I QUIT The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- Sadly, not all novels are worth your time. These are my thoughts as to why The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones isn't.
#booktube #horror #novels
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Are your a quitter like me?
I felt totally relieved listening to your Review...I kept struggling through this novel and read 58% of it...and all The time I was thinking: "Am I wasting my precious time here??? I wanna quit...but I shouldn't, 'cause ALL The critics are saying that this is one of The best novels of 2020!! I must be really dumb for not appreciating It and for not understanding what The fuss is all about!!!"
So, thank you for showing me that I am not so stupid, that this book is really dull (almost nothing happens in hundreds of Pages...plus, The writing ia very confusing..the author mixes the third person narrative with The characters thoughts ALL The time...also, he throws in elements of The native american culture that most people are not familiarized, and he never explains them, not even in footnotes...I had to read and Google all The time, slowing my pace even more...)
Now, I'm gonna quit it without a guilty conscience and start Reading another novel (probably one by Adam Nevill...now, this guy is scary!)
Thanx again, and greetings from Brazil!!
literally, i tried reading it 5 times now and all those 5 times i DNF-ed it around 50%. I struggled with understanding everything especially the first chapter and i dont know why? i heard that the second half is worse than the first half so i just stopped bothering with it. However much i read all those times i remember vividly how it bored me to tears. I dont plan on reading any other book by him other than maybe a shorter book if he has some.
I had an issue up to a point and it took off and it became one of my favs.
@@NerdTheoryChannel awesome you stuck with it and found it rewarding.
I just finished it and I am glad I did. However, it did take me months and I put it down many times. The writing was sometimes difficult for me to get into (every time I picked it back up again too) but the story was compelling once I got there. And could stay there.
There is something about it that makes it really difficult to read as well. The writing is done in such a way I found myself repeatedly having to reread sentences b/c I was unsure what someone had meant with what they'd said or if I had misunderstood something.
I can see that. I did appreciate it from an artistic standpoint, but understand how they might affect readability.
Wow thank you. I thought I was stupid. Granted I listened to it on Audible and although I thought the narrator was good overall he wasn’t very good with making voices sound different so I had a hard time following it. I had to rewind over and over again to follow. There were beautiful moments in the writing but a good 3 hours in I was waiting for it to grab me. I didn’t care about anyone but maybe the elk and maybe the dog. I was going to quit but I thought let me watch some reviews on this thing. Am I missing something?
I liked the book, but I felt the same way. I reread a lot of this book
I absolutely adored it. I understand why in the first 100 pages, it was hard to get through, but the payoff in the last half is really, really worth it. In a beautiful and heartbreaking way.
Appreciate the info!
See I actually had the opposite response. I felt like the first half delivered the most but the second half, although fascinating and building somewhere with the sweat lodge, fell short.
Glad I didn't push through then haha
I'm totally with you on this one. Super surprised at how many people continue to love that book. Very hard to read in my opinion. I had the same problem as dmn47
I appreciate that your reasons were constructive and respectful in this video. Personally, this is one of my favourites, and I do think this is the only one of Jones' books where you get more out of it if you're Native and have prior knowledge of legends like Deer Lady from the get-go or have grown up understanding the cultural significance of how everyone and everything in nature is connected.
You're definitely right to quit a book you're not feeling though. Why waste time struggling, right?
I can imagine getting more out of it if you're familiar with the folklore. That was the most interesting thing to me and what got me to pick it up originally.
Don’t know how far you actually got, but the last 2 chapters of the Lewis section are amazing and it picks up a lot after that. Agree that the majority of the Lewis section is just about building tension but it definitely pays off
Well glad to hear it gets better toward the end. I just wish it would have kept my interest in the beginning. I'm reading a great book right now and it confirms the "30 percent rule" I'll give a book to capture my attention. There are so many books I'll never read so try to stick with the ones that are consistent.
Sorry, but After The Lewis part..nothing happens for looong time... I quit?
