I love Stephen Graham Jones, I love horror, I love short horror particularly. So no surprise that I enjoyed this.

It was a different kind of haunting: not a floaty white-dress lady in an ancient castle, but a bloody, horribly familiar thing lurking underneath your cheap and flimsy house. There's always something so uncomfortably real about Jones's stories, and that's why they're so scary.

I didn't expect this book to hit me quite as hard as it did. For a book that reads so quickly, it's quite dense and layered.

The plot is fairly basic. A fatherless boy begins to realize that his dead father is inhabiting their home- physically below their modular home's floor and also psychically in his and his brother's heads. At first, he believes that his father has come to help them. Eventually, he realizes that his father is feeding on his brother in order to manifest himself more fully.

That's basically what happens. But thematically this book is really complex. This is a book about broken families and the men that come from those families, the cycle of destruction that these men can wreak without even noticing. This is a book about how boys long for their fathers no matter what those fathers are. It's a book about Native American culture and how it's been blasted apart by colonial invaders who took their land, traditions, and pride.

It's also a really creepy book. I'm glad I read it in the daytime! The end was something that I wasn't quite expecting, and it made the book linger even longer in my mind. The dreamlike quality of the happenings in the book made everything in it slightly surreal- I couldn't tell what was supposed to be real and what wasn't, what was symbolic and what was literal, and that also affected my emotions after I finished. This is very skillful writing and I'm interested to see what the author does next. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because reading it was not pleasant, although it was engrossing. That's possibly emotion getting in the way, but hey, that's part of the reading experience.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgally.

It's hard for me to unreservedly recommend Stephen Graham Jones. He's a unique writer, with a seemingly crooked perspective on just about everything. I wonder, sometimes, if he pulls his ideas out of a fishbowl.
"Vampires, on bicycles!"
"Zombie Apocalypse, with academics!"
"Werewolf Bildungsroman!"
Mapping the Interior might be "Native American ghost story, featuring super gross reanimation."
But he's dark. So, so dark, with very little hope illuminating the darkness. He understands how awful humans can be, but he doesn't leaven his writing with the hope that things can get better, or that people can change. It makes it hard to read him in large doses, at least for me. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, give him a shot.

A superb tale of growing up and dealing with events beyond one’s age, Mapping the Interior is a one-sitting read. Compelling characters and timeless themes of family & loss drive this tale accentuated by Native American lore. This was my first Stephen Graham Jones read which I quickly followed up with another. He is a wonderful storyteller and I need more of his fiction in my life.

This was one of my favorite reads of 2017 and so good I had to purchase a copy.

Content warning: abuse, implied rape, death, weird ghost stuff, animal abuse, ableism

Thank you to netgalley and Tor for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A boy can feel a presence in his house, and then he sees the spirit of his father. Weird things start to happen that shouldn't be happening. This is a Native American horror story and it truly freaked me out so it's best not to know too much about it.

I don't really know how to go about writing this review. I am not one for horror, because often I think it's just a silly plot or it's just not scary, but this was. I had a feeling this would get me because if anyone can write scary spirit stories it's Native Americans (besides Eastern Asians whew I don't want to talk about some of that). I had to put this down a few times because I just felt stressed out generally a bit wigged out to be honest, and that's exactly what I want in a horror novel.

The entirety of the novel is so ingrained in being a NA story and that's wonderful. It talks about NA spirits, NA myths and legends and growing up Native in a country run by people that tried to completely eradicate your race. But I think, now I can't speak for he rep being white, that this novel is what NA kids would love. Jones himself is Native American so I'm pretty sure the representation is going to speak to at least some people.

I know you're probably looking at that list of content warnings and thinking "uh that's a lot" and it is. There's so much awful stuff in this book for SUCH a short novel, but it's challenged on page and never shown in a good light. But if you have any triggers be wary because it's really affecting.

I think if I'm in the mood for it I will happily read more from Jones because his writing is incredible, the way he wrote really fit with exactly the feeling he was trying to portray.

