The Only Good Indians
by Stephen Graham Jones
A Review
If this were a 1970s horror B movie, it would
be called “Revenge of the Elk Head Woman”, which more or less sums up its
central narrative idea. Just before Thanksgiving,
four friends – Ricky, Lewis, Cassidy and Gabe – all members of the Blackfeet
Nation, take part in an elk hunt, which leads them out-of-bounds to an
elders-only area of the reservation. On that fated day they do not just break
the law. They go against a more ancient,
natural code. In the heat of the kill,
Lewis shoots a young, pregnant elk cow.
Her death is slow and painful.
Lewis, immediately feeling guilty, promises the dying animal that nothing
was going to spoil…no part of her could go to waste. He tries hard to keep his word – ten years
later, despite having settled down with a white wife away from the reservation,
he still holds on to the cow’s fur.
Evidently, this does nothing to appease the soul of the elk, or whatever
spirit animates these creatures.
The four friends are marked by this deed which,
tragically, is less heinous than plain unfortunate. The novel starts with Ricky’s death at the
hands of a group of drunk, white roughnecks, hardly a supernatural event. Yet, in his last moments what Ricky glimpses
is the unexpected image of a great herd of elk, waiting. It is a warning of things to come. A decade after that memorable hunt, the elk
cow returns as half-human, half animal monster, to seek out the three survivors
and mete out her revenge.
All supernatural tales expect us to suspend our
disbelief, but they still tend to follow an internal logic, one that is easy to
fathom in the context of the story. The
shapeshifting entity created by Jones, however, is hard to pin down; the
mechanics of its manifestations difficult to explain. Is the Elk Head Woman an anthropomorphic,
physical entity? Is it a human
reincarnation of the killed elk? Is it some sort of collective representation
of “elkhood”, engaged in a cosmic battle between Man and Elk, hunters and
hunted? Or could it be a projection of guilty consciences? Are its powers
merely physical? Can it mess with its victims’ minds and with Fate itself as is
suggested by some of the narrative twists? The Elk Head Woman is all this and more. It is significant, in fact, that when the
characters in the novel come across this monster, their first reaction is
rarely fear – and is more commonly surprise and confusion. Jones here takes a risk which pays off. The elusive nature of the Elk Head Woman could
have made it seem less immediate, less threatening. But it doesn’t – if anything, it adds to its/her
creepiness.
My reference to B Movies isn’t coincidental.
There are some stomach-churning scenes which are clearly influenced by splatter
movies and which, to be honest, are not generally my line of horror. But I
still found the novel gripping, especially its concluding chapters and the
final, nerve-racking showdown between the Elk Head Woman and Gabe’s teenage
daughter Denorah.
What makes this novel special is its use of the
indigenous context and its insightful social commentary about the challenges to
Indian identity. Its characters grapple
with what it means to be Indian in a contemporary society. They bear the weight
of injustices suffered over the centuries and the white prejudice they still
face. They feel bound to honour their
tradition while struggling to understand how to do so in the here and now. When
Gabe and Cass decide to hold a traditional sweat, or purification ceremony,
Gabe asks whether it may be held at night.
To which Cass replies, “Let me check the big Indian rule book…” This exchange is typical of the dark wit
which flashes (alongside the violence) throughout the novel. But it also highlights a central theme of
this book – what is it that makes “a Good Indian”?
Significantly, Stephen Graham Jones is himself
Blackfeet and has first-hand knowledge of the world he portrays and the
challenges facing young Native Americans.
In this novel, the Indian context is not just opportunistic cultural
appropriation or an exotic backdrop to a horror yarn, but is skilfully woven
into the fabric of the narrative and animates its social concerns.
Paperback, 357 pages
Published July 21st 2020 by Titan Books (UK) (first published July 14th 2020)
No comments:
Post a Comment