The ending of the lewis part hit me fucking hard. It shifted gears really fucking quickly to an intense level
The FIRST couple chapters of Lewis’s story are fucking nuts. The Shaney motorcycle bit had me reading with my jaw dropped. *Locked In* from that point on. The book fucking ruled, and would make a KILLER movie.
I read this off the back of The Human Son by Adrian J Walker which found to be an incredibly gripping and emotional read. It made it difficult for me to get through The Only Good Indians but I did manage to finish it. It was tough to get through, mostly due to the writing style I think. The story was okay but was definitely underwhelming compared to the blurb.
I’ve heard 100-Age is a good quit rule. 30% seems generous but depends on novel length to me.
I agree. I guess I was feeling generous haha
Good review! I mostly felt the same, the book does get better as it goes on but I thought the beginning and the ending were both kind of lacking. Glad I finished it but wouldn’t blame anyone for giving up
Glad to hear from someone who finished it. My biggest concern was that it would get really good. I just couldn't hold on any longer. Thanks for watching!
I read this book and struggled to get through the first part of this book. It was good but not what I thought it was going to be. I did enjoy it but certainly didn't blow my socks off and didn't live up to the horror hype I thought it was going to be. Thanks for sharing. Just subscribed too. #161. Thanks so much for sharing. Peace love and happiness ~ Tracey
Thanks!
I quit reading. Twice. The writing just threw me off. I found myself reading things over and over.
Thank you. Before reading this, I seriously thought there must be something wring with me. Am I getting old?
I'm teetering right now on whether to finish this book. I've heard it's a horror novel but I just got to the part that Lewis has been carrying all this guilt over, and seems to be where the horror comes from, and confesses to Shaney. And all I can respond with is "That sucks, but that's it?" So I've been turning to book tube to see whether I should keep at it.
From people who have commented it's been a bit of a mixed bag. Some people say it is all right and some say it's not worth it. I guess it'll depend on your tastes. I do feel that most of the time if you have to ask yourself if a novel is worth finishing, something has gone wrong with it. There are novels that have weak beginnings, middles or endings, but I think it's a flaw in the writing if it occurs or at the very least how it coincides with your personal interests. Let me know how it goes
I just finished it. Power through. The last half is absolutely gripping. Bear with the basketball too..there’s a reason for it.
@@dcgrocknroll haha oh yeah? Interesting that he chose for the first half to be a drag. I might reconsider.
Infinite Jest and House Of Leaves are both visible on. your shelf. Two imminently quit-able novels. I've read both. Infinite Jest, three times, for reasons. House Of Leaves, once. I wanted to stop reading both at several points, but soldiered on. Book club obligation was a major driver. Did you make it through those two?
I quit The Only Good Indians. I was pretty sure it was mostly because I had recently read Mongrels by SG Jones. Highly recommended. I've tried TOGI three times. Can't make it through.
I have read House of Leaves and loved it despite it being long and dense. For some reason it hooked me despite those things. I can totally understand someone quitting it though.
I haven't read Infinite Jest. It's actually not mine, but I've always been interested. I share the bookshelf :).
Oddly enough I picked up the audio book of the only good Indians to see if I could give it a second chance. Still haven't finished it so it may be a lost cause.
I will look into Mongrels. Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm a big reader of folklore, so the Deer Woman hooked me for most of the story. I loved the first but brief chunk with Ricky. But the Lewis story was kind of a slog. It ended well enough. The final act back on the reservation had the characters I liked the most, so it went really quick for me. I also understand that Jones used a different format in this book by telling it in three separate stories. I think that messed with the general pacing IMO. All in all I'm glad I read it. I plan on reading Mongrels by Jones in the near future to see what his more usual format feels like. Cool review.
I love folklore horror too. I just wish it would have been creepier sooner. Glad you enjoyed it
You missed out. The way Lewis` story for example plays out is insane. Absolutely fantastic.
Thanks for the comment. Maybe I"ll have to pick it up again.
Just finished that section. Holy shit, this book is crazy and I cant wait for this last half
Might be a little too late to the party lol. To be honest, it was a little tough to get through because I got lost in descriptions and I can’t say it was scary. It read more like a tragedy to me.
