Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
July 14th 2020
by Gallery / Saga Press
Interview I did with the author:
I can see the headline now. Well-Intentioned Critic makes Ass of himself Trying to Unpack this Novel's Layers. I have to admit I am nervous about writing this review. It is my unwritten policy to write these reviews before I interview authors and directly ask these questions. I am aware that this novel is working many levels, I also understand that no matter how hard I try some of those levels will be beyond me. This is a feature, not a bug. It is a book that will lend itself to the discussion.
The levels this book is working on come in many interesting ways. First of SGJ is always one to experiment with prose. This book has very subtle experiments that are not as daring as the constant violation of unwritten rules of writing that peppered his novel Mongrels. You are in the hands of a master stylist who can violate the rules and still very much in command of the story and those of us lucky enough to read his work. This novel features asides into fictional headlines and has three acts with very different tones and my favorite hinges a pivotal moment on a one on one basketball game.
The second layer I am not sure I fully understand is the setting and characters. Much like SGJ's novel Mongrels, this novel gets much its strength from characters that come from a background we don't see often in fiction. Lewis our Point of View and his friends live on the Blackfeet reservation. This novel doesn't baby your understanding of reservation. The first act paints a vivid picture of the rez but doesn't beat you over the head. It feels honest.
The third layer is trickier. There is a classic trope in horror, the angry Native American spirit. The Only Good Indians is at its heart a reversal. Even if you understand what is coming you are helplessly watching it unravel. In many ways, this novel reminded me of Pet Semetery in all the right ways. On this layer, I felt like I had the most understanding but I also get that there are probably meaning yet for me to discover.
The Only Good Indians is a pure horror novel, one of the best not just in this year, but in many years. 2020 has been shit for many things but horror novels have had a hell of a years. We have not even gotten Sam J. Miller and Jeremy Robert Johnson's new releases yet. This summer however is special because of the success of this novel and Silvia Moreno Garcia's Mexican Gothic. Very different books but unapologetic in giving us horror with non-white characters and settings.
SGJ disarms the reader with an intimate and amusing first act that will have you laughing while nervous about turning the page. The dialogue between Lewis and his co-workers was hilarious reaching Fletch or Elmore Leonard give and take. SGJ skill is on display in plenty of moments but one that got me was on page 68 perfectly set-up with a humorous scene about the train that passes their house like an earthquake opens a chapter. "When the Thunderball Express slams past at 2:12 in the morning, Lewis's half asleep mind turns those slamming wheels into thundering, going up and down faster and faster into muck, until he sits up hard from...what?"
Plenty of writers have written scenes when a character is waking up but this one was evocative to me. It also paid off an earlier detail. The details are so finely tuned in this novel.
Then the second act takes a huge shift in point of view and tone. This is part of the book that might not work for some readers. As the fun energy of the first act is missing from the final two. This is for good story reasons. Turning the pages gets harder. The last two acts have very little to lighten the mood, but you know what you are in a horror novel now. On a pure writing level, I enjoy the style of the first act but I think I understand what is happening in the last act.
“These are the kind of wrong thoughts people have who are spending too much time alone. They start unpacking vast cosmic bullshit from gum wrappers, and then they chew it up, blow a bubble, ride that bubble up into some even stupider place.”
Plenty of horror movies and novels are about the actions of thought-less teens coming back to haunt them. Few of these horror writers understand the cycle of violence that is life in colonized America. It is a rare horror novel that takes an unblinking look at that ugly state of affairs. The Only Good Indians is a reversal of a trope. The Native American teens at the heart of this story are not thinking about that cycle either and that is ultimately why they are haunted. This novel is a journey, at its darkest moments there are moments of beautiful creation that make you thankful that Stephen Graham Jones found his calling. In a year of masterpieces, The Only Good Indians is a horror novel that you just feel becoming a classic in front of your eyes. It is a book you understand will be studied and it will teach.
I for one am ready to learn, this is a book you should read and I know we will all come back to many more times. It is that good.
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