breathes new life into werewolves in fiction

Mongrels  breathes new life into werewolves in fiction. Stepehen Graham Jones  sets a story in a real world with seemingly real people and real life situations. By the end of the book, I began thinking of werewolves as more plausible than bigfoot to some degree.  I think what has been lacking in werewolf related fiction is werewolves that fit into the real world.  Mongrels is the Salem's Lot of werewolf fiction, sits perched at the top of the heap and worthy of Stoker consideration.

Graham is a hard author to put into a category, but I think experimental is a good fit. Mogrels , for instance, doesn't have a traditional plotline where the protagonist has a big happening early in the book that sets the stage for the rest of the book. Instead, the entire "plot" follows a young man and his family (aunt and uncle who are werewolves) as the young man comes of age. There really is not an overreaching event, but several vignettes of places and happenings of a wandering nomadic family of werewolves. The formatting and approach of the book aren't a hindrance but effectively keeps the reader engaged moving from one place and event the next.

Where the book really shines is the way Jones is able to make the characters believable. If there were really werewolves, how would they have to live? Well, werewolves are creatures of rage and hard to control and couldn't live within society's center, but at its edges. Vagabonds, hobos, homeless or transient folks, in general, would be where they'd exist. They'd live a life of poverty , of  suspicion and anxiety. That's exactly what the author highlights in this book. I happen to have lived a life of poverty growing up and a lot of the things these characters do, just to survive and deal with crappy cars, doing morally questionable things and moving over and over again ring true with me.

The characters are very realistic even though they are werewolves if you grew up like I did you know a guy like Darren and you probably knew a woman like Libby and probably had a storytelling grandpa as well. Darren is a clearly flawed individual, even perhaps among werewolves but deep down has a heart of gold. Libby is the loving mother hen, that might rip your face off. Many families have secrets, this one is no different and that's a large part of the story.

Another great aspect is that while the base of Stephen Graham Jones' werewolves is set with the traditional werewolf, he has created a new mythos  and lore for werewolves. Where did they come from? How do they breed? Consideration for what they eat while in wolf form and what happens if it's still there when they turn back to human is well covered.

The narration is also very good, but not quite as good as the prose. The narration was done by Chris Patton and Jonathan Yen, I'm no sure  which one is doing each part. Patton is a veteran of over a hundred audiobook credits, including other horror greats such as Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" and Poppy Z Brite's "Lost Souls". Jonathan Yen also has many credits but I'm not familiar with any of his previous work. I believe that Patton is narrating the present story line , while Yen is narrating the chapters with that take place in the past.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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24 people found this helpful

To Stephen Graham

I finish one book, and then I want to start another. I'll keep going until I finish one I don't like. Good work!

2 people found this helpful

Engaging Tale

Highly engaging coming of age tale. Mongrels takes everything you think you know about werewolves and uses it against you in. The narrative uses deception to get at the real truths in clever ways. Narrator Chris Patton is superb in his performance of the bulk of the novel while Jonathan Yen offers a interesting counterbalance to the tale.

5 people found this helpful

Alternating readers

Each narrator is 4 star independantly but they alternate chapters, which is kinda jarring. Story is great though.

1 person found this helpful

Must-Read Indigenous Horror for Werewolf Fanatics

This is my third SGJ story within a few days, albeit my first novel. This is a smart book and one in which feels entirely relatable and somewhat realistic despite the supernatural aspects. I can’t really add anything unique compared to the hundreds of reviews on here. It is a quick read, as it is conversational and very informal. It has smarts, heart, spooks, and laughs. I had a great time devouring it. *licks lips*

Finished this for my second time August 5th with my book club, the HOWL Society (r/horrorlit book club). This time I listened to the audiobook and really loved it!!

1 person found this helpful

Extremely violent and graphic

the author does a good job building feelings if discomfort. the take on werewolf lore is so so. the descriptions of gore are intense and probably gratuitous.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent characters

With an interesting take on the werewolf story. I really enjoyed this book and I’ve thought of the characters now and again since I read it several months ago.

100% all around

I don’t understand the reviews that complain about the two narrators. They were fantastic. This is one of my new favorite SGJ books—loved the originality, the intimacy, the family.

Boring

I have no idea how werewolves can be made boring, but they are here. The narrative is meandering and disjointed. And the themes and the plot have no particular resolution or direction. If you're OK with just tagging along with an author with no expectations for plot or insight, I guess this would be OK. But I want a story with a beginning, middle, and end, or some profound insight to offer. I found neither so was disappointed.

Wonderful

A brilliant modern deconstruction of werewolf mythology, Jones takes a horror concept and tells a heartwarming story of a family just struggling to survive, and a coming of age tale of a young boy becoming a man in a world he wants desperately to be a part of and to understand. In a way, it works as an allegory for immigrants, or people who just can't seem to find a place in society, so they're constantly on the move, hiding from a place that threatens them with violence even as they try to call it their home.

I loved this book.