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A review by alexampersand
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
4.0
It's super hard to rate a short story collection as a whole, but overall I had a really great time with this collection - horror and discomfort in a lot of different ways, from realist brutal horror, to supernatural horror, to complete magical realism, to mental horror.
I rated each story out of 5, and overall that gave me an average rating of 3.4, which seemed... low. I'm not sure if it really tallied up with my actual experience of reading it - I enjoyed it as a whole, even when some of the stories didn't do it for me. The ones that did it for me REALLY did it for me, and are possibly some of my favourite things I've ever read.
Anyway, here are my individual thoughts on the stories:
Kushtuka - 5/5
A brilliant, fairly straight-forward horror story, I loved the immediate creepy tone set for the book.
White Hills - 4.5/5
Taking a bit more of a 'disconcerting and unsettling' vibe, but absolutely loved it.
Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth - 4.5/5
Another 'disconcerting and unsettling' story, this time just feeling completely realist. I enjoyed that it maintained some level of ambiguity, and kept a slight element of plausible deniability as you were reading, which just added to the disconcerting feeling.
Wingless - 2/5
This was the first one where I struggled; it felt like there wasn't as much going on, and the story didn't have quite as much to say as some of the others.
Quantum - 3/5
This felt like it had some parallels with White Hills, both thematically and plot-wise, but in my opinion I found White Hills was just a little more engaging.
Hunger - 2/5
I found the style of this one harder to get on board with, and harder to fully focus on.
Tick Talk - 2.5/5
This one was just fine, for me. It didn't particularly grab me.
The Ones Who Killed Us - 1/5
I really struggled with this one. The writing style with seemingly endless run-on sentences, some of which lasted an entire paragraph... I found it so hard to focus and actually follow what was being said in almost any of this story.
Snakes Are Born In The Dark - 4/5
Things started getting back on track for me here - the lines start to blur a little between reality and fantasy, and throw in a little bit of racism-revenge in there too, and it was a really great story.
Before I Go - 3.5/5
I liked some of the concepts and ideas that were brought up in this book, about facing death and what it means. It just didn't quite feel like there was ENOUGH in there for me.
Night in the Chrysalis - 3/5
Again, another story that felt like it didn't quite have ENOUGH. I understand that these are short stories, but I found myself wishing to get just a little more of a peek into this world and what the author was trying to convey than what we actually got here.
Behind Colin's Eyes - 4.5/5
LOVED IT. This was the kind of perfect short, creepy story that I adore.
Heart-Shaped Clock - 4/5
This was pretty harrowing, but I really enjoyed it, and I loved the actual writing from the author here.
Scariest. Story. Ever. - 3.5/5
Honestly, this one was another kind of... fine story. The story-within-a-story element was interesting.
Human Eaters - 2/5
This was another one - like The Ones Who Killed Us - that didn't really land with me. I found the story quite thin, and the writing style hard to get on board with.
The Longest Street In The World - 1.5/5
... As above, really, but in some ways even worse. I think that the opening definitely exacerbated the issue, as it really took a while to get going into the story, and maybe that impacted how invested I was in going along with it.
Dead Owls - 5/5
Absolutely loved this, fairly straight-forward haunting story, but with a beautiful ending.
The Prepper - 4.5/5
Another unsettling, realist, tragic story hat I absolutely loved.
Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning - 2/5
Unfortunately followed by yet another one that I struggled to focus on, struggled to really follow the threads the author was trying to put together.
Sundays - 4/5
Oh boy. This was probably the most harrowing of all the stories. It was incredibly well told, and I think it had a satisfying ending, but it was also quite rough.
Eulogy For a Brother, Resurrected - 4/5
I loved this one as well!
Night Moves - 2/5
I'm not sure why, I just found myself really not invested in any of the characters in this book, to the extent that when the reveal came at the ending I was pretty unmoved at all.
Capgras - 5/5
Absolutely LOVED it. This one stayed with me for a while after finishing it - the ambiguous nature about what it means, the questions of identity, reality, what's real vs. imagined, what we have hidden under the surface (mentally or physically under our skin). So many layers to the story, for the first time in a long time I finished this and immediately wanted to dive in and read it again.
The Scientist's Horror Story - 4/5
I think I liked this one. I liked the idea of it, and I was following it along nicely... and then it basically became the story of The Ring, but with a little added epilogue to it.
Collections - 4.5/5
BIIIIIG Get Out vibes on this one. Similar to White Hills in a way, but very upfront about the themes.
