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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The struggle to find a good, unsettling story this month is real. I'm striking out everywhere and this is no exception.
It has all the elements to be a scary story but I was left not only unmoved but disinterested. One of my early passing thoughts," sort of came to pass and it really made me question why I put in the time and effort to read this.
I struggled with the writing, so much so that I started reading in print then switched to audiobook but couldn't deal with the narrators. Noemi's has that flat, disaffected voice typically reserved for dystopian teenagers and Louie is voiced by Gary Farmer who seems like he'd be a great storyteller but who is not such a great reader. I bounced back and forth between the two when I'd get too irritated with one format.
The first POV comes from Noemi, a 40-year-old loser, for lack of a better term. She is two-dimensional and immature, self-involved and did I say immature? I kept forgetting she was 40 even though she was horrified to be 40 and mentioned it a few times. She texts "u" instead of "you" but typically types out all the other words. No "plz" for "please", no "ikr?" That seemed odd. I'm not sure how she added to the story except to make the reader wonder whether or not her news anchor boyfriend, Roddy, died of suicide or was killed by the resurrected evil spirit that had been running rampant on the reservation back in 1986.
The other POV is from Louie in 1986 at age 16. He was at the heart of the evil spirit infestation, trying to figure out why his grandmother, his great-grandfather, and the guy who was killed by the dreaded Takoda Vampire ten years prior had been dug up in the cemetery. He's also busy taking care of his niece, Noemi, who was born to big-sister Lula three years ago when Lula was Louie's age. Louie also has to worry about their mother, Mae, who is severely affected by addiction and drives home drunk every morning after work. She then spends the day in her room, drinking and sleeping and not being a mom. And there's also the very large, housebound man across the field whose mom has gone missing and who beckons Louie over whenever he sees the boy outside. AND Louie's BFF, J.L. is going down a different path and Louie's not sure how to keep their friendship, which means so much to him, going. Also, dead animals keep coming back to life. And cognitively disabled people die and also come back to life briefly, say something, freak everyone out, then re-die. Louie has a lot to deal with in this book.
Louie is probably the only fleshed-out character. He's written in that coming-of-age, trying-to-do-right teen boy light. He tugs at heartstrings, he makes unfortunate choices, he's sensitive and wants to believe the best of people, he tries and sometimes fails, you know the type. The only other "worthy" character is his grandfather, Grandpa Joe and we eventually find out that Joe isn't actually the wise, upstanding community leader that Louie knows.
Other than that, everyone is somewhat gross or blank. There are no believable women, they're all caricatures of some type. Noemi is the burnout who never made anything of herself but started feeling valued when a younger man took interest in her but now she's left adrift since he died violently. Her mom, Lula, exists. Her grandmother, Mae, had one purpose and one purpose only: to drink. I don't know that she ever said more than a dozen words throughout the whole story. Mostly, she was asleep or sitting in a chair, drunk or hungover. Ms. Doris is a manipulative old lady who uses her physical infirmities to make people do work for her. Doris' daughter, Rosie, is the other teen who got pregnant and is living with her toddler in her mother's house. Ms. Paula is a gossip and a busybody. Miss Tilly is the bartender and that's it. Ms. Shelby is lovely but she's missing and Grandpa Joe's wife was wonderful but she's dead, sooo...
And then there's the evil spirit that's running around because the reservation is imbalanced. I don't know how it being there is going to create balance and I don't know what its purpose is. I thought it was living in dead animals in order to get around, using them as a mobility vehicle in order to jump into people and when it was done with the people, it would jump back into the dead animal and scurry to the next place but if that was what was happening, it wasn't really made clear. When everything is said and done, I was upset due to my aforementioned concern about Ern and also puzzled as to what it all had to do with anything. I wasn't creeped out at all except for by the lack of believable characters and the use of "u" instead of "you" when nearly everything else was spelled out in Noemi's texts.
Luckily, this seems to have found its audience and plenty of people think it's perfect for spooky season, so there ya go.
It has all the elements to be a scary story but I was left not only unmoved but disinterested. One of my early passing thoughts,
Spoiler
"I'm going to be so angry if Ern is used as a jokeSpoiler
as in, the 600-lb housebound man winds up accidentally killing his mom by sitting on her, ha ha ha, hilarious. :/I struggled with the writing, so much so that I started reading in print then switched to audiobook but couldn't deal with the narrators. Noemi's has that flat, disaffected voice typically reserved for dystopian teenagers and Louie is voiced by Gary Farmer who seems like he'd be a great storyteller but who is not such a great reader. I bounced back and forth between the two when I'd get too irritated with one format.
The first POV comes from Noemi, a 40-year-old loser, for lack of a better term. She is two-dimensional and immature, self-involved and did I say immature? I kept forgetting she was 40 even though she was horrified to be 40 and mentioned it a few times. She texts "u" instead of "you" but typically types out all the other words. No "plz" for "please", no "ikr?" That seemed odd. I'm not sure how she added to the story except to make the reader wonder whether or not her news anchor boyfriend, Roddy, died of suicide or was killed by the resurrected evil spirit that had been running rampant on the reservation back in 1986.
The other POV is from Louie in 1986 at age 16. He was at the heart of the evil spirit infestation, trying to figure out why his grandmother, his great-grandfather, and the guy who was killed by the dreaded Takoda Vampire ten years prior had been dug up in the cemetery. He's also busy taking care of his niece, Noemi, who was born to big-sister Lula three years ago when Lula was Louie's age. Louie also has to worry about their mother, Mae, who is severely affected by addiction and drives home drunk every morning after work. She then spends the day in her room, drinking and sleeping and not being a mom. And there's also the very large, housebound man across the field whose mom has gone missing and who beckons Louie over whenever he sees the boy outside. AND Louie's BFF, J.L. is going down a different path and Louie's not sure how to keep their friendship, which means so much to him, going. Also, dead animals keep coming back to life. And cognitively disabled people die and also come back to life briefly, say something, freak everyone out, then re-die. Louie has a lot to deal with in this book.
Louie is probably the only fleshed-out character. He's written in that coming-of-age, trying-to-do-right teen boy light. He tugs at heartstrings, he makes unfortunate choices, he's sensitive and wants to believe the best of people, he tries and sometimes fails, you know the type. The only other "worthy" character is his grandfather, Grandpa Joe and we eventually find out that Joe isn't actually the wise, upstanding community leader that Louie knows.
Other than that, everyone is somewhat gross or blank. There are no believable women, they're all caricatures of some type. Noemi is the burnout who never made anything of herself but started feeling valued when a younger man took interest in her but now she's left adrift since he died violently. Her mom, Lula, exists. Her grandmother, Mae, had one purpose and one purpose only: to drink. I don't know that she ever said more than a dozen words throughout the whole story. Mostly, she was asleep or sitting in a chair, drunk or hungover. Ms. Doris is a manipulative old lady who uses her physical infirmities to make people do work for her. Doris' daughter, Rosie, is the other teen who got pregnant and is living with her toddler in her mother's house. Ms. Paula is a gossip and a busybody. Miss Tilly is the bartender and that's it. Ms. Shelby is lovely but she's missing and Grandpa Joe's wife was wonderful but she's dead, sooo...
And then there's the evil spirit that's running around because the reservation is imbalanced. I don't know how it being there is going to create balance and I don't know what its purpose is. I thought it was living in dead animals in order to get around, using them as a mobility vehicle in order to jump into people and when it was done with the people, it would jump back into the dead animal and scurry to the next place but if that was what was happening, it wasn't really made clear. When everything is said and done, I was upset due to my aforementioned concern about Ern and also puzzled as to what it all had to do with anything. I wasn't creeped out at all except for by the lack of believable characters and the use of "u" instead of "you" when nearly everything else was spelled out in Noemi's texts.
Luckily, this seems to have found its audience and plenty of people think it's perfect for spooky season, so there ya go.
Although marketed as a horror/thriller, maybe because of the author’s last novel being more horror adjacent…
Through and through, this is a novel about grief told through the perspective of Native American mythos and allegory.
Through and through, this is a novel about grief told through the perspective of Native American mythos and allegory.
I’m sure I would enjoy the story, but I just cannot with the narrators. There is something about them that just grinds my gears.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
During the summer of 1986, a Native American community in Louisiana is rocked by supernatural events; corpses sit up and speak, and graves have been desecrated in the local cemetery. The narrative focuses on Louie, a seventeen-year-old boy, and his friends and family. Louie must face the demons of his own family and lean on Native wisdom and mythology to figure out what's plaguing his community.
In the present day, Louie's niece Noemi is reeling from the mysterious death of her boyfriend, who's been hit by a car while on foot. While visiting after several years, Louie has to confront the past to help his niece move on.
Equal parts heartfelt and spooky!
In the present day, Louie's niece Noemi is reeling from the mysterious death of her boyfriend, who's been hit by a car while on foot. While visiting after several years, Louie has to confront the past to help his niece move on.
Equal parts heartfelt and spooky!
Knowing that the entire time Ern had been SITTING on Miss Shelby’s body is one of the most morbid and disturbing things I’ve ever read in a book. We had so many interactions with him in the book, and when the part about the super cold air conditioning clicked into place you should’ve seen my face. My only complaint is that the present time events don’t connect super well with the past, I think it would’ve been better had Roddy met his end due to the Meli Omahka resurfacing and not an ambiguous suicide/accident. It would’ve made Uncle Louie’s return feel like a lot bigger things were at work than just the coincidence of Roddy dying when he gets there. I also loved Sisters of a Lost Nation but I think this one is slightly better!! If that one was 4 stars this one is 4.25 ⭐️
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to read another horror and I think this counts? Anyway, I really loved the writing in this book. Lots of beautiful quotes, which usually sways my ratings more than the writing, characters, or plot
