The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: A group of four friends are starting to reconcile the mental and emotional scars of their experiences growing up Native American when an entity sets out to avenge the events of a hunting trip that happened 10 years prior.
Expectation: A horror story with a supernatural twist and Native American elements.
Reality: A gory, disturbing yet entertaining story that works on two levels.
Recommended For: Fans of horror films, like “Final Destination” and “Candyman.”
Why I Read It: The premise sounded interesting.
My take:
“The Only Good Indians” is intense, paranoid, incredibly disturbing and compulsively enjoyable in a way that entertains but also challenges your perceptions.
All that to say, this is 100 percent not a book for everyone, and I’m honestly surprised I liked it as much as I did. That’s a testament to Stephen Graham Jones’ storytelling, and the way he structured “Indians” to work on multiple levels.
One story is about the challenges of modern-day Native Americans. Not only for individuals that live on a reservation and are trying to retain tradition, but also for those individuals attempting cultural assimilation on the outside.
Jones weaves the starker realities of life — including alcoholism, bias, domestic and tribal violence and chronic disease to name a few — so casually into the narrative. Many of the characters have an “it is what it is” attitude about it all, which makes you realize how pervasive these issues are.
While “Indians” has plenty of cultural commentary, it’s first and foremost a horror story, and, wow, it’s a doozy. An entity seeks revenge on a group of friends for events from a hunting trip that happened a decade prior. Think of it as “Final Destination” meets “Candyman” but a lot gorier.
The throughline between both stories is Native American beliefs. Both how those beliefs shaped what happened on the hunting trip, and how the characters rely on the beliefs in reaction to what’s happening to them now.
The horror elements are a slow unveiling and start as psychological. I spent the first 40 percent of the book thinking it was going in one direction — and getting a little bored, honestly — before the truth of what is happening becomes clear. From there I was hooked.
If you give “Indians” a try, read through part two before calling it quits. If you like the twist, then you’ll enjoy the rest of the story. If you didn’t, then you’re better off abandoning.
While the ending is satisfying, there is little hope to be found. In that way it reminded me of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” although the writing here is more stilted and less bookish.
“Indians” is violent — I cannot underscore that enough. This is not campy slasher film violence, but people doing horrible things to one another violence. It doesn’t veer into torture porn territory, but it comes close.
If you want to learn more about Native American culture today, this probably isn’t the place to start, but I’d recommend Tommy Orange’s “There There.” If you want an original mashup for supernatural horror and cultural commentary, then this is the book for you.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: September 13 – 17, 2020
Multi-tasking: Good to go but don’t eat and listen at certain points.
