Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - My Heart Is a Chainsaw

My Heart is A Chainsaw was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. I was really excited to start it. Unfortunately, the large majority of the book didn't love up to my expectations.
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The main character, Jade, is a hard character to like. The assumption that you have to be "gothy" to like horror movies such as Saw, the $1 Billion dollar film franchise that's been running for almost two decades, was an annoying catch to the novel. Of course teenagers like horror movies - they need to prove their hard. (This is coming from one of said teenagers that never grew out of their gothy/horror phase).
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The constant allusions to the famous slashers felt pretentious at times and I really struggled at times to read the book knowing that a good portion of the text could go over my head if I hadn't seen these other works.
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Onto the good however, I really did enjoy the story and the twist ending. I loved the references to the Native American culture, Stephen Graham Jones own signature no doubt. The layout of an extra credit project alongside the actual story itself was refreshing and a fun way to engage the reader with Jade.

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rosie_one's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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lou_o_donnell's review

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

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libraryofdoe's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m so very torn on how to rate this book.

On one hand, I found Jade’s story excellent and riveting and genre-defiant yet so obviously reverent of all the slashers that came before it and so, so raw. I found parts of myself in Jade that I almost didn’t want to see. I really like Jones’ writing style and the way he approached the story.

On the other hand I really didn’t like the whodunnit

which may be on me as I evidently hadn’t researched thoroughly enough to know that there was any supernatural aspect to the novel

and the end of the book felt rushed.

I may come back and change this rating on further thought, but for now 4 stars feels about right, if a lot lower than I anticipated 75% of the way in.

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spacecadelliot's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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abbygrace226's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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anishinaabekwereads's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

In May, Stephen Graham Jones released an essay called “Open Letter to the Cons from the Indians No Longer in the Background of a John Wayne Movie” (really recommended, by the way) and in this short but profound piece he asks a question I’ve seen him ask us all to consider before. Instead of “who is your favorite Native writer?” why are we not asking “who is your favorite writer” which can include Native authors? Now Jones presents this question in the context of questions or comments Native authors experience at panels at cons (and honestly anywhere), but this question is a valid form of inquiry for any one at any time when engaging with writers who are Indigenous.

What does this have to do with Jones’s forthcoming My Heart Is a Chainsaw? Well it reaffirmed for me that Jones is one of my favorite writers. His writing style is not for everyone (seriously it can be very flow of consciousness) and the gore represented in so many of his books (SO MUCH GORE) probably turns a lot of people away from his work, but I have never been so captured by an author’s ability to create a scene, an atmosphere, a