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Mongrels: A Novel
Mongrels: A Novel
Mongrels: A Novel
Audiobook9 hours

Mongrels: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Nominated for both the Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Awards, and a Best of 2016 selection of Tor.com and Book Riot, acclaimed horror writer Stephen Graham Jones' (The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw) Mongrels goes beyond your typical werewolf story to show a young boy, mired in poverty and always on the run, coming-of-age in a world that fears him and hates his family...but may just be more monstrous than he could ever be.


He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.


For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and narrow escapes—always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will finally know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they’ve been running from for so long are catching up fast now. Everything is about to change.


A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story— funny, bloody, raw, and real—told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly, novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateMay 10, 2016
ISBN9780062471277
Author

Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Reviews for Mongrels

Rating: 4.184210590430622 out of 5 stars
4/5

209 ratings15 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Such a good melding of myth and reality. This was a pure pleasure to read.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful story, characters and narration. I will miss all of it. Definitely recommended.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Awesome book- gory, freaky, and beautiful. If you like werewolves you’ll like this!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book. Loved it. I'll reread it again! ! !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great book by SGJ. This is his original take on a werewolf story. I loved that he didn't feel the need to use the trope of dominance within the packs. Just wait until you see what he does with werewolf piss! Lol
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Just a fantastic coming-of-age story. That happens to be about werewolves. The pacing was so spot-on for me...as much as I would think the contrary, I find I'm really drawn to stories that seem like a lot of exposition until the end comes all of a sudden and you're left with your heart breaking.

    I love the characters so much. So. Much. I'm starting to loathe series books, but damn. I am seriously going to miss these guys. I want to give them all hugs, but I also don't want to get within a hundred mile radius of them either.

    And woohoo for finding a new (to me) author to dive into!