Full review at https://hellnotes.com/mapping-the-interior-book-review/

When it comes to great American authors, the southern US has bred more than its fair share. Names like Joe R. Lansdale and Flannery O’Connor come instantly to mind, as does the legendary Cormac McCarthy. And they don’t get much more American than Blackfeet author Stephen Graham Jones, nor, to my thinking, much greater. A relatively new discovery for me, Jones became an instant favorite with his collection, The Ones That Got Away, and further cemented that status with After the People Lights Have Gone Off, another compilation of some of the best short stories I’ve read in my life. Following along on the heels of those two exemplary books, I’ve since read Mongrels, the most brilliant werewolf story I’ve ever read, and “The Night Cyclist,” a Tor.com original story that has him taking the vampire legend in a direction nobody’s taken it before and confirming his position as the author I currently consider to be my favorite working storyteller. Because there are no templates in Jones lexicon. Every single story or novel he writes is a completely unique thing, even when he’s embracing tried and true themes, and you know that when you come to his work, it’s always going to be something completely new and fresh. His newest novella from Tor.com continues that trend in stellar fashion.

Mapping the Interior introduces us to Junior, an American Indian teenager living with his single mother and little brother, Dino, in a small modular home in the middle of nowhere. Beginning with the enticingly enigmatic sentence,

“I was twelve the first time I saw my dead father cross from the kitchen doorway to the hall that led back to the utility room.”

Jones leads us immediately forward into this haunting tale of a young boy trying to find his way—and himself—in a lonely world, protecting his little brother from bullies while studying the mystery of his father’s ghostly appearance and seeming guardianship. Junior finds himself being rescued from danger on a few occasions by some unseen force that he is certain is his father and, in time, comes to believe is in the process of “returning” to them, somehow becoming more whole with each visitation he makes. But, in the process of trying to solve the riddle of his father, he may be pushing his little brother closer to a grave danger that only he can save him from.

There is a boy (we never learn his real name, he's just referred to as Junior, the shadow of his father).

Junior has a brother, Dino, who clearly has learning disabilities.

Junior has a mother, who's doing her best to raise her boys: she brought them off the reservation to get them to a better school, even though it meant leaving behind her support network, her family and friends. She's prepared to make sacrifices.

The father, though, is absent - and from that absence this strange bitter story springs. Junior begins to think he sees his dead father (either he drowned, or he was drowned) in the house. It happens around the same as his mother takes up with the Sheriff's deputy: "a boy needs a man" she says. Into that glimpse of hope, Junior pours all his attention, all his desire.

The father, when glimpsed, is in full Native American regalia - he was a "fancy dancer", he could have been the greatest dancer ever. The father - the ghost - and his costume are described in detail several times, despite Junior only seeing glimpses of him in the shadows. Is there some ceremony going on? Is this an overworked imagination, seizing on details seen elsewhere and creating an illusion? It's ambiguous, as is the intent of the ghost (if ghost it is). Why has he come back? To heal or harm? It could be either.

The story is played out against a harsh background: poverty (a $300 dollar charge when the ambulance has to be called out - how will they pay that?), merciless bullying of Dino by the kids on the bus, the hostile neighbour, and the parched, dusty countryside. Nothing is what it seems and yet Junior's attempt to "map the interior" - examine every square inch of the house for evidence that, yes, his father was there - gives his life some purpose (even if we suspect that the interior which really needs to be mapped is his own).

It is, as I said, a bitter story and oh, such a sad one:

"In movies, after you beat the bad guy, the monster, then all the injuries it inflicted, they heal right up. That's not how it works in the real world."

And in the end, there is real horror. The kind which leaves your dreams uneasy and sends you back through the text to see if you have misread. something

This is a short book, and compulsive. It's easy to read in one sitting. The prose is often electric:

"I can see my dad slitting his eyes in the bleachers like that all those years ago. What he's doing, it's pretending. What he's doing, it's waiting".

"He hadn't made it through to graduation - who ever does?"

