Wrist

by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler

In 1872, dinosaur hunters become embroiled in a battle over the discovery of fossils in Northern Ontario as their excavation crews are driven mad by a bizarre and terrifying illness.
Over a hundred years later, Church and his family show signs of the same monstrous affliction. As he begins to unravel his family's dark history, Church must race to protect the secrets buried deep in bones and blood.

Set in the fictional town of Sterling and Ghost Lake Reserve, Wrist is Nathan Adler's debut novel.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Indigenous

435 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2016

About the author

Nathan Adler is the author of Wrist and Ghost Lake (Kegedonce Press), and co-editor of Bawaajigan ~ Stories of Power (Exile Editions), he has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, is a first-place winner of the Aboriginal Writing Challenge, and a recipient of a Hnatyshyn Reveal award for Literature. He is Jewish and Anishinaabe, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

Reviews

[Rhoddi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a really good book.

Some books fail because of bad writing. Some fail because of characters the reader can't relate to or situations that seem outlandish. Wrist has a problem that isn't really the writer's fault.

It needs a really good editor.

Wrist is quite readable, with unique, interesting characters, and an interesting play on modern monster stories. But the book needs editing for spelling and grammatical errors, redundancy in info and wording, and plot and flow are a few areas. Plus, one of my big gripes was trying to figure out which character was which, when the author gave some character's multiple names in Native tongue and English. I believe it was by page 86 that I finally figured out who was who.

Are these harsh criticisms? Hell yeah. And this is because the book could have been great, such a triumph, that the fact it didn't receive a better edit ruins it.

I do hope Nathan writes another book, for I believe he does have the potential to create something special.

[Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting monster story.

[Aslan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some editorial flaws but that doesn't stop you from getting immersed in this book with its prose and have you questioning yourself on what is real and what isn't. The line between reality and delusion. This was completely not what I had expected and I really enjoyed reading this novel for my class.

*side note: for books that I am required to specifically read for a class, I judge it differently than books I read for leisure because I see this book within the context of my class. However, I feel that had I picked this book up on a whim instead, I might have felt a lot more grievances.

OK BUT FUCK ME THE END. FUCKING GEOFF AND CHURCH. I JUST WANTED THEM TO BE HAPPY TOGETHER YANNO. THEY'VE BOTH HAD SO MUCH PAIN IN THEIR LIFE. CHURCH'S "Don't go" HURTS ME. HURTS ME SO MUCH. A surprisingly nice relationship between these two and even though I knew this story wouldn't have given them a happy ending, you can't hate a girl for hoping.

And ok, to speak of the overall story, in a lot of ways, nothing was ever really concluded. The whole overall structure of the story in a way seemed to lack any sort of resolution circle and sometimes the writing can get a bit confusing in keeping track of who is who and what is happening. BUT somehow, you still get reeled into the writing and the story. Like the confusion is an intriguing one that keeps you wanting to keep reading.

[Antoine Dumas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in desperate, desperate need of editing. But there's so much potential in the metaphors and the structure of the two parallel timelines. It's worth a fierce listen.