I've got an arc for what I'm guessing is the rerelease of this with a different cover!! And I've been meaning to read it for a while, so!!

This was EXCELLENT. I didn't love the last Stephen Graham Jones novella I read, but I love all of his novels, so I didn't know what to expect. What I got was a really heartbreaking exploration of grief with ghosts. The book asks, "What do you do when the father you never got to have comes back from the dead?"

It's a super short novella but the length works perfectly for it. But! I do think the final twist/reveal was a bit rushed.

Although this book is super short it really tugs at your heartstrings.. A haunting tale of grief and filling shoes of someone you didn't expect to or know how to.

A lot of the symbolism I definitely fully didn't understand but I am amazed at the amount of symbolism the book could have while still staying true to living inside a 12 year old narrator. A beautiful, haunting little book.

This short novella was a quick fast paced read and my first experience reading SGJ. His writing style is beautiful and descriptive. The story itself is haunting and emotional. Overall it was atmospheric and spooky. This was a powerful story packed into just over 100 pages. I’ll definitely be checking out more SGJ in the future!

Intentionally ambiguous and deeply disquiet this was everything I expected from a SGJ novel, the young narrators voice was authentic and the character felt fully developed, delves into native American culture with sensitivity and demystifies myths surrounding it

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I think I was too dumb to read this book.

Thanks so much to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC of Mapping the Interior in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A beautiful and sad story that everyone needs to read. It brings up so many emotions in the best way. I was haunted and moved and I loved it.

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones was quite a disorienting read. The narrative can often feel like a hallucinatory experience, which I think was intentional on the author's part. Jones blurs the lines between reality and the supernatural, creating a sense of unease that matches the main characters perception of the world around him.

The story follows 12-year-old Junior, a Native American boy, who begins to experience strange, eerie phenomena within his own home, particularly the haunting presence of his deceased father. What stands out in this novel is Junior's logic, which is both innocent and sharp. His attempts to understand the world around him—his family, his heritage, and the strange happenings in the house—are rooted in a childlike yet deeply grounded perspective. This combination of naiveté and logic is what makes Junior such a compelling character. His innocence and his quiet strength as he navigates a world full of contradictions evoke a tenderness that contrasts with the horror that unfolds.

However, the novel is also intentionally ambiguous, particularly when it comes to its conclusion. The ending left me questioning the nature of the events that occured as well as the reliability of Junior’s perceptions. This sense of disorientation, feeling like one is hallucinating or trapped in a dream, is central to the experience of reading Mapping the Interior. The supernatural elements are never fully explained, and this uncertainty is part of what gives the book its unsettling tone.

In some ways, the ambiguity of the ending feels like a reflection of the complexities of Junior's life. The mysteries of his family, his father’s death, and his own identity are never fully resolved, leaving the reader with a sense of unease and wonder. The lines between memory, trauma, and the supernatural are murky and impossible to pin down. This disorientation, while challenging, also echoes the internal struggles of Junior himself. This wasn’t a bad read, I’m honestly just not too sure how I feel about everything that happened. I need some time to think about it.

I really loved this book, and that says something as someone who does not read horror. It was heartbreaking and melancholy, so beautiful in its depiction of connection and pain.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

This book was previously published, in 2017, I believe, so this is a reissue, capitalizing on Jones’s new popularity I presume.

Following the death of his father twelve year old Junior, his mother and little brother, Dino, move from the reservation into an equally tough life in a small town off the reservation. His mom has to work hard and Dino has lots of problems. Then Junior’s dead dad makes an appearance in their home one night and only Junior sees him. Is his dad back?

I think this won a Bram Stoker award and it was OK, and it certainly shows Jones’s promise as a writer. There was a very scary scene but I thought a lot of it didn’t really go anywhere.

This was definitely the darkest book I have read by Stephen Graham jones by far, and I loved it! This book is about a 15-year-old boy who wakes up and thinks he sees his father who died under mysterious circumstances when he was young. The journey is one of grief and trauma, dealing with his indigenous heritage as well as generational. I felt this was a very dark story that did not leave me feeling anything but sad for the grief and loss he experiences. I love SGJ's writing and this was an amazingly sad read for me.

“Standing there, I promised myself that if I ever had kids, I was going to be different. It’s a promise every Indian kid makes at some point. You mean it when you say it, though. You mean it so hard.“ Man, that ending really got me. This is less of a haunted house story and more of a generational ghost story. It’s sad, surreal, and creepy, and it wasn’t lost on me that this little novella feels a lot longer than it really is.

