A review by pipettesandpages
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones follows a group of friends who committed an act that betrays their culture, traditions and their elders. While some of these characters are more haunted than others from this event, all will be subjected to atone for the act committed in their youth.

This book had me picking my jaw up off the floor so many times! Jones has created this raw and gritty story on what happens when a tradition is broken and the attempts to run away from it. While you are with some of the characters more than others, each one is met with a horror that I could not imagine encountering. Watching this characters descend into madness was both horrifying and intriguing. 

The first several chapters in the book is slow, but once it hits the fan, the book is so action packed and unpredictable in the best way possible. I love how Jones weaved Blackfeet tradition throughout the story. I want to read more of his work!! I will warn that there is extremely graphic events involving animals and those parts are the hardest to get through. I was not initially warned about this going in.

I know many of the complaints about this book is the way in which it was written. It is a very relaxed way of story telling, almost like someone is telling you ghost stories by a fire. I ultimately think this way of telling the story only highlights Indigenous traditions as well as making you feel like you are present in the moment.
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