    ********
    I'm counting this for my read-aloud item on Read Harder. I technically read stuff aloud all the time--to children, to myself, to my cats. And since I don't have anyone who'll sit and listen to me read a whole dang novel, I just subjected some of my bookish friends to an excerpt of the chapter about different ways werewolves can die. So I'm calling it completed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An intriguingly different werewolf story, one that feels far more plausible than many.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a coming-of-age story, except in this case the boy is becoming not a man, but a werewolf. The unnamed narrator lives a nomadic life with his aunt and uncle (his parents are dead), who are both werewolves. They crisscross the South, moving on when their nocturnal activities threaten to catch someone's attention. This is a modern take on the werewolf legend, which expounds on some classic tropes (such as an aversion to silver) but also creates an entire subculture and history of the shapeshifters. Unusual and well worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holy shit, man, this was so good. The ending's a punch in the chest, too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A coming of age story of sorts about a boy growing up with his aunt and uncle and learning about his heritage as a werewolf. The writing is excellent. The audiobook was performed beautifully. Jones strikes a perfect balance between letting his story be a *story* and recognizing that it is about a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with werewolves. Recommended.***For Book Club
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A surprising, beautifully written werewolf novel-in-stories about the marginalized and outcast. One of my favorite books of the year.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mongrels is many things: a werewolf story, a horror story, a coming of age story, even a story about the truth in stories.  The narrator, a kid whose mother died in childbirth tells the story of his remaining family, his grandfather who likes to terrify and enthrall him with his tales of being a werewolf, his loose cannon Uncle Darren, and his fiercely protective Aunt Libby.  The kid grows up in frightened anticipation of the wolf that may or may not lurk in his blood, always fleeing the trouble that follows when his aunt or uncle has "wolfed out."Forced to the fringe of society, never staying in one place too long, the kid only has his family to lean on, and he is forced to both love them and fear the unpredictable life they lead as werewolves.  Alternating between past and present, Jones creates a absorbing modern mythology for werewolves that has nothing to do with a full moon.  Instead of embracing the mystery that comes with these creatures, Jones offers up a fascinating take on what it might look like to only semi-predictably change to a wolf in the midst of everyday life and what it looks like to love a wolf like family.  The unnamed kid at the center of the story is the perfect narrator, giving an inside perspective on living with werewolves - werewolves who are also normal people who he loves. As the story goes on, he's trying to carve out an identity for himself whether werewolf is in his blood or not.  As he grows he comes to know that he can't take his grandfather's stories that he grew up on quite at face value because there's a deeper meaning to be found in them, an illumination of past tragedy wrapped up in a garden-variety fireside scary story.I was so captivated by these characters that after I'd turned the last page, I spent the following days depressed that I couldn't read more about them when I got home from work.  Mongrels is a unique easy to read horror story that succeeds in both being a horror story and transcending the genre classification.  The boy's coming of age journey creates the perfect tension as you wait to see if he comes of age as merely a man or as a werewolf, and down to the bitter end, I couldn't decide which would be best. 
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author Stephen Graham Jones combines Southern Gothic with werewolf lore in Mongrels to create a compelling coming-of-age tale about one very dysfunctional family. The story is less a novel than a series of connected vignettes and is told in the first voice by the young protagonist who never gives us his real name. Instead he calls himself by identifying titles like the mechanic and the hitchhiker that relate to the particular event he is recounting. It also does not follow a straight time line and it could have easily become confusing but somehow Jones keeps the thread intact while playing with the normal rules of literature. This is also not your typical werewolf story. In many ways, it is more a story about any marginalized family trying to survive against all odds, having to deal with problems beyond their control – they are, after all, werewolves by birth not choice yet this impacts negatively almost every aspect of their lives forcing them to hide their true nature. There is a sense of ambiguity in how even they relate to their heritage – on the one hand, some embrace it with pride at least on the surface but when the young protagonist shows no signs of becoming a werewolf, clearly his aunt is relieved for him. They are forced onto the fringes of society, poor, living from paycheck to paycheck in crappy low-paying temporary jobs, admittedly a potential danger to others, misunderstood, shunned and feared and constantly on the run from those they call ‘villagers’. In many ways, Mongrels reads almost like a how-to manual for surviving as a werewolf in a hostile world. It lists the things that must be avoided including french fries and the many ways a werewolf can die including by villagers’ torches. Yet, despite this, Jones has created characters who ring true. They are complex and complicated. Their actions may not always seem rational, they are often violent even when in their human form but they are also loyal to their family, loving, humorous, and accepting of each other’s faults. Despite their violent natures and their tendency to eat live baby bunnies, it is impossible not to root for them.Mongrels wasn’t at all what I expected and, admittedly, it took me a while to get into it. However, once I grasped the rhythm of the story, I was completely hooked. Jones uses humour, social commentary, and empathetic characters to create an interestingly original slant on the werewolf story. But it is not just a story about werewolf lore but family lore, the stories we pass on with our genetic makeup to explain how we got to where we are now. And about growing up different, not quite the same as the rest of your family, not quite fitting in with the rest of society. For anyone looking for a completely new take on an old lore, I can’t recommend this highly enough.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I waited to read this because I thought it was just another werewolf story. I was wrong. It turned out to be the best werewolf story I have read. It combines traditional and new lore to tell a different version of werewolf history. That alone would make this a highly recommended read for me. But wait...there's more! This is also a coming of age story. A story of a young boy living with his Grandpa, Aunt, and Uncle in Arkansas. Dysfunctional for sure, but also a close knit family that will do anything for each other. After Grandpa dies and life hits them with one too many curves they are forced to hit the road and scratch out a living while trying to keep the family together. I would also recommend this just for that part of the story. Combine the two? Wow! I also loved the use of stories. How we never knew at first what was true and what was made up. Then over time we slowly filled in the blanks to reveal the family history. I can't recommend this highly enough. Even if you think you don't like werewolf stories or coming of age ones you can't help but be drawn in to this family adventure. My best of the year list is going to be so hard to narrow down with outstanding books like this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Review copyMongrels is a completely different kind of werewolf story, told from the point of view of a teenage werewolf who has yet to shift for the first time. In addition to facing the same issues teens everywhere must deal with, this one faces the uncertainty of when, or even if, he will ever change.I love a good opening line and this one's a gem. "My grandfather used to tell me he was a werewolf." Tell me more.Good literary horror is something to be appreciated, and when you combine that with werewolves, it's time to relax in your favorite reading chair and dig in. Mongrels is not perfect book, but it is awfully good. Told in a series of vignettes, I found the work to be a bit disjointed, but that certainly did not keep me from enjoying this interesting take on werewolves.There are some terribly original concepts floated in this saga, not the least of which is the idea of werewolf pee as a pesticide. When you read the book, this will make perfect sense.Recommended.Mongrels, published by William Morris, is available in hardcover, paperback, e-book, and various audio formats.Stephen Graham Jones is the author of fifteen novels and six story collections, so far. He has received an number of awards. Raised in West Texas. Stephen now lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and children.