There are moments of such sadness: lives blighted, Dino, whose condition may (or may not) be connected with his mother's drinking (she says not: don't judge). The dog left behind ("Chuckhead hadn't come with us here. He was living on the streets now, trying to put on fat for winter, or else becoming fat for one of the bigger dogs.")

It's a hard read in many ways, a powerful book, one that stays with you afterwards.

I'd strongly recommend it.

You know when you read a book and you know that at least 50% of the symbolism, comparisons, philosophy and psychology went over your head? That's what Mapping the Interior felt like to me. I know there is obviously a lot of importance and density to this novella but ask me to explain it or pull out snippets and I struggle knowing I missed a lot of somethings I can't articulate.

<i>"There are rules, I know. Not knowing them doesn't mean they don't apply to you.</I>

This is a story of a Native American boy whose mourning a lost father, coping with leaving the reserve, trying to protect his damaged little brother and be the man of the house for his mom. It's a sad story and one I have heard variations of from other Natives in Canada many times. Having attended a junior high school where we had reserve kids it was always obvious that us "city kids" (as they called us) had it pretty darn good. Even those who didn't have it so good we're still better off in comparison. So very sad and yet so true.

<I>"...like the same stupid person is trying life after life until he gets it right at last."</I>
Mapping the Interior is about the cycle of shame, loss and how you are destined to be your fathers son whether you want to be or not.

And while, again, I'm not sure I understood all the nuances of the book I'm glad I read it. If only for a reminder, in the year that Canada celebrates 150 years as a nation, that we built this nation on top of others existing culture and life. Be it right or wrong at the time it happened, and given we can't change that, we should at least remember and reach a hand out to help break the cycle and provide opportunities for those children and adults who are stuck in a life of poverty and helplessness.

It's difficult to give literature like this a rating. It almost feels inappropriate to rate it. Like I can't put a value on something I can't entirely understand. So I will give four stars because it's an important story told in this novella, but the deep metaphorical overlay of the story leaves me feeling inadequate and therefore is not going to be good for everyone; nor does it make its point in an easily accessible way.

Stephen Graham Jones’ novella MAPPING THE INTERIOR is an extremely unsettling story about a young boy haunted by the ghosts of his family, both literally and figuratively. Compelling, searing, and very well written, this is work of short fiction will be on my mind for quite some time; however, I can’t entirely say that I enjoyed the experience of reading it.

After his father’s death, Junior’s mom moves him and his little brother Dino off the reservation for a new start. Years later, the family lives in a similarly impoverished community, but it’s home to far fewer Native people and slightly more high school graduates. Three guesses which one really impacts Junior and Dino’s lives more. The two brothers are almost completely socially isolated; Dino has an unnamed developmental disorder and doesn’t function at the same cognitive level as his peers, and Junior spends most of his time trying to protect him from bullies. By all appearances, neither one has any friends aside from each other. Things aren’t great at home but they’re not terrible either. At least, they’re not until Junior’s sleepwalking takes a disturbing turn when he sees his father slinking about their trailer in the dead of night. Why has he come back, and how? Has Junior seen a ghost…or is something more sinister afoot?

Stephen Graham Jones is an incredible writer, and his talent is showcased to the fullest in MAPPING THE INTERIOR. The style won’t be for everyone – choppy, non-linear sentences with a borderline stream of consciousness feel to them – but I thought it worked perfectly for this story. Junior has no clue what’s going on with his father’s reappearance in his life, and his simultaneous excitement and apprehension are conveyed perfectly through the writing. This is also an incredibly quotable novella, with a number of absolutely gut-wrenching observations on what it’s like to be a Native American kid, what it’s like to be an outsider, and what it’s like to grieve a parent. As creepy as the traditional horror elements like ghosts are, I actually found the psychological and emotional turmoil that Junior experiences to be the most disturbing part of this story. Love it or hate it, you’d have to be made of stone to be emotionally unaffected by Junior’s voice.

