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matthew2666 's review for:
Mongrels
by Stephen Graham Jones
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a book about werewolves and it reminds you that it's about werewolves about an average of three times a page, I'd say. Every single conversation in this book is about being a werewolf. If there was a Bechtel test about not constantly talking about werewolves, this book would massively fail that test.
And I like werewolves a lot. But still.
This really needed a non-werewolf subplot or something.
It is a touching portrait of a broken and continually breaking family. The werewolf thing, of course, is a metaphor as well - being an outcast, being the perpetual underdog. In that way the picaresque structure serves it well (even if I wish some of the episodes were more...vivid? Dramatic?)
I'm glad I pushed past the tedium of the middle third or so of the novel (which really probably should have been a novella), because there's true heart and pathos at the end.
And I like werewolves a lot. But still.
This really needed a non-werewolf subplot or something.
It is a touching portrait of a broken and continually breaking family. The werewolf thing, of course, is a metaphor as well - being an outcast, being the perpetual underdog. In that way the picaresque structure serves it well (even if I wish some of the episodes were more...vivid? Dramatic?)
I'm glad I pushed past the tedium of the middle third or so of the novel (which really probably should have been a novella), because there's true heart and pathos at the end.