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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Let's start out guns blazing: I almost DNF'd this book halfway through. The only reason I didn't was because this book has been praised everywhere and Stephen Graham Jones does have an extremely unique writing style. However, in retrospect, I really wish I had just stopped.
The Only Good Indians has so much potential, but it just fell flat left and right for me. I loved the concept of the evil deer creature coming back, though I found her motivations highly questionable as the punishments didn't seem to fit the crimes. That aside, I think the writing style is what threw me off the most. One of my friends on Bookstagram described it as "gonzo-writing," which it's definitely trying to be, but doesn't feel organic or honest enough to truly be Thompson-esque. The writing is scattered and rather bizarre, constantly switching tenses and perspectives mid-paragraph. I was never quite sure what timeline I was in, to be honest. It's also overly descriptive and tries to fit a page of information into one sentence. And even with all of the heavy adjectives and perspective switches, I felt like I still didn't know anything about the four main characters or the villain.
This story focuses on a group of four native American men who killed the wrong deer and pay for it later in their lives. But apparently this book is also somehow heavily about basketball. Like an understanding and love of basketball is pivotal to enjoying this book. I hate basketball and my eyes glazed over for ever excruciating description centered on basketball games, basketball players, and actual basketballs. And even though the focus of the book is on these four hunters, only two of them really get any kind of character development. The other two are more or less just there so Stephen Graham Jones can write some sort of shocking death scene to move the story along.
So if you like gonzo, if you like basketball, if you like choppy, thrown together folklore, this book could be for you, but this book was definitely not for me.
The Only Good Indians has so much potential, but it just fell flat left and right for me. I loved the concept of the evil deer creature coming back, though I found her motivations highly questionable as the punishments didn't seem to fit the crimes. That aside, I think the writing style is what threw me off the most. One of my friends on Bookstagram described it as "gonzo-writing," which it's definitely trying to be, but doesn't feel organic or honest enough to truly be Thompson-esque. The writing is scattered and rather bizarre, constantly switching tenses and perspectives mid-paragraph. I was never quite sure what timeline I was in, to be honest. It's also overly descriptive and tries to fit a page of information into one sentence. And even with all of the heavy adjectives and perspective switches, I felt like I still didn't know anything about the four main characters or the villain.
This story focuses on a group of four native American men who killed the wrong deer and pay for it later in their lives. But apparently this book is also somehow heavily about basketball. Like an understanding and love of basketball is pivotal to enjoying this book. I hate basketball and my eyes glazed over for ever excruciating description centered on basketball games, basketball players, and actual basketballs. And even though the focus of the book is on these four hunters, only two of them really get any kind of character development. The other two are more or less just there so Stephen Graham Jones can write some sort of shocking death scene to move the story along.
So if you like gonzo, if you like basketball, if you like choppy, thrown together folklore, this book could be for you, but this book was definitely not for me.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism
Moderate: Sexism
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Death of parent
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Followed a lot of the elements of what makes native American literature, with the tone and storytelling and place. It came full circle in the end. Some parts were implied rather than said. There was some dark and gorey parts but not all too graphic, not describing the gore in as much detail I suppose. Lots of little hints and callbacks throughout the story. There was a lot of basketball too which lost me for some parts, but I'm just not super sportsy. I was wondering about the title until pg172 when she said "the only good Indians a dead one", that felt like a big line in the book and connecting the title
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail