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A review by michael_taylor
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
4.0
The Only Good Indians is one of the most ambitious, confident, unique books I've read in a while. It's got a lot going on. Commentary on real world issues and race relations? Yup. Complex, well realized family drama? Yup. A prolonged basketball match that has the all the ingredients of a contemporary myth in the making? Yup. A gnarly elk headed woman bent on horrific, bloody revenge? You betcha.
There's a lot to love here. First of all, the title and the cover art are perfect. Stephen Graham Jones does a good job setting up the story by having Lewis be a relatable character who is carrying a lot of guilt from something he took part in a long time ago. The scene depicting the Thanksgiving Classic is probably the best part of the book. It's violent, heartbreaking and surprised me with how real it felt. The end of Lewis' part of the story took a gory turn that almost lost it for me. It wasn't the violence that lost me, it just felt like I was like reading something out of a different kind of horror novel. Until he cuts an elk calf out of Peta, and we enter a completely different book. And then I was back on board. Anytime the author veers into the surreal, fairy tale stuff, I liked it way more.
The whole time I was reading this book, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something in the writing style I was having trouble following. It wasn't bad, I think maybe it was a style of writing I hadn't encountered before. This became especially prevalent in the Sweat Lodge Massacre. Once the elk is moving around in the world, it felt a little hard to track perspective. The end of the novel had a few too many fake outs for me, and the last part of the book (The Denorah part) felt a little bit disconnected from the rest of the novel. There's a wonderful basketball matchup between Denorah and the Elk that could have gone on forever. It really captured the essence of playing for your life against an unknowable being. There was so much at stake in that game. I loved that.
The very end of the book is Denorah running away from the elk for what felt like a bit too long, and then everything gets wrapped up in a stuff of legends ending that I really dug.
I'd never read Stephen Graham Jones' work before, but it's apparent that he's a creative, inventive author who isn't afraid to take risks. I'm certainly going to look into some of his other books in the future.
There's a lot to love here. First of all, the title and the cover art are perfect. Stephen Graham Jones does a good job setting up the story by having Lewis be a relatable character who is carrying a lot of guilt from something he took part in a long time ago. The scene depicting the Thanksgiving Classic is probably the best part of the book. It's violent, heartbreaking and surprised me with how real it felt. The end of Lewis' part of the story took a gory turn that almost lost it for me. It wasn't the violence that lost me, it just felt like I was like reading something out of a different kind of horror novel. Until he cuts an elk calf out of Peta, and we enter a completely different book. And then I was back on board. Anytime the author veers into the surreal, fairy tale stuff, I liked it way more.
The whole time I was reading this book, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something in the writing style I was having trouble following. It wasn't bad, I think maybe it was a style of writing I hadn't encountered before. This became especially prevalent in the Sweat Lodge Massacre. Once the elk is moving around in the world, it felt a little hard to track perspective. The end of the novel had a few too many fake outs for me, and the last part of the book (The Denorah part) felt a little bit disconnected from the rest of the novel. There's a wonderful basketball matchup between Denorah and the Elk that could have gone on forever. It really captured the essence of playing for your life against an unknowable being. There was so much at stake in that game. I loved that.
The very end of the book is Denorah running away from the elk for what felt like a bit too long, and then everything gets wrapped up in a stuff of legends ending that I really dug.
I'd never read Stephen Graham Jones' work before, but it's apparent that he's a creative, inventive author who isn't afraid to take risks. I'm certainly going to look into some of his other books in the future.