And once I recognized it for that was when I really got into it. All the death in the book was very sad as it was pretty senseless all around. It was a series of unfortunate events triggered by the insolence of the main characters. If you ever feel like picking it up again, I’d say go into thinking of it more as a tragic tale than a horror story
Never late to the party! I like that line of thinking. I went in with expectations of it being a horror novel and got something else. I don't mind deeper character work or tragedy in horror, but maybe this one just leans heavily in one direction.
I’m just over half way through and was thinking about quitting but I’ve never DNFed a book before. I got to the end of Lewis’ stuff and with Gabe and Cass now and just don’t know if I care. I don’t even know if I understand what is going on
That's another crucial thing that failed. You never really care about anyone. At least as far as I got.
Gives me something to think about for my books!
Every read is a chance to learn something new.
I am currently at page 144, and I am hooked. I think you may have stopped right before it picks up because around the 130 page mark, it gets interesting.
Glad to hear it picks up!
I actually loved this novel. The horror scenes are just morbid, some that I could never shake from my mind. His style of literature is unique and prolific, not to leave out his abilities to create a vivid picture. The prologue: where Ricky is chased at the bar depicted unfortunate events for the Blackfeet tribe, which is something the novel delves into deeply. What I found particularly distressing was how his writing style seemed to take various parts of the story and dissolve and blunt out the elements. But the after effect of the novel lingers. And that's what I like most about horror. It is one of my favorites of SGJ, but not everyone enjoys the same thing; and that's completely expected and something all readers and writers alike have to be accustomed with. He has written numerous novels, many of which I feel are good. Night Of The Mannequins, My Heart Is A Chainsaw (his latest), Mapping The Interior, to name a few.
Thanks for the comment! I would have loved to get out of it what you did. I truly love horror, but it definitely is a subjective thing. I really enjoyed the prologue, but then after that it kind of drifted with the exception of a single scene.
@@JasonFuhrman I agree to an extent. A lot of authors do their best to incorporate their style of literature into their writing which often makes reading more difficult for some. The rule I was taught in creative writing is that sometimes simple writing is better. Intellectually speaking is okay but not necessarily better. The audience likes to be able to cohere what is going on. 👍
@@aaascpodcast3992 Yep, that is becoming very clear to me as well as I progress in my own work. I think when we begin we're attracted to the more complex or flowerly language, when it can, often times, just get in the way of the story.
I felt totally relieved listening to your Review...I kept struggling through this novel and read 58% of it...and all The time I was thinking: "Am I wasting my precious time here??? I wanna quit...but I shouldn't, 'cause ALL The critics are saying that this is one of The best novels of 2020!! I must be really dumb for not appreciating It and for not understanding what The fuss is all about!!!"
So, thank you for showing me that I am not so stupid, that this book is really dull (almost nothing happens in hundreds of Pages...plus, The writing ia very confusing..the author mixes the third person narrative with The characters thoughts ALL The time...also, he throws in elements of The native american culture that most people are not familiarized, and he never explains them, not even in footnotes...I had to read and Google all The time, slowing my pace even more...)
Now, I'm gonna quit it without a guilty conscience and start Reading another novel (probably one by Adam Nevill...now, this guy is scary!)
Thanx again, and greetings from Brazil!!
Happy to help! I think your story is really what I hoped this series would do. Assure people it's ok to quit something if it's not grabbing them. I struggled with it for a long time, thinking I had to finish everything I picked up regardless if I liked it or not. Hopefully it will give you more time with books that are actually good 😊
@@JasonFuhrman thank you for giving me your feedback so quickly!!
I totally agree. I got to page 143, halfway through and I quit. It was not scary at all
Funny, this is the first review I saw for this book after I thought of quitting myself. My issue is: his dog was killed, he thought he saw a shadow of an elk woman, and he thought he saw a dead elk on his floor for a second.... he uses these clues to realize a ghost elk is stalking him. What an odd dot to connect? This character doesn't know he's in a horror novel, so why does he just automatically assume something supernatural is happening to him based on 3 weak coincidences? I may just move on.
