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A review by bookishdamzel
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Only Good Indians was an up and down hill for me to get through. I enjoyed it enough to finish, but wouldn't necessarily call it a fave.
Things I liked about the book:
- the atmosphere is absolutely phenomenal, it really does give a haunting and eery vibe throughout the book up until the very end
- the themes of tradition, violation, revenge, justification, & cyclical trauma are well done
- the decisions of characters permeate the entire story
Things I'm iffy on:
- the only character you spend the most time with is Lewis, most other characters are very rushed through making it very hard to care about the others..
- however, the book is told from the person who is haunting Lewis and his buddies, so yes there is an unreliable narrator but you get to ponder whether their actions is justified or not and contributes to the cyclical trauma at hand
- the descent into madness Lewis has is okay, knowing the narrator is the elk, but i'd much more prefer having Lewis from the first person going through the thoughts in his head and the decisions he makes and the slow creep of madness that way.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I think its worth the read. But, it's not a favorite of mine.
Things I liked about the book:
- the atmosphere is absolutely phenomenal, it really does give a haunting and eery vibe throughout the book up until the very end
- the themes of tradition, violation, revenge, justification, & cyclical trauma are well done
- the decisions of characters permeate the entire story
- the only character you spend the most time with is Lewis, most other characters are very rushed through making it very hard to care about the others..
- however, the book is told from the person who is haunting Lewis and his buddies, so yes there is an unreliable narrator but you get to ponder whether their actions is justified or not and contributes to the cyclical trauma at hand
- the descent into madness Lewis has is okay, knowing the narrator is the elk, but i'd much more prefer having Lewis from the first person going through the thoughts in his head and the decisions he makes and the slow creep of madness that way.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I think its worth the read. But, it's not a favorite of mine.