A real sense of imminent danger lingers throughout the entirety of MAPPING THE INTERIOR, particularly as Junior starts to sleepwalk more and Dino begins to deteriorate. There’s clearly a connection between these two things and the fact that Junior’s dad has reappeared, growing stronger with each passing day. Scientifically minded Junior decides to approach the mystery in a logical fashion, mapping the interior of their home to trace his father’s footsteps in hopes of finding the source of his power. What’s allowing him to interact with the human world after his passing? Is it because Junior so desperately longs for him to be alive again? I won’t spoil anything, but let’s just say that I wasn’t surprised by the big reveal…but I was horrified by it.

The only thing stopping me from really loving this novella was how completely and utterly bleak it was. I can deal with dark stories – in fact, I usually love them – but I need at least a glimmer of hope. The level of horror and sadness in this one was honestly just too much for me. Your mileage may vary though, and if you’re a horror fan I think you’ll be quite impressed. MAPPING THE INTERIOR is a masterfully executed story about a young boy grappling with grief, what it means to be an outsider, and the sins of the past. Ultimately it was just a little too depressing for me, but I’m glad I read it because Stephen Graham Jones is now firmly on my radar.

Mapping the Interior is a chillingly hair raising, yet emotional read. This novella grabbed me from the beginning and kept me locked in until the very end. This was my first time reading a story by Stephen Graham Jones, but I will be grabbing some of his backlist titles soon. I have most definitely been missing out. I won't go into any plot details so as not to give away spoilers. I think that it is best to go into this one knowing as little as possible. The fun of reading stories like this is the uncertainty of exactly what is unfolding and which turn the story will take. Although this is a quick read, it isn't an 'easy' one. Jones writes in a way that makes the reader pay attention or be left behind. Jones doesn't spoon feed nuanced information, he allows his reader to make the necessary connections on their own.

If you are looking for a read with a little creepiness without being an outright horror story, I would recommend picking up Mapping the Interior and experiencing a ghost story that will stick with you long after you finish.

I know this one is getting a lot of love, but it just doesn't do much for me. It's a short read, so I don't feel particularly cheated by the time spent with it, and although I found it pretty dull overall, I feel largely ambivalent about the work as a whole.

The biggest barrier between me and the story was the writing style. The writing was just too choppy for my tastes, and the sentence constructions irked me. How so? Well, a lot of the sentences, it was written like this. "Our house, like I said, it was modular." "Anyway, the house we were renting, it was 1140 square feet." "The difference, it was that I wasn't asleep." "The reason I didn't, it was that I think I finally went into shock." "The reason she got a different lightbulb, it was that when she'd turned it on..." There's a sentence like this on damn near every page, and frankly it irked the shit out of me. This style of writing, it was something that got old for me fast.

I did appreciate the focus on Native American myth and culture, though, and the ways in which it fueled this particular ghost story. And while there were a couple really good scenes, their impact was dulled with unnecessary wordiness. This might have worked better as a short story, but as a novella it feels too padded.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

<b> Mapping the Interior </b> touched me in a way that's hard to define.

A young man, missing and thinking of the father who died before he could really be known, believes he saw his father coming through a doorway. From there, we learn more about this young man, his family, Native American culture, and superstitions.

In a way, this could be interpreted as a ghost story. In another interpretation it could be thought of a coming of age story-with perhaps a little psychological horror on the side. However it's interpreted, whatever genre it's labeled, the fact remains that it moves the reader. It's a powerful piece of work.

I'm not going to go further into the plot, because I think the reader should discover it for themselves. I know that it brought me back to certain points in my childhood and how I felt about things, but I can't seem to adequately explain how it made me feel. <b> Mapping the Interior </b> resonated deeply with me and I'll have to leave it at that. I give it my highest recommendation.

*Thanks to Tor and to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this novella, in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

Wow. This novella. It is amazingly rich, full of details and a phenomenal main character. There's not much I can say without spoiling the plot, and even now I still don't know what the 'truth' is - a true stroke of a good writer. There are twists and turns that leave you questioning everything, the protagonist, the story, the reality of his world. Truly excellent. Additionally, the perspective that Jones brings into his character and his heritage is refreshing. Having never read anything like this, I am utterly blow away.