Bingo: The Wilds (making my 5th bingo with row 1)
One fall, four Blackfeet friends go on a hunting trip, and take advantage of an opportunity to kill a large number of elk – elk that they are not supposed to be shooting. 10 years later, this terrible decision catches up with them, as something from their past is out for revenge.
This book had been sitting on my shelf for a couple of months, but I moved it to the top of my to-read pile after ardaigle recently reviewed it and said it was *so* scary, which is absolutely true. Also true: Bonnie’s horror at an act carried out by one of the main characters, Lewis, and andtheIToldYouSos’s description of Stephen Graham Jones’s writing as fascinating and frenetic.
The chapter told from Lewis’s point of view was an absolute stand-out for me; I could not put it down. Over the span of about 20 pages, I went from empathizing with Lewis’s thoughts and actions, to disconnecting as he starts to spiral out of control, to being reeled right back in with its whatthefuckery.
The other cannonballers I linked up top all did a fantastic job covering what makes this book so special: the horror is well-executed and is used to tell a story of inter-generational trauma, of the push and pull of belonging to a community but also wanting to escape it, and of the consequences of your actions. It’s a great exploration of what it’s like to be Native American in contemporary America –that it means different things to different people– all while keeping you on the edge of your seat, gasping.