Limbs - 3.5/5
This one took a little while for me to get into, but once I did I really enjoyed it, and I also thought it was a beautiful way to end the collection, on the theme of nature protecting the native people, and taking revenge on people seeking to destroy the native habitats.
I rated each story out of 5, and overall that gave me an average rating of 3.4, which seemed... low. I'm not sure if it really tallied up with my actual experience of reading it - I enjoyed it as a whole, even when some of the stories didn't do it for me. The ones that did it for me REALLY did it for me, and are possibly some of my favourite things I've ever read.
Anyway, here are my individual thoughts on the stories:
Kushtuka - 5/5
A brilliant, fairly straight-forward horror story, I loved the immediate creepy tone set for the book.
White Hills - 4.5/5
Taking a bit more of a 'disconcerting and unsettling' vibe, but absolutely loved it.
Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth - 4.5/5
Another 'disconcerting and unsettling' story, this time just feeling completely realist. I enjoyed that it maintained some level of ambiguity, and kept a slight element of plausible deniability as you were reading, which just added to the disconcerting feeling.
Wingless - 2/5
This was the first one where I struggled; it felt like there wasn't as much going on, and the story didn't have quite as much to say as some of the others.
Quantum - 3/5
This felt like it had some parallels with White Hills, both thematically and plot-wise, but in my opinion I found White Hills was just a little more engaging.
Hunger - 2/5
I found the style of this one harder to get on board with, and harder to fully focus on.
Tick Talk - 2.5/5
This one was just fine, for me. It didn't particularly grab me.
The Ones Who Killed Us - 1/5
I really struggled with this one. The writing style with seemingly endless run-on sentences, some of which lasted an entire paragraph... I found it so hard to focus and actually follow what was being said in almost any of this story.
Snakes Are Born In The Dark - 4/5
Things started getting back on track for me here - the lines start to blur a little between reality and fantasy, and throw in a little bit of racism-revenge in there too, and it was a really great story.
Before I Go - 3.5/5
I liked some of the concepts and ideas that were brought up in this book, about facing death and what it means. It just didn't quite feel like there was ENOUGH in there for me.
Night in the Chrysalis - 3/5
Again, another story that felt like it didn't quite have ENOUGH. I understand that these are short stories, but I found myself wishing to get just a little more of a peek into this world and what the author was trying to convey than what we actually got here.
Behind Colin's Eyes - 4.5/5
LOVED IT. This was the kind of perfect short, creepy story that I adore.
Heart-Shaped Clock - 4/5
This was pretty harrowing, but I really enjoyed it, and I loved the actual writing from the author here.
Scariest. Story. Ever. - 3.5/5
Honestly, this one was another kind of... fine story. The story-within-a-story element was interesting.
Human Eaters - 2/5
This was another one - like The Ones Who Killed Us - that didn't really land with me. I found the story quite thin, and the writing style hard to get on board with.
The Longest Street In The World - 1.5/5
... As above, really, but in some ways even worse. I think that the opening definitely exacerbated the issue, as it really took a while to get going into the story, and maybe that impacted how invested I was in going along with it.
Dead Owls - 5/5
Absolutely loved this, fairly straight-forward haunting story, but with a beautiful ending.
The Prepper - 4.5/5
Another unsettling, realist, tragic story hat I absolutely loved.
Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning - 2/5
Unfortunately followed by yet another one that I struggled to focus on, struggled to really follow the threads the author was trying to put together.
Sundays - 4/5
Oh boy. This was probably the most harrowing of all the stories. It was incredibly well told, and I think it had a satisfying ending, but it was also quite rough.
Eulogy For a Brother, Resurrected - 4/5
I loved this one as well!
Night Moves - 2/5
I'm not sure why, I just found myself really not invested in any of the characters in this book, to the extent that when the reveal came at the ending I was pretty unmoved at all.
Capgras - 5/5
Absolutely LOVED it. This one stayed with me for a while after finishing it - the ambiguous nature about what it means, the questions of identity, reality, what's real vs. imagined, what we have hidden under the surface (mentally or physically under our skin). So many layers to the story, for the first time in a long time I finished this and immediately wanted to dive in and read it again.
The Scientist's Horror Story - 4/5
I think I liked this one. I liked the idea of it, and I was following it along nicely... and then it basically became the story of The Ring, but with a little added epilogue to it.
Collections - 4.5/5
BIIIIIG Get Out vibes on this one. Similar to White Hills in a way, but very upfront about the themes.
Limbs - 3.5/5
This one took a little while for me to get into, but once I did I really enjoyed it, and I also thought it was a beautiful way to end the collection, on the theme of nature protecting the native people, and taking revenge on people seeking to destroy the native habitats.