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

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

3.5

My relationship with The Only Good Indians is a complicated one. This novel has so much to offer, and yet, I finished the last page feeling somewhat dissatisfied. I had to take half a day for my impression to finalize because I feel so ambivalent. If I may, let me explain what I liked and disliked about this book (some spoilers marked ahead.)

This novels biggest strength is its depiction of the experiences and struggles of Native Americans, both off and on their reservation. Being pulled between two worlds, the pressure to uphold tradition, trauma passed down through generations, the punishment of abusing nature and taking too much from the land, grappling with addiction, and viewing their land as both a sacred place but also something to escape were all themes detailed so wonderfully through each character's story. I feel like I learned a lot by reading this book, and I frankly would have loved an entire drama about the lives of these four friends. I also absolutely loved the last page,
when it is revealed that this entire story has been told from the perspective of an elder telling a folktale to children.
The theme of the next generation breaking the cycle of trauma and violence was so impactfully interwoven right up until the last page.

While it took some getting used to, I also loved Jones's stream-of-consciousness style of writing. Additionally, dialogue felt authentic and had such character to it because of the author's purposeful use of sentence structure, filler words, and vocabulary to emphasize tone and dialect. I know not all readers enjoyed this style, but by my second reading session, I felt like the text flowed easily and I could distinctly hear characters' voices in my head.

This book is not a drama - it is a horror novel. While some of the horror aspects really landed, many did not. At its core, this is a story that I should love: an ancient, female animal spirit wreaking havoc to enact revenge. I found the first half of the book to be rather gripping - Lewis's section is by far the best fleshed out and intense. Lewis's paranoia is palpable, and I could see his psyche unraveling on each page. Sadly, I think the pacing starts to stagnate in the second half when we move to the last two men. Though I enjoyed their personalities and backstories, I think this novel would have been more successful if action was better interspersed in the latter half.

In my opinion, if Jones had taken the same care to write about the action/death sequences as he did to detail 20-page long basketball sequences, this would have been a vastly more interesting book. I completely understand why basketball is so important here. It has huge cultural significance, and for Denorah,
it represents her "ticket" out of poverty, out of the reservation, her chance for fame and a better life. Elk Head Woman wants to tear this away from her, take every last possible beautiful thing from her. Additionally, the final basketball stand-off reminds me of folklore in which a demon has to be defeated through a simple human game.
While I appreciate these elements, I don't think the execution hit its mark. I found myself frustrated with how long these basketball sections were. I'll admit, I am not a sports fan, so this may be a personal gripe.

I could possibly forgive this if the deaths had more weight. There were several deaths that felt skimmed over or waved away. Characters did not have enough time to really emotionally reflect on their friends/loved ones dying in gruesome ways.
I particularly was shocked by Shaney's death. It happens so quickly, and Lewis seems more concerned with how he's going to cover her up than with the fact he's become a murderer. This doesn't make sense for Lewis - he held the most grief and guilt for killing the young, pregnant elk - this characterization makes me feel that he'd have a harder time grappling with killing his coworker.
This is just one example of several that made me feel like the horror and death elements were an afterthought to the author, which disappointed me as an avid horror lover.

My final issue with this novel is that many things feel unanswered and unaddressed by the end. In particular, I wish that Elk Head Woman's origin was explained better.
Why was she so special, so much so that she had different eyes and could come back as a corporeal manifestation years later? Why, if she is truly an elk, was she so good at basketball? Why could Lewis only view her through moving objects like the fan and the train? If it took Elk Head Woman ten years to return, why was Ricky killed so much sooner in a completely different way?
I think she had so much potential as a horror novel antagonist, but I truly don't think she was fleshed out enough.

TLDR: despite my issues with The Only Good Indians, I think it had a lot of charm and a lot of potential. The plot is incredibly unique, and at times the storytelling is riveting and gut-punching, but it loses steam and intrigue a bit too fast. I am still glad to have read it, but I think because it so much potential, it just left me craving more.
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