Night of the Living Rez

"This story of a family living in the reservation and experiencing what pain they are going through was raw, brutal, and beautiful. "

"This was a beautiful, painful read. The back and forth, the slow reveal of details, and the way it all comes together in the last 3 stories is just perfect. "

"Disappointing. Tales of endless dysfunction and pointless lives get boring fast without at least a couple of interesting characters. Tommy Orange, Richard Wagamese , Sherman Alexie, Joshua Whitehead, and Mona Susan Power have all created memorable , deeply layered novels with troubled but fascinating Native characters and reservations. Unfortunately, no one in this gloomy episodic novel evokes a spark of interest. Kids throw sticks and rocks at each other, smoke, and do drugs; adults bicker, nag, smoke and get drunk; kids grow into adults who drop out of school, steal, get into fights, smoke, do drugs and get drunk. That’s about it. While David, the central character, is sympathetic in a hapless sort of way, Talty has not given him enough of an inner life to make us care."

"I came into this book thinking there would be a new set of characters in each story, to my pleasant surprise it turned out to be two sets of characters-- but then the author surprises me with an interconnectivity I could have only hoped for in the beginning. I ripped through these stories, and I am hungry for more! A great read, personal, heartstringing, and exposure to personal culture."

"This book is so great. It's not what I expected and a new genre for me to read, but I loved it. It was very interesting, intriguing, and enlightening reading these various short stories of life on the rez for these Native Americans, though after reading this book, I hesitate to say Native American because it's mentioned in one story that it's not always preferred to be called that. I hope I've never upset or offended someone because I called them Native American. There's so much to navigate and learn about other cultures, we really have no clue unless we ask.<br/>In this book, there are various stories, mostly with the same characters throughout, but in different scenarios and settings. It shows and tells so much about the people and the life on the rez. There's so much heartache, happiness, sadness, and everything illustrated by these stories bringing these people, their stories, and this reservation to life. After reading these stories, it makes me want to know more about these people and more curious about what else I don't know about how they do things differently or look at things in another way. <br/>This is a great, enlightening, and enriching read that left me wondering and wanting more as well as examining myself and a reminder of how I shouldn't assume things about others or anything. I would definitely recommend this book to others for a brilliant look at life on the rez with thought-provoking stories.<br/>Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tin House for letting me read and review this 5-star read. All thoughts and opinions are my own."

"This is a collection of short stories about incidents in the life of one character on a reservation in Maine throughout his life. Some of the stories were better than others (the stories about the friends messing around kind of blended together for me, but the titular story was incredible) and they're told out of chronological order for a reason I couldn't really grasp aside from putting the best story at the end."