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones is a haunting and poignant novella that masterfully blends horror with deep emotional resonance. Through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy, the story navigates themes of identity, loss, and cultural disconnection as he encounters the ghost of his father in their home. Jones crafts an atmospheric and chilling narrative, with vivid descriptions that make the supernatural encounters feel both terrifying and heartbreakingly personal. The protagonist’s struggles with his mixed heritage and the weight of familial expectations are interwoven seamlessly into the suspenseful plot, creating a story that lingers long after the final page. This novella is a powerful exploration of grief and memory, perfect for fans of introspective horror that cuts to the core.

Mapping the Interior is a masterful novella that lingers in the mind, combining chilling horror with poignant emotional depth. Stephen Graham Jones delivers a story that is both unsettling and beautiful, making it a standout in contemporary horror literature. This is a must-read for fans of literary horror and those seeking a story that transcends genre boundaries.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the eARC copy of this book.

I haven't read many novellas in my days, let alone any horror based ones. This one was a doozy!
I quite literally could not stop turning the pages trying to figure out what was going on and what awaited me on the next page.

This novella is hauntingly atmospheric, dark, creepy and wildly emotional.
I didn't know so much story could be fleshed out in so few pages but the author did it very well.

This is about a young boy that witnesses his dead fathers 'ghost' one evening, and all of the creepy things that start to happen to him and his family after that night.

I'm not even sure my brain has fully comprehended what all happened but it was dark, disturbing and deeply haunting. The writing was excellent and immersive.

I really enjoyed that not only was there a deeper meaning beneath the surface, but there is still a lot left to be interpreted by the reader about what was really going on. What was real, what was imaginerary, and who did what.

I especially love the never ending sense of dread and despair I felt from the start. This one really kept me on my toes and I never knew what to expect or how this was going to end, and I loved the ending.

This is my first read by this author, but if this is what he could do with a novella I'm excited to read his full books. I would definitely recommend this one to horror fans and I will be reading more from this author.

A shorty but a goody. Very weird monstery/maybe ghostly vibes. Favorite quote “our questions are going right past each other, as usual” something about that hit hard. I both liked and didn’t like that we didn’t really get answers to anything, the biggest being, can junior actually recreate the events of the past? And will is be different this time.

This was haunting, atmospheric. I really enjoyed this and will read much more from this author, whose voice is so strong in this book.

Like so many times with Graham-Jones, I left this feeling creeped out and a little confused. His writing is powerful and the story compelling - I think sometimes I'm just not smart enough to get it all.

4.5 Stars

"Mapping the Interior" by Stephen Graham Jones is a compelling fusion of a ghost story and a poignant exploration of heritage and identity. Through the eyes of a young boy confronting the spectral image of his father, the novella delves into the depths of grief, the struggle of self-discovery, and the inevitability of inheriting familial legacies. Jones's storytelling is both evocative and unsettling, weaving the supernatural with the stark realities of indigenous life. The narrative is a labyrinth where each turn reflects the complexities of the past and the intricacies of coming of age. A thought-provoking read that lingers in the mind, urging one to consider the vast interiors of their own life and lineage.

This book started off very creepy with that first paragraph! It was interesting and unique. It was a quick read and I finished it in one sitting. I thought it’d be more creepier than what it was, but it was also kinda emotional! This story deals with grief and loss. I really enjoyed the writing. I need to try reading more of his work. I know he’s a pretty known author and I think this is the first book I’ve read of his!

Mapping the Interior is a short book I read in one sitting. It centers around a Native teen, Junior, who lives with his mother and epileptic brother. Junior is a known sleepwalker and one night, claims to have seen his dead father standing in the doorway and becomes convinced he has come back. As the days progress, he seems to be shown a house that is much larger than he originally thought.
There are a lot of elements going on, and it's rare that I think I would have liked to see more writing and story from an author, but Mapping the Interior was lovely as it was, but could have easily been 100 pages more and I would have happily read them. The writing style was beautiful and the focus seemed to be on the progression of the stories, with small hints as to who our characters are, rather than a in depth portrayal. The characters are distinct, but their primary goal is to make up this family unit who's patriarch has died. The book did not read classic horror to me, there were spooky atmospheres, but it was very much a ghost story with family at the center.
I'd not read anything by Stephen Graham Jones before, but this book surely piqued my interest. I especially like the way he writes modern Native stories in a way that is casual, captivating, as well as all consuming. There may have been cultural elements I missed, but this was a fantastic read the more I think about it.