A review by geve_
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
2.0
No singular plot, but the road worn story of a family suffering from immense loss and struggling to get by, always scraping together just enough to survive and keep moving. Oh and also, they're werewolves.
Loved the concept, didn't love the writing. I'm a sucker for a road story, and that was my favorite part of this one. The folklore was fun at times, and barely forgivably sexist and weird at other times. Almost put it down when But I held out and it grew on me a bit.
The story is really a series of vignettes, some more interesting than others. I didn't mind this format, though it was hard to follow at times. Each chapter was punctuated by a mini chapter that was written from a different angle, and which used the kid as the main character, but as a different iteration of himself, always calling him by a specific non-pronoun noun. Once I got used to it, it was fine, but it was clunky reading. Could have been more cohesive.
The kid struggles to be like his family, when he isn't. It's interesting to think about him as an outsider who is outside even his own circle. They talk about the things he can't understand or experience, and he wants to be on the inside, when being on the inside is only allowed through birth, no amount of effort or wanting can change it.
Wasn't crazy about the ending, bit abrupt and not as satisfying as I wanted it to be.
Overall, it was okay.
Loved the concept, didn't love the writing. I'm a sucker for a road story, and that was my favorite part of this one. The folklore was fun at times, and barely forgivably sexist and weird at other times. Almost put it down when
Spoiler
it becomes apparent, at least within these characters, that the male werewolf is all about wildness and rage and freedom, and when the female werewolf finally shifts, she fucks a dog. Didn't love it.The story is really a series of vignettes, some more interesting than others. I didn't mind this format, though it was hard to follow at times. Each chapter was punctuated by a mini chapter that was written from a different angle, and which used the kid as the main character, but as a different iteration of himself, always calling him by a specific non-pronoun noun. Once I got used to it, it was fine, but it was clunky reading. Could have been more cohesive.
The kid struggles to be like his family, when he isn't. It's interesting to think about him as an outsider who is outside even his own circle. They talk about the things he can't understand or experience, and he wants to be on the inside, when being on the inside is only allowed through birth, no amount of effort or wanting can change it.
Wasn't crazy about the ending, bit abrupt and not as satisfying as I wanted it to be.
Overall, it was okay.