A review by whathillarygraceread
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect going into this book. I generally go into books fairly blind, but I had heard an interview with Talty, who is a Penobscot citizen, and looked at quite a few reviews before my hold came up at the library and people seemed to have a LOT of opinions about this collection of short stories. I LOVED it. The stories depict life on the Penobscot reservation in Maine. I don’t read a ton of short story collections and I’m always pleasantly surprised when an author creates a through line in compilations like this (I don’t want to name it because I don’t want to spoil it because it’s not readily apparent until about three stories in). While the Goodreads and Storygraph reviews are mixed, don’t let any of those reviews scare you away from this book. It is SO good. Talty’s writing is so beautiful and I was sad when I finished this. I didn’t realize until I reached the end that many of these stories have been published elsewhere, so it’s possible that many are already familiar with his work. I am eagerly awaiting whatever Talty does next. 
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