This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples, also available on e-book and downloadable audiobook in the Indiana Digital Library.

This month’s pick for the Reading the Rainbow book group is a character-driven, darkly humorous novel about what keeps people in dwindling towns. 26-year-old Ojibwe man Marion feels tethered to his hometown of Geshig, a tiny reservation town where every family seems to be dysfunctional in its own way. When he starts meeting up with a closeted white man he knew in high school, he’s hopeful that this relationship might go somewhere. But is this just another dead end like every dead end in Geshig? It takes a ghost dog appearing to Marion and leading him to the grave of a murdered teen basketball star for Marion to start figuring out why he feels like he can never leave Geshig.

It seems funny to say that a story about the monotony of life in Geshig is compelling, but the searing clarity of the writing and the intricately intertwined stories of the families in the town make that true. I read the entire book over one weekend, which hardly ever happens for me! There are mysterious elements to the story, though I wouldn’t call it a mystery. We know whodunnit, but as Marion learns more about the murder, we slowly figure out why the murder happened and what it has to do with Marion. And there are supernatural elements, though I wouldn’t call this a horror or fantasy novel. The story juxtaposes family legends with stark reality in a way that really appealed to me and the short chapters kept me turning the pages.

If this sounds like the book for you, we’d love for you to join us on Thursday, November 17 at 6:00 PM for our Reading the Rainbow book discussion. Extra copies of the book are available at the Customer Service Desk at the Floyd County Library and at the IU Southeast Library. The discussion is held in person at the Floyd County Library or online via Zoom. You can register here (you will receive a link to the Zoom meeting when you register).

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