Haha good point. I guess I was so underwhelmed by it not feeling much all like horror I didn't notice.
EXACTLY!!!!! This felt too far-fetched for me!
I figured he was so guilty and haunted by the events that day that that would be the closest thing on his mind to explain it all, that part of the drive of the story was wondering if there was an elk or if he was just going crazy and paranoid and killed them for no reason. And then he got shot trying to protect the calf and it felt full circle and I wasn't paying attention to how much was left and thought that was it. Was satisfied with that ending actually. which made the middle hard to listen to because "gee it's not over??" But then it picked up again so I thought it was all around pretty good
I picked up this book at the library today and man it's just hard to understand this writing style. It's not a bad style, just not for me.
I hate having to re-read entire pages and wonder "did I space out and not take in anything?" But no, I just don't understand. The stage isn't set very well for me to properly understand what is happening.
I'm only 50 pages in. So many characters already and no one stands out to me.
I'm not sure if I should keep going or just stop.
Yeah same. I think I finally got into the rhythm of it, but I'm really surprised it had broad appeal. It seems like it would be very niche.
@JasonFuhrman Oh did you read it again?
Sorry, I'm brand new to your channel.
I had this same issue with The Fisherman by John Langon. I just got very bored and had to stop.
I'll give this book a chance though.
I "tried" it again haha. Still couldn't finish it. Way too long to have anything happen.
@@JasonFuhrman yeah I think I'll pass on it then.😂🤷♀️
Good call.
I’m a third into this book, and I am not enjoying it. I’m debating against myself. Do I want to walk away and read something else? I’m in the middle of a lot of series, so I know I’ll enjoy them? Or do I want to push through and risk giving this book a one star review because I wind up hating it? I hate giving a one star review by the way. I know I could wind up liking or even loving the book. That rarely happens to me a third of the way through a book I’m not digging to be honest.
It seems the majority have said it's not worth finishing while a few enjoyed it. I still feel that a book should engage you throughout to the best of the writer's ability. And this one just didn't for me. It took me a while to get ok about quitting things, but I wouldn't go back. There's just so much we'll never get to if we finish mediocre books.
Also got about that far. Not bored but just found disjointed and couldn't retain my focus. If I can describe it in colors it was not the full spectrum but felt like it was limited to just the range of colors on the cover.
I like the colors analogy.
A lot of the horror focussed around social dynamics as well, like the alcoholism of some of the characters and the way women were mostly treated as predators
It took a hundred pages, but after that I did love it!
I also quit after 1/3 of the audiobook. I am perplexed by the hype. Not sure if it is an age thing or country vs urban living. I disliked the characters and found the premise of elk vengeance turned me off.
I don't think it's a generational or geographical thing. I think it comes down to what you said. The characters weren't interesting and the plot took too long to go anywhere. It's artificial hype on books like these I just don't understand. But that hype wasn't only from book blurbs, which never mean anything anyway, they were from reviewers who really have nothing to gain.
I got through about 45% of this book before I gave up. It's certainly not a bad book, but nothing in the story grabbed me and I was frankly bored by it. However, it annoyed me seeing it half read in my kindle library, so last week I decided I would just finish it, especially since it's not a long book. The second half was somewhat more interesting and I did like the ending, but overall, this was not my cup of tea. I can sympathize with anyone who just gave up on it altogether.
Good points. My feeling with a novel or anything is it should try to grab you right away and hold your attention until the end. Though I can appreciate a novel that requires work, like House of Leaves, but I don't feel like this is in that category. This wasn't an experimental novel in any sense of the word, so there isn't an excuse for it to not grab you. But not every novel is for everyone, and clearly this one has it's fans
I finished it, but I get the criticisms. The arc is very unusual, low and flat for a very long time before a sharp spike in action/horror/violence that left my jaw on the floor. It's a gambit that won't pay off for all readers, but I'm glad that authors still take these types of risks. The pros were fun but hard to stick with all the way through. I think this would have been better formated as a novella with 70-100 pages trimmed. In the end, it's an experience that will stick with me for awhile, and that's why I read. It doesn't rise to greatness, but I'm still glad I read it. I recently bailed on Babel, by Kuang.
