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preciouslittleingenue 's review for:
The Only Good Indians
by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
I felt that this book could have been half the size it was. Maybe even less. I think it would have been more effective as a series of short stories, which is *kind of* what it was, but Jones went into too much detail on things that were certainly not necessary. I didn’t need twenty minutes of a basketball game. I did the audiobook and was legitimately falling asleep during that. Throughout the book I had to rewind several times in order to comprehend what was physically happening. I should not have to do that; the writing should be good enough. Images and actions were so unclear. Don’t worry, the gore and dog death was crystal clear though. Note the sarcasm. I’m annoyed about this.
This is actually the first novel I’ve read by an indigenous author/about indigenous people (aside from the Kaya American girl doll books as a kid), and in that regard, it was done well. The generational trauma and social injustice was loud and clear, and that was definitely part of a metaphor with the elk head woman, at least that’s how I read it. I was enraptured and curious by the time Lewis had murdered Shanie and accidentally caused his wife’s death, but it massively slowed down after that, and the sweat lodge massacre was MASSIVELY difficult to follow the physical action taking place. I had to listen to every bit of it so many times. Which, again, is not good. The second person POV was literally incomprehensible and made the rest of the book very frustrating to read. I don’t know why Jones made that choice.
The creativity in the story is 10/10, but the execution is closer to 5. Took me way too long to get through considering it’s supposed to be a nail biter.
This is actually the first novel I’ve read by an indigenous author/about indigenous people (aside from the Kaya American girl doll books as a kid), and in that regard, it was done well. The generational trauma and social injustice was loud and clear, and that was definitely part of a metaphor with the elk head woman, at least that’s how I read it. I was enraptured and curious by the time Lewis had murdered Shanie and accidentally caused his wife’s death, but it massively slowed down after that, and the sweat lodge massacre was MASSIVELY difficult to follow the physical action taking place. I had to listen to every bit of it so many times. Which, again, is not good. The second person POV was literally incomprehensible and made the rest of the book very frustrating to read. I don’t know why Jones made that choice.
The creativity in the story is 10/10, but the execution is closer to 5. Took me way too long to get through considering it’s supposed to be a nail biter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent