Books in the Freezer discussion

Thoughts about chapters 13 to the end of Mongrels and the overall story. What did you think? What is your rating?

In the book as a whole, I found it really human in the sense that it dealt with the very gross realities of being part wolf. I don't think I've seen a book dedicate so much to people relieving themselves in all sorts of ways???

I just finished it and gave it 3.0 stars. I think it's well written and I thought the werewolf lore was interesting, but... it's just not my kind of story. I honestly need a more plot driven narrative.

I always hate when I have "meh" opinions on book club books. While I didn't love it, I look forward to reading everyone else's opinions. I suspect Stephanie will enjoy this one more than I did.

So I got the ending I think I was hoping for (no specific spoliers). That being said, I’m not sure how I feel about the book over all. There’s a hypnotic quality to SGJ’s writing that kept me following along but I can’t help thinking the book could have been shortened by at least a third.

I also kept remembering something Barbara Grizzutti Harrison wrote about writers “a magician can pull a rabbit out of a hat and get away with it; a writer's job is to tell us what the rabbit was doing in the hat in the first place.”

I hate to say it but I don’t think Mongrels did a good job of explaining what that rabbit was doing the hat. The narrator doesn’t get the payoff of finding his own way, he just gets the ending he’s been fantasizing about since he was a kid. The sudden explanation starting on about page 260 of the actual ‘rules’ of being a werewolf felt rushed. I really came to enjoy the ambiguity of the origin stories and the questions about everything the narrator hears (do werewolves really have such small bladders or is Darren just spinning a story etc.) Then, all of a sudden, it’s like, nope here’s the rules, here’s the get out of jail free card as it were so now you can be a werewolf without any of the negative consequences that have been discussed at length for the past two hundred pages.

Had we not had that middle portion where they trio road-trips around or had that been much shorter I would have nothing negative (or really ambiguous) to say about the story. But I just don’t see the point of it. To compare it to Head Full of Ghosts, which has a similar back-and-forth narrative structure where we switch between past and present POVs until the whole scope of the story becomes clear, there’s just a lot of loose threads in Mongrels that I don’t remember from HFoG. Or thinking about the Bone Mother which is almost like a story told in a widening spiral, where you get bits and pieces from all over the place until you finally understand the scope, again, I don’t see how/why all the bits of Mongrels fit.

I’m going on about this not because I disliked the book. I really enjoyed most of it, especially the writing style. I’m just frustrated that, to my mind, SGJ failed to stick the landing so in the end we got a very conventional finale to what I thought was an interestingly unconventional werewolf story.

I listened to this on audio because it was the only format my library had. I'm not good at fiction on audiobooks, but I made my way through this one because it was so good. The narrators were great too. I'm tempted to buy a physical copy to read because I don't absorb audiobooks as well. I will definitely check more out by this author.

SDKalos wrote: "I’m going on about this not because I disliked the book. I really enjoyed most of it, especially the writing style. I’m just frustrated that, to my mind, SGJ failed to stick the landing so in the end we got a very conventional finale to what I thought was an interestingly unconventional werewolf story. ..."

I loved this book, but agree that the ending was the weakest part. I can picture this story coming from the imagination of a kid in a family like the narrator's; inventing a pretty cool story to explain why they were always moving, broke, and living on the outskirts of society. The end felt like Jones decided he had to wrap this up and maybe throw in some action to boot, and it seemed like a different world with a different logic to it. (view spoiler)[ The whole kidnapping Darren for his urine story was ridiculous. And if those 3 mooks knew about werewolves, then the entire world would know about werewolves. (hide spoiler)]

This was my second time through, first print, then audio. Appreciated it even more on the re-read.

I absolutely loved this book. I can see what people are saying about the ending though, I wonder how it would have gone if the werewolf aspect would've remained a more ambiguous aspect of the story. I liked the idea of Darren and Libby explaining away the more unsavory parts of their lifestyle away as "werewolf lore." It felt so human for a creature story, which was fantastic. I wasn't a huge fan of the Darren urine storyline either, but not so much that it detracted my enjoyment of the story, characters or writing. I think it's a new favorite for me

I'm sorry to say this one just wasn't for me. I need a plot. I didn't really connect with any of the characters.

I’ll be honest; this one took me awhile to get into and be vested in. This story took a very unconventional and untraditional approach to werewolves as we know them.
It was challenging looking at them from a day-to-day human perspective.
But you can’t help but get sucked in to whether or not the young man is in fact “one of them” His people. His pack.
In some ways your rooting for him to be one because he wants it so bad. On the other hand you kinda just want him to be ‘normal’.

The true essence of this story lies in its narration leading you to the last few moments of understanding where he truly belongs. Who or what he truly is.

Here's my 4-star review I just posted:

I read this book as part of the Books in the Freezer Book Club. And, in all honesty, this is something that I would have never picked to read on my own. I'm not a huge creature-horror fan, but the book pleasantly surprised me.

In this, we have an unreliable teen narrator. He weaves together a non-linear story full of folklore, stories, rules and comedic tidbits. SGJ's writing has the ability to confuse but clear things up pages later. I had some issues with that, but once I got used to it I settled in and enjoyed the ride. The story is smartly written and unique in the way the story unfolds.

But the plot, or lack thereof, is where I had the biggest issue. I loved the first 2/3 of the book. And then I realized that the book really wasn't going anywhere. It was just story after familiar story. And once that light bulb went off I struggled a bit with the last 1/3 of the book. But overall this is a fun, enjoyable read. I've never read anything quite like it.

I would recommend to others that they check this out!

Regina wrote: "I'm sorry to say this one just wasn't for me. I need a plot. I didn't really connect with any of the characters."
It sounds like we are similar types of readers.

This was not my favorite, but that’s ok! I’ve really been trying to expand my horizons with authors I read and I think this was a great start! The story was interesting enough, but my mind kept wandering with this one. I think it was due to the lack of plot. I really had no idea where this was going. Also, I had a problem with the wine coolers lol! Why wine coolers? As small of a detail as it was, I just didn’t see a grown man/werewolf drinking wine coolers. I know they’re a cheap drink but if Darren was drinking 40s (or another cheap beer) it would’ve resonated with me better. Looking forward to the next one!

Tara wrote: "As small of a detail as it was, I just didn’t see a grown man/werewolf drinking wine coolers. I know they’re a cheap drink but if Darren was drinking 40s (or another cheap beer) it would’ve resonated with me better. "

Jones has said that he based a lot of the details on his own youth. I would bet that, if asked, he'd say the wine cooler consumption was based on a relative of his who resembled Darren. It's one of those quirky details that seems odd enough to come from real life.

Whitney-that makes complete sense! Thank you for clarifying. I feel like a bonehead now lol. I guess there’s always one person that likes wine coolers 😉

I think this just wasn't the book for me, as I need more plot driven horror I guess. I really enjoyed all the werewolf "rules", but also found it odd that many of them hadn't been true in a while (according to Grace-Ellen), but no one bothered to check. Anyways, the writing was good, but the pacing and narrative just wasn't for me!