I'm all for a slow burn, but this was a strange one.
I was curious about Babel too. I've heard a lot of good things but also that it's slow.
Yeah same here. I was really looking forward to it. Plus, I'm a language learner so I thought it would be perfect. I was really dissapointed with it.@@JasonFuhrman
@justinwr092 maybe I'll try it out with low expectations haha
I quit the book 20 pages from the end lmao, and was after an unforgiving bout of skimming.
hahaha. Glad I'm not alone
100 with you on this. I never read any of his work until My heart is a chainsaw and just finished the 3rd book in that series. I came back to this finally and it was the most disappointing book. I made it to chapter 8 before throwing in the towel. Theres so many other great horror novels to waste your time with this.
Did you like his other books?
I almost quit. But went ahead and finished it. Started out pretty good then got stupid.
Well, i would admit that this book didn't live up to the hype for me but overall i liked it very much. This is not a DNF book, especially being only 305 pages. At page 123 or so things go sideways and I didn't expect it. This book does not go the way you are thinking most of the time. But for some moments at the end it turns into a monster movie and it was disappointing, but the very ending i liked it a lot. It is very original and the descent into madness of Lewis is very well done. I recommend it if you like different and well written horror novels.
Glad you enjoyed it! For me, it beat around the bush too much. There wasn't enough creepy factor for me. It didn't feel much like a horror novel.
I’m native and we have certain ways we can talk and the “dialect” is even weird for me lol
Different tribes talk so differently and it’s kinda hard to understand and explain lol
This one was a HARD read for me and I put it down so many times because I just wasn’t able to get fully into it.
The audio book definitely helps with that but tbh
It kinda felt
Ok? For me. Like wasn’t BAD but it wasn’t extraordinary or scary.
Atmospheric for sure but I felt like I was just drinking stale carbonated water unfortunately
I haven’t finished it but read the synopsis because I couldn’t finish it. Sucks but it is what it is
Cool to hear the perspective of someone who is native. Yeah it wasn't terrible, just boring to me which made it hard to read. I think there's potential but unrealized.
@@JasonFuhrman oh 100% I appreciate his ideas and he’s not a bad writer or author either. He’s very atmospheric and sometimes with atmospheric authors I tend to lean towards audiobooks because of that reason. But I think because I tried reading it it took me out of the experience unfortunately.
There’s a lot of cool Native American horror stories and folklore that I find is untouched by mainstream fiction that is waiting to be discovered.
@chedderman101 I bet. Any good sources for the folklore?
@@JasonFuhrman I’ll have to ask my older relatives and my siblings on that haha but I’ll definitely check back on this when I reach out to them.
A vast majority of it is just passed down through stories and experiences.
I know the one about hearing a whistle at night it means to just keep on walking and don’t look back.
Or if you hear the “death whistle” and smell sweet grass it means someone was practicing “bad medicine” on your family.
Either superstition but I tend to believe in the experiences of people who are known to not “f around and lie” about stuff like that haha
@@chedderman101 those sound awesome. I've always loved horror stories based on folklore.
There was so much hype, I wanted to like the book as well as the writer. Finally realized his style just isn't for me, I'm glad others really enjoy him. But this book, I would rather watch paint dry than attempt to read it again.
And still has a lot of praise. I truly don't get it. Even from booktubers I feel mostly have good taste. His line by line writing is great, that's what makes it all the more disappointing.
@@JasonFuhrman , maybe all The praise comes from The fact that The author is native american...
I also quit it. My rule of thumb is to give a book 20 pages. I gave it twice that and realized I knew almost nothing about all the characters or whatever was happening.
That is a better rule than mine. Maybe I need to adopt it haha
@@JasonFuhrman the idea behind it is that the part of the book where the author established the book's rules
@@aeusoes1 good point. I feel like a book should grab you from the first page, but that seems to be rare anymore, at least for me.
