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

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was so unique and creepy. I love Native American folktales. They’re some of the spookiest one’s we have and not enough are told authentically or ethically. At times, this book was a challenge. Mostly due to the style of writing (a lot of stream of conscious) which became confusing multiple times.  Also there were a few scenes that started getting really annoying because of how much detail (pages worth) of basketball games in a driveway. On some level, this was important, but I think it would have been improved if those moments were cut down to once or twice. Not every 2 chapters. 

However, the ending saved the 3 star rating. The ending was very satisfying. 

It passes the “stay on the shelf” test. But, I probably won’t be re-reading it for several years. This definitely has gore and very cruel animal abuse for those sensitive to those topics. I had a lot of thoughts throughout this story, both disgust and shock. But in a way this book clearly set out to be with a purpose in mind. 
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