Brandon Hobson’s Where the Dead Sit Talking covers the summer in the life of Sequoyah, a Cherokee teenager who grew up mostly in group and foster homes. The summer when he was fifteen, Sequoyah was placed with the Troutts, a rural Oklahoma couple with an affinity for odd and/or troubled children. Sequoyah shows us what it’s like for a child with a rough upbringing and unhealthy thoughts searches for an identity. This is not an easy read and I’m not convinced the rewards are worth the read.
Sequoyah gives us plenty of background to explain how he got to where he is. His mother is an alcoholic and hapless criminal. He drifts (literally and figuratively) from home to home. No one quite gets him. I can’t blame them, since it was fairly obvious that Sequoyah isn’t quite sure who he is. His social worker places him with the Troutts with stern warnings to follow the rules. If he behaves and his mother behaves, there’s a chance they could be reunited. But at this point, Sequoyah isn’t sure he wants to live with his mother. He’s seen her flaws and knows that she will probably never go straight.
What makes Sequoyah more likely to follow the rules is his nascent relationship with Rosemary, another Troutt foster. Sequoyah sees her as glamorous, troubled, and mysterious. He obsesses over her appearance and her history. I’m not sure if he wants to be her friend, become her, or hurt her—or all three at once. It’s disturbing riding along on Sequoyah’s mental shoulder. I’ve read books with teenaged male narrators before and not been bothered as much as I was by Sequoyah’s thoughts.
There isn’t enough development of Sequoyah and Rosemary’s native heritage (no matter what the publisher blurb says) or of Sequoyah’s gender and sexual identity. For a book that takes a deep dive into someone’s head, there’s a lot I don’t know about who he is. On top of this, the ending of Where the Dead Sit Talking is confusing. It might be ambiguous, but I really wasn’t sure what happened to Rosemary and what role Sequoyah might have played. Ambiguity, for me, only works when I can at least come up with plausible theories about what happened. It’s possible that I disliked this book enough that I just started reading for speed to get through it. I probably missed things, but I’m not curious enough to go back and reread it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 20 February 2018.