@@JasonFuhrman yeah, I like it when a book does that. Part of me worries that maybe I'm being too impatient, but I also think it's an issue of trusting the author to deliver. If I'm not given something to make me believe that going through the less interesting parts will be worth it, I'm less likely to be patient.
I know all books are subjective and I can appreciate the reason this book was written, but honestly….very underwhelming. I was more engaged in the social, economic, and psychological hurdles Native Americans were subject to in this book, but the horror was dramatically lacking for me. Never was I scared, chilled, or frankly concerned. The begging and the end are by far the best parts but the middle seemed like 160 pages of filler just to take up space. But I can see the importance of this book and that, to me, was a very strong part of this novel.
Ultimately, I gave it 3 stars and that was solely for the social commentary and depiction of Native culture and hardships in the modern era. Sadly, I was one of the weakest horror novels I’ve ever read. It took much longer than I expected to get through it and I was never really hooked on the story being told. Overall, an enlightening book but not my favorite
I loved it. The last 1/3 of this book is wild. That said, The Only Good Indians is literary fiction disguised as horror IMO
I do enjoy literary fiction. I just wish it would have kept my attention. Glad you enjoyed it!
@@JasonFuhrman I read this as part of a group read, and it didn’t click with everyone so you’re definitely not alone. I actually went into this expecting a more straightforward genre novel and it caught me off guard. I will say it took me until I was about half way through until I really got locked in with Jones’s writing style, and then I was loving it-the book itself gets wild towards the end too, so if you ever feel like giving it a second chance, the payoff really is worth it!
@@virgilflowers9846 I just might. I've read a few comments that have made me possibly reconsidering. Including yours, so thanks!
Hi, Jason!
Hey, Carla!
Not going to lie, I subscribed because you’re handsome and have nice eyes. Is that horrible? 😂
Ok.. not just that. I love books and your videos are awesome too.
Haha not at all. Thanks for the compliment and sub!
I was so excited for this book it had so many good reviews and the blurb was right up my street. But my god was it a slog! It just was a rambling mess. The characters were boring, no actual horror and it is such a shame it had so much potential. But for me it was dull, lacking direction and just didn’t hit. But now I know a lot about basketball 😅💀. I almost dnf’d it multiple times. Amazing concept but for me it just wasn’t a horror really and it was just painful to get through.
hahaha love the Basketball comment. Yeah, I just don't see what everyone saw in this. I recently tried the audiobook to see if that would help me get through it, but I stopped again.
@@JasonFuhrman That’s what I did I listened to it on audible during my shift. The narrator was great but it was the story itself. I really don’t know why people like it 😅. Each to their own but I didn’t enjoy it at all. The characters weren’t even likeable so I was like right we’ll go ahead get them ….. after your basketball game 👀🥴
I powered thru and finished it and it did get better but I still wouldn’t recommend this to anyone…might make a good B movie though
Thanks for the honesty. The key part being "recommendation."
I finished it today…. Didn’t like it much. It is more unsettling than horrifying like John Langan’s The Fisherman…..Characters are similar with no clear distinction.
Maybe that stuff happens after the first 30 percent. I wish I would have at the very least experienced something unsettling.
I just finished The Only Good Indians. Love the cover art! Dark and classy! Sad to say the story within doesn't align with this, the writer's fast pace and uptempo prose evokes a good time, not atmosphere or suspense or dread, and the back cover synopsys isn't truthful. "...a desperate struggle for their lives..." The only real struggling going on in most of this book is the day-to-day anxiety these four Native American Indian men feeling they have assimilated and become too much like the white folks they live among and it has eroded their integrity the eschewed traditions would have instilled within them. This "am I a good Indian?" anxiety is on nearly every page. They're almost constantly thinking about that. In that sense, this story is for everyone. I'm a white man and I have little-to-no pride or respect for my own kind's typical behavior and I know what the whole world needs is more integrity, not tradition itself or religion or politics or virtue signaling. The biggest struggle in the book is finally felt with one of the friends' daughter in the final pages. While throughly modern, this kid overcomes by NOT being traditional at all, but by simply having the integrity her elders lack. That simple message is something all humans could use, not just anxious Indians.
