Real Talk | Book Review | AstraDaemon

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones is a slow read. This is the first story by this author I didn't enjoy much. While I love the idea of an elk spirit looking for vengeance, and I appreciate the struggles of Native Americans (Blackfeet) both on and off the reservation, the writing style is very different from other books by Jones. The alternating POV seems disjointed more often than not, but I think the bigger issue is cultural.

I lived in a small town in South Dakota with a reservation on either side of us, and at least half the students, if not more, were Sioux. (Many of the other small towns had even more Native students than we did.) My family includes Yankton Sioux (by marriage), and my Sioux friends often shared their experiences growing up Native in the Dakotas with racism, alcoholism, and many other issues. Despite my own interactions with their culture/heritage, I think I'm too white to really appreciate this book.

I've always enjoyed novels with cultural themes, especially the ones which highlight personal struggles within a particular society...and, while I know people who can relate to these characters, I can't. I'm no stranger to the slang, which some readers complain about, but I'm never going to know what it is to feel too Native to fit in with whites, and yet feel a disconnect to the traditional ways of my own tribe. I can remember a friend studying his own Native language in college because he was denied the opportunity in his younger years...but, remembering someone else's pain and living it are not even close to being the same.

Even though I don't think this a horror novel as much as a family drama, with some coming-of-age moments, I am still recommending this. I think we need to make an effort to listen to the voices of authors from different cultures, even if we don't understand.

I also recommend WAIT FOR THE NIGHT and THE NIGHT CYCLIST for more terrifying horror pieces by SGJ.

As always,

AstraDaemon