Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - The Only Good Indians

The Only Good Indians is such a compelling and gripping horror story once you get into it. The beginning is a little slow, and the author makes you work to decipher his writing style - but it pays off to figure out the rhythm of it. I especially liked the various POV shifts and the importance of even the most miniscule details. Will definitely be reading more by Stephen Graham Jones.

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elkboy23's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is not normally my speed. If you love slasher movies and have a high tolerance for gore and violence towards humans and pets alike, pick this book up.

I somehow managed to hold on through things that normally would have made me put the book down forever and it was so good. One of the most PERFECT uses of second-person I've encountered in a novel; a genius way to incorporate the slasher movie PoV-of-the-killer shots directly into the narrative. I knew it was going to be 5 stars at the ~70% mark when

Spoiler

the goddamn slasher challenges the basketball-loving final girl to a game of basketball because she wants to wreak her in a game of her favorite sport before killing her OMG.

If you can get through the things that start occurring around the 1/3rd point and aren't squeamish about animals dying, you should finish the book - it's totally worth it.

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jaan's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The first half was stellar. Absolutely horrifying to read Lewis’ descent into madness. It worked well to cast Ricky’s death in a new light, terrifying light. I started reading this book at night and maintain that it quickly became very fucked up. I do appreciate that the so-called ‘boring’ bits occurred once I was already invested in the story.

Some people didn’t like the shift into second-person perspective in the latter half of the book. I think it works very well as a narrative device because it jars the reader into becoming part of the story in ways that readers are typically removed from it. I think of readers as living behind a glass wall in relation to the book—we see everything in vivid detail, but are removed and protected from actually being part of it.

Spoiler

The second-person narrative introduces a presence into the story who shouldn’t be there; it’s wrong for us to be there; we should not be interjecting ourselves into this book. Interspersed with third-person omniscient, the second-person perspective makes us forget that the elk is in the story, all the time, breathing life into it, until we are suddenly and horrifically reminded that she is.

I love how SGJ plays with syntax and ‘the rules of prose’ in this way.

The low rating is partly because the gore and violence of this genre is just not for me, and partly because I think this book did suffer from pacing issues, and that’s a BIG knock against a book for me. I kept reading past the halfway point not because I was gripped by the story but because I became invested in the characters’ fates.

Spoiler

I waited for the elk’s rage and grief to come into focus, spellbindingly and tragically written, and it didn’t. This isn’t to say I’m disappointed with the ending—I appreciate that it didn’t hinge on the murder of an Indigenous woman—but the readers are forced to fill in the gaps vis-à-vis the elk’s motives. Instead, SGJ spends more time detailing the men’s lives, and even then falls short.

Lewis’ desperation makes sense to me, as he’s haunted and wracked with guilt over what he’s done for years afterward, but Gabe and Cass are not. Gabe gives into his fate too quickly. It’s too easy.

I do recommend this book, though. Freaked me out.

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thetallestbird's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is one of those books that takes a while to get going, but once it does, hold onto your butt. The beginning and the end lost me a little but the main middle chunk was incredible. There are images in there that are going to stick with me for a while. For example:

Spoiler

Lewis and the teeth, hello???

. The author also uses a really unique mechanic in the middle that I loved once I got used to.
I also really appreciate being able to read a story with such a heavy influence from the Blackfeet culture. Not just for an understanding of the scarcity and injustice, but for the richness of their traditions, legends, lore, etc.

In short, I'm very glad I read this book and will be thinking of it for a while.

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