I did not dislike this book, but I didn't love it. The auther has something to say and he said it well and I respect his POV on modern life and race and tradition and so on and I enjoyed reading all of that, AND he knows how to keep a reader moving along, but he didn't scare me at all, sorry to say. I did not struggle with this book like others have, I sped through it in about a week, except what others are saying about being confused with the writer's description-forming is spot on. I also had to re-read many passages many times and sometimes STILL came away without a f***ing understanding what the author is trying to communicate to the reader. Was there no editor or pre-press readers who would chime in and say "Stephen, I love you, but I simply don't get what this sentence MEANS"? (Fun fact: STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES IS AN ENGLISH PROFESSOR!) I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a scary story and I am not keen to try another Jones book. If this is the one that earned him heaps of praise, I can only imagine that his others are even less effective. He would do well writing horror-comedy or drama, but not horror-horror.
Well said. Thanks for your perspective. I do respect the story from a Native American man trying to say something regarding his culture and how it fits in the world today, and I'm sure if I was of the same background I would have gotten something out of it, but I still thinks a story should transcend things like that to be able to be enjoyed by anyone. All that stuff should be extra, not required.
I DNFed this as well. Some of the same reasons you did. Characters were not compelling. The actual horror scenes like the prologue were so good! He did paint a good picture of that. I didn’t like the characters. The main guy annoyed me how he kept referring to his wife as not an Indian. Like she was sub human. He couldn’t share the story with her because she was not an Indian. But you’ll do each other?! Yeah no. I wanted the diversity to be normalized. I was ok with him mentioning that she wasn’t but after about 25% in the book I was annoyed. Stupid IMO. DNF but I also did not write a bad review on goodreads. Moving on lol
I felt like I had to make this video because of all the positivity around it haha
@@JasonFuhrman then I’m glad you did. Glad I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t feeling it. It droned too much
I loved it but too each there own. I've disliked things many liked
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BASKETBALL IN THIS BOOK?!
Hahaha
Good call, I wish I had quit this one as well. I think basketball fans will enjoy this book though.
And maybe fantasy readers? Although maybe that bit doesn't last haha
@@JasonFuhrmanI’m a fantasy reader and I hated it. So disappointed in it I really don’t think I should know more about basketball then the threat 😅
i totally hated it. horror my butt!
haha!
148 pages and then I noped it straight into to the pile to go to a charity shop! Wouldn’t even offer to a friend because I disliked it so much. I tried so hard with this, but life is too short to force yourself to read something, just because everyone else seems to love it.
I completely agree :)
Damn right!!!!
Ungh. This guy is the worst. I only made it 3:37 through this 6:57 video. You’d think I’d have been hooked by this point, but I’m just not.
This guy is like every over-loud pontificator on a movie line you’ve ever had to suffer, spouting all the things he read about the movie before watching it. Straining to impress.
All I learned from this video is to disregard his opinions.
Thanks for taking the time to make a comment ;). Let's hope you quit subpar novels like you quit this video.
@@JasonFuhrman I’m not sure why I feel defensive about this book, and I’ve never read any of your stuff, so who am I to say... I’m not quite sure why you made this video other than to crap on someone’s hard work, but I suppose I’ll just say that as an author, that’s some strange karma you’re spitting out into the world. Glass houses, my friend.
@@barebow_cercatrova I'd be honored if Stephen Graham Jones made a video to point out flaws in any of my work. Or anybody. Anyone who takes the time to read let alone make a video about something I made would be pretty awesome. I don't make these videos to crap on people's hard work. I do it to help identify what might be wrong with a book, and thereby hopefully help other people know they aren't crazy when something "doesn't feel right." And you can see in the comments section, the vast majority feel the same. I know what the traditional publishing route yields: tons of developmental and copy editing. While the writing on a line by line basis was great, and I say that in the video, structurally and atmospherically I wasn't feeling a horror novel, which was, as I also mention in the video, very disappointing because I loved the concept, setting, and line by line writing.