Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

Mongrels is an inspired story with a fascinating take on the classic werewolf tale, but it ultimately failed to sink its claws into me.

A werewolf coming-of-age centered on the foibles of a destitute Southern family… what a premise. I really wanted to love this book, but it just doesn’t deliver on the idea’s promise, for me. I really wanted a continuous narrative, where the narrator clearly grows over time, where you can feel the weight of his evolution into a monster, but I didn’t get that here. Mongrels is a kind of memoir; I think that format suits the story poorly. It left me disappointed, and often bored.

While I wasn’t a fan overall, I really loved all the tidbits about werewolf oral history and human-werewolf biology, especially as told from the perspective of a broadly uninformed kid who hasn’t yet experienced it for himself.

It’s hard for me to say who this book would be good for, so I won’t. But, if you do read it, just remember you’re not getting a true bildungsroman type of thing. Take that as you will.