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cebadgley's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I had the most difficult time following the frenetic writing. While reading I almost DNF bc of style and my inability to “hear” the characters voice while in 3rd POV. The twist at the end and the final couple of paragraphs has me heated and rolling my eyes. This is going to stay with me for a bit, and bc of that, I’ll rate it a 4.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Child abuse
fabiandtheberts's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse
cyndakeel's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child death
Minor: Cultural appropriation
feline_spo0ky's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
3.75
Quite the ride was had here. I struggled with some passages where I had to reread to understand but I think I was reading too fast at times. I enjoyed the book, the horror movie easter eggs and Jade's ultimate transformation.
Quite the ride was had here. I struggled with some passages where I had to reread to understand but I think I was reading too fast at times. I enjoyed the book, the horror movie easter eggs and Jade's ultimate transformation.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Abortion
lizzardbreath's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Book so good I had to read the acknowledgments. Stephen Graham Jones does a wonderful job at portraying the complicated life of a teenage girl dealing with childhood trauma and how she uses slasher horror to help navigate her life. Really, there’s no eloquent way for me to fully explain this book into words other than to say that I found myself relating to Jade in a lot of ways and how creative she was for managing how to survive through a series of murders in her town while also dealing with how the town locals treated her. She’s lived a hard life and I was so proud of her for being able to overcome her fears, challenge her preconceived notions of herself and manage to solve the mystery behind the murder of Proofrock. I’m so excited to see where her story goes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Murder, and Child abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, and Sexual assault
rmperezpadilla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual assault
taliesinrex's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A really fun and tense breakdown of the slasher formula through the eyes of a highschooler obsessed with the classic horror subgenre. I greatly enjoyed this one, and found the structure really fun with its interspersion of protagonist Jade's "Slasher 101" essays addressed to her history teacher. My Heart Is A Chainsaw embraces many of the tropes familiar to the slasher genre while still keeping things fresh and interesting, creating a meta-narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat especially when you start picking up on elements that Jade, for all her love and knowledge of the genre, elects not to recognize (whether on purpose or subconsciously).
Jade herself is a wonderful character to see this world through. She is pessimistic and troubled, though not fully without hope somewhere in her mind - though it's not always hope for her OWN survival which I think adds a great depth and adds to the ingrained tragedy of her character. Her intense love for slasher films, finding them a source of comfort in the face of all the awful things that have happened to her, is at its core a very relatable story and one that I think contributes to her being such a fantastic POV character that you really want to see succeed even though the world around her is uncaring and downright hostile to her at times. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, and her dynamics with characters who are sympathetic to her but unsure of how to truly help like Letha, Sheriff Hardy, and her teacher Mr. Holmes.
I will say this was my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones's work so I wasn't sure what to expect from his writing style. He definitely throws a lot at you, and his syntax is quite unlike a lot of other books I have read which took some getting used to. Once I started getting into the flow of his prose, though, it became really immersive and served as a great vehicle for the violence, tragedy, and humor throughout the book. Take heed that there's some heavy stuff revealed later on, and a whole lot of gore, but I'd definitely recommend this, especially to any horror movie fan.
Jade herself is a wonderful character to see this world through. She is pessimistic and troubled, though not fully without hope somewhere in her mind - though it's not always hope for her OWN survival which I think adds a great depth and adds to the ingrained tragedy of her character. Her intense love for slasher films, finding them a source of comfort in the face of all the awful things that have happened to her, is at its core a very relatable story and one that I think contributes to her being such a fantastic POV character that you really want to see succeed even though the world around her is uncaring and downright hostile to her at times. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, and her dynamics with characters who are sympathetic to her but unsure of how to truly help like Letha, Sheriff Hardy, and her teacher Mr. Holmes.
I will say this was my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones's work so I wasn't sure what to expect from his writing style. He definitely throws a lot at you, and his syntax is quite unlike a lot of other books I have read which took some getting used to. Once I started getting into the flow of his prose, though, it became really immersive and served as a great vehicle for the violence, tragedy, and humor throughout the book. Take heed that there's some heavy stuff revealed later on, and a whole lot of gore, but I'd definitely recommend this, especially to any horror movie fan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Racism, Incest, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
A traumatic childhood sexual assault is discussed, but not described in graphic detail. General mentions of racism/racist violence against Native Americans.artemis7's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual assault, Gore, Murder, and Child abuse
Minor: Animal death and Racism
charsometimes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Rape and Child abuse
perusinghannah's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was... A bit of a mixed bag for me, if I'm being honest. On the one hand it very much is the classic Stephen Graham Jones writing style that I love in a horror novel. It constantly nudges you off center in a way that leaves you permanently wobbly, and paired with a main character who is exactly my kind of weird, this should have been a homerun. Especially when adding in the not-so picturesque small town as a backdrop, and some delightfully creepy local lore, I really did not see this going wrong for me.
But the pace, man. I just didn't get on with it at all. As much as I sank right into the whole vibe of it, there just wasn't much to focus on for the longest time besides a lot of slasher trivia. Me being a slasher girly myself, this also could've been top notch, but it didn't go deep enough into it to share anything I didn't already know, and then it's just a lot of rambling. Then we went from zero to sixty at the very end, and while it certainly helped me finish the book faster, it also made the ending feel sloppy and incohesive. And yet, I still love the author's writing style here, too, because he can really paint a fantastically gory picture when he leans into the horror hard.
Where does this leave me? Somewhere just right of the middle, and yet with every intention to continue the trilogy. I don't really know how to explain it, either.
But the pace, man. I just didn't get on with it at all. As much as I sank right into the whole vibe of it, there just wasn't much to focus on for the longest time besides a lot of slasher trivia. Me being a slasher girly myself, this also could've been top notch, but it didn't go deep enough into it to share anything I didn't already know, and then it's just a lot of rambling. Then we went from zero to sixty at the very end, and while it certainly helped me finish the book faster, it also made the ending feel sloppy and incohesive. And yet, I still love the author's writing style here, too, because he can really paint a fantastically gory picture when he leans into the horror hard.
Where does this leave me? Somewhere just right of the middle, and yet with every intention to continue the trilogy. I don't really know how to explain it, either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse