone who maybe hasn't read this book (I'm the last one to finish, aren't I?) that this is hands down the best novel about werewolves on the market.
Jones has built so much realism into lycanthropy lore that Mongrels could be the gold standard on which all others could be compared.
And just to make the package even more delicious, there's a sweet coming-of-age tale in these pages told in a fashion that I have already come to love about SGJ. If you've read his novella, MAPPING THE INTERIOR, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, I'll say that the 10 year old protagonist in MONGRELS reads like the true-to-life narrative of a real child finding his identity in this world and in the context of his family--a "den of werewolves". My favorite aspect of this story was the thread of change/transformation woven through all the lessons and vignettes.
Will he or won't he? Is he or isn't he? These are the questions between the lines and it was a fantastic way for SGJ to keep his reader invested until the final pages. The ending was exactly what I wanted. As the story wound down to its conclusion, it was infused with emotion and a lingering sense of longing for the story to continue. I could have read about this family for a long time. This stems from everything that SGJ is busy doing in the subtext--because even though this book has its lighter moments and some laugh-out-loud surprises, the weight of the underlying themes were ever present and tugging at my heart strings.
Boys want to belong. They want to have a tribe. They want to feel important, loved for who they are and they want to have a place in this world. To be noticed--and not for being different in a negative way--they want to be different in a way that people celebrate.
This book made my heart explode, honestly.
I'll never see werewolves the same again.
Or French Fries and Pantyhose.
Rating: 4 / 5
I saw a review that described this book as the most human werewolf book ever, and a quote from Stephen Graham Jones that described it as his most autobiographical novel. Honestly, these descriptions both seem to fit so well. This is a werewolf story, but it is also more than a werewolf story.
I think the only way to truly capture the essence of this novel is to reflect on Stephen Graham Jones’ own words on the novel:
“When you’re twelve, you want to be anybody else. Anything. Werewolf, that was just my first option. And it was mostly for night. What I wanted to be in the day was a kid with blond hair, blue eyes, and a gold-rope chain necklace. The necklace was very important for this new identity to work. Neither happened. I didn’t become a werewolf. I stayed an Indian in West Texas, where there aren’t any Indians. But then I saw Near Dark…and something clicked over in my head. I knew now that being a fantasy creature wasn’t reserved for the Lestats and the Draculas of the world. There could be ordinary monsters, too. There could be check-to-check werewolves. There would have to be, wouldn’t there? It gave me hope. Back then, my family was always check-to-check, always piling all our boxes and trash bags of belongings into a truck bed…, moving to the next town, the next place, the next life. In a way—the way I figured it—we were already kind of werewolves. The people in town, it was just that they were too smart, they were figuring it out, they were doing the math, making the associations. The reason we moved so much, it was to stay ahead of their suspicion. We were too dangerous to be in one place very long. The villagers would see our teeth, then mob up, come for us with their torches and their pitchforks. If you wrap yourself in the right story, everything makes sense.”
I saw a review that described this book as the most human werewolf book ever, and a quote from Stephen Graham Jones that described it as his most autobiographical novel. Honestly, these descriptions both seem to fit so well. This is a werewolf story, but it is also more than a werewolf story.
I think the only way to truly capture the essence of this novel is to reflect on Stephen Graham Jones’ own words on the novel:
“When you’re twelve, you want to be anybody else. Anything. Werewolf, that was just my first option. And it was mostly for night. What I wanted to be in the day was a kid with blond hair, blue eyes, and a gold-rope chain necklace. The necklace was very important for this new identity to work. Neither happened. I didn’t become a werewolf. I stayed an Indian in West Texas, where there aren’t any Indians. But then I saw Near Dark…and something clicked over in my head. I knew now that being a fantasy creature wasn’t reserved for the Lestats and the Draculas of the world. There could be ordinary monsters, too. There could be check-to-check werewolves. There would have to be, wouldn’t there? It gave me hope. Back then, my family was always check-to-check, always piling all our boxes and trash bags of belongings into a truck bed…, moving to the next town, the next place, the next life. In a way—the way I figured it—we were already kind of werewolves. The people in town, it was just that they were too smart, they were figuring it out, they were doing the math, making the associations. The reason we moved so much, it was to stay ahead of their suspicion. We were too dangerous to be in one place very long. The villagers would see our teeth, then mob up, come for us with their torches and their pitchforks. If you wrap yourself in the right story, everything makes sense.”
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A