This Town Sleeps

I thought this was a beautiful novel. When I found out it was a debut, I was even more impressed.

Dennis E. Staples is an Ojibwe author and I already know that I look forward to a continuing voice from him. There is a lovely blend of traditional and contemporary voices in this book.

The main character, Marion is a young, gay Ojibwe man. It's clear from the beginning of the novel that he is a bit lost about where he belongs. Marion left the reservation when he was young, then returned to live in a town that was close after leaving a relationship. Some of his family is very traditional and throughout the story, Marion struggles with what he believes. There are very beautiful moments when he seems on the path back towards his spiritual show more roots, and then there are times when he seems almost hopeless.

The writing is beautiful. It's often so poetic that I could have read far more of it. Staples has a great style. The tale unfurls as the novel progresses, and more people are brought into the tale. I did find the multiple POVs a little confusing at times; there were a few times when I wasn't quite sure which character I was reading about. But, Staples' writing style more than made up for my minor confusion.

I really enjoyed the infusions of the Ojibwe tradition throughout this story. In a way there's a very traditional story... almost mythical, being told at the same time as there's a modern tale.

Marion has become reacquainted with an old friend from high school. Things are different when they meet again. Marion is an out gay man and Shannon - is closeted and suffering under a childhood filled with toxic masculinity and homophobia. When they meet over a hook-up app they enter into a relationship of sorts. Marion seems to accept it's the way his life will be and Shannon is so busy trying to hide who he is that he's terrified.

As the two men struggle with their differences Marion enters onto a spiritual journey of sorts. One night he seems to bring a dead dog to life and it leads him to the burial place of another friend he grew up with.

This book has a component of mystery in it, an introduction to some Ojibwe traditions and a relationship story. show less

I thought this was a beautiful novel. When I found out it was a debut, I was even more impressed.

Dennis E. Staples is an Ojibwe author and I already know that I look forward to a continuing voice from him. There is a lovely blend of traditional and contemporary voices in this book.

The main character, Marion is a young, gay Ojibwe man. It's clear from the beginning of the novel that he is a bit lost about where he belongs. Marion left the reservation when he was young, then returned to live in a town that was close after leaving a relationship. Some of his family is very traditional and throughout the story, Marion struggles with what he believes. There are very beautiful moments when he seems on the path back towards his spiritual show more roots, and then there are times when he seems almost hopeless.

The writing is beautiful. It's often so poetic that I could have read far more of it. Staples has a great style. The tale unfurls as the novel progresses, and more people are brought into the tale. I did find the multiple POVs a little confusing at times; there were a few times when I wasn't quite sure which character I was reading about. But, Staples' writing style more than made up for my minor confusion.

I really enjoyed the infusions of the Ojibwe tradition throughout this story. In a way there's a very traditional story... almost mythical, being told at the same time as there's a modern tale.

Marion has become reacquainted with an old friend from high school. Things are different when they meet again. Marion is an out gay man and Shannon - is closeted and suffering under a childhood filled with toxic masculinity and homophobia. When they meet over a hook-up app they enter into a relationship of sorts. Marion seems to accept it's the way his life will be and Shannon is so busy trying to hide who he is that he's terrified.

As the two men struggle with their differences Marion enters onto a spiritual journey of sorts. One night he seems to bring a dead dog to life and it leads him to the burial place of another friend he grew up with.

This book has a component of mystery in it, an introduction to some Ojibwe traditions and a relationship story. show less

Dennis E. Staples' This Town Sleeps is a wonderful tapestry to a book with many threads contributing to a rich narrative with multiple moods and perspectives. Marion, the central character, lives near an Ojibwe reservation, which he lived on when he was younger. He's a gay man trying to meet others like him, but having little luck in the small, everyone-knows-everyone area he calls home. One of the novel's main narrative threads is the story of his on-again, off-again relationship with a beyond closeted former high school classmate.

Another important thread takes readers into a world where the ordinary and supernatural overlap. Marion finds himself connected to a spectral dog, who seems to be connected to another former classmate—one show more who was killed immediately after their reservation school team won the state basketball championship. Marion begins to build a friendship with that man's widow and with the daughter he didn't live to meet.

Then there are narrative threads reaching into the past sharing generational stories of some of the "leading" families in the area.

Tommy Orange, author of There. There, has reviewed the novel enthusiastically with good reason. I shares difficult, complex truths of both a literal and a more mysterious kind. show less

This review is based on an ARC.

While I generally liked the story and characters, and I appreciated how realistic it is, there were a few things that kept this book from a higher rating for me. The pacing is okay, but the viewpoints jumped around in a way that confused me at first. I eventually got used to it, but never comfortable really. There were a few times the text was, I assume, purposefully not aligned but I didn't really understand why. Page 132 was the one I noticed most. I couldn't figure out what it added to the story to have the text that way and it was really off-putting for me. I think with a few more edits it would be higher rated though!

For a debut novel, this has a lot going for it. Told from several points of view, this is a story of discovery. The main character Marion wakes up what seems to be the spirit of a dog which leads him to the grave of Kayden Kelliher who was murdered at the age of 17. Marion sets out to understand what has happened and, in the process, he uncovers his Ojibwe family history and his connection to the events of the past. Overall, this was decent. There is a gay love story- think 100 Boyfriends meets ancestral curse. It also deals with inter-generational trauma. There are some characters which lacked development and I think there are some confusing narrative choices. Nonetheless, I was intrigued throughout.

I'm not sure what I think of this book. I picked it up for an Indigenous queer story and I was interested in the sort of ghost story part of it as well. But the narrative was so scattered across so many points of view that I found it hard to follow at times.

Probably my lack of familiarity with the culture didn't help either. I was also disappointed by the "tragic queer love story" trope too.

I did like the writing, I hope to see more from this author, just maybe a little less scattered.

What I wanted was not what I got. This was oddly structured but the descriptions were vivid. I didn't care about anyone, and there was no plot. I learned a few new things, though. That was nice.