Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

39 reviews

pipettesandpages's review against another edition

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

5.0


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queerfucker's review against another edition

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

4.75

The only good Indian is a dead Indian.

This book is everything. While the first half of the book probably doesn’t pass the bechdel test, it makes up for it in the characters. they’re good people with shitty choices and qualities, they’re REAL. The sense of dread of being a native american man knowing your death is just around the corner drips on every page. It’s difficult to get into, the mind fuck of not knowing what you’re seeing is confusing at first, but when you get past that it has perfect pacing. 

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ouroborian's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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autonomous_lass's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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sunnydale's review against another edition

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

4.0

the author really knows what hauntings are about. the characters really came to life, and it was horrifying and heartbreaking to watch them try to outrun the past. some gruesome imagery, but the violence didn't feel gratuitous. i'll be thinking about the ending for a while.

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yvo_about_books's review

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2.25

Finished reading: December 27th 2023


“When the whole world hurts, you bite it. Don't you?”

WARNING: it's unpopular opinion time again!!

I should have known this would happen. I've come to the conclusion that literary fiction just isn't for me, although there have been exceptions in the past... I guess this story ended up being another nail in the coffin of this subgenre though. Don't get me wrong: I was SO intrigued by the premise of The Only Good Indians, and I loved the social commentary and own voices Native American aspect. This is probably the only reason I kept reading, because I had a very BIG issue with this book. There was just something about the writing style I clashed horribly with, and I was only feeling more annoyed and frustrated with each page... Add the often slow pace and confusing POV and timeline switches, and let's just say that I wasn't really motivated to continue reading The Only Good Indians. I even put it on hold twice to see if that would help... But in the end I simply don't think I'm a good match for his author's writing style. That said, I also struggled with the characters themselves, which felt rather flat and were both unlikeable and easy to mix up. Things also get pretty graphic with lots of focus on violence, hunting and animal cruelty... I usually don't mind a more twisted plot, but there was a bit too much focus on the animal cruelty to my taste. Anyhow, I guess that The Only Good Indians is just one of those books that you either absolutely love or struggle to finish... Sadly, I ended up belonging to the second group, and I confess that I caught myself skimreading more than once. It's such shame, because I really wanted to love this one! 

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dfrancis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

3.75


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bashsbooks's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

The Only Good Indians is such a compelling and gripping horror story once you get into it. The beginning is a little slow, and the author makes you work to decipher his writing style - but it pays off to figure out the rhythm of it. I especially liked the various POV shifts and the importance of even the most miniscule details. Will definitely be reading more by Stephen Graham Jones.

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elkboy23's review against another edition

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

4.25


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hocuscrocus's review against another edition

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

3.75

This is one of those books that takes a while to get going, but once it does, hold onto your butt. The beginning and the end lost me a little but the main middle chunk was incredible. There are images in there that are going to stick with me for a while. For example:
Lewis and the teeth, hello???
. The author also uses a really unique mechanic in the middle that I loved once I got used to.
I also really appreciate being able to read a story with such a heavy influence from the Blackfeet culture. Not just for an understanding of the scarcity and injustice, but for the richness of their traditions, legends, lore, etc.

In short, I'm very glad I read this book and will be thinking of it for a while.


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