It is a nice nod to the respect for intergenerational wisdom that is a more integral part of American Indian cultures than of the dominant white culture in the United States. (The fourth friend Ricky’s story is only a brief vignette that introduces the novel.) All the friends have a sense of displacement that often echoes that of the elk, whose persona is narrated in the second person, a stylistic choice that underscores both the singularity of the most notable of the slaughtered elk and the plurality of the herd. Remaining on the reservation does not mean a life free of discrimination, though, as evidenced by the stories of Gabe and Cass.
Lewis’s nickname amongst his friends is “Blackfeet,” and the inherent prejudices of law enforcement and the media punctuate his experiences. This allows the author to highlight not only the variety of American Indian life but also the otherness that follows them even if they try to assimilate. Jones spends the most time focusing on Lewis, the friend who flees the reservation for the city (Great Falls, Montana, in this case) and marries a white woman. The author, who is Blackfeet, weaves together the stories of the four friends, showing their lives both on and off the reservation, each marked in different ways by the fateful hunt. Armed with the collective memory of the herd, one cow elk seeks revenge, moving between animal and human form in her quest. Unlike the dominance of the US military after the carnage on that long-ago plain, however, the victory of the four Blackfeet friends is short-lived. Four friends from the Blackfeet reservation venture onto grounds reserved for the elders and surprise a vast herd of elk in a scene reminiscent of the massacre at Wounded Knee. The impetus for the novel’s tension is an illegal hunt. In this case, though, the supernatural seems all too real, and I ruined a night’s rest because I couldn’t stop reading until I knew the ending. Thrillers are not typically my favorite genre, especially those that involve elements of magical realism, a literary device that usually strikes me as contrived. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Gallery / Saga Press: 336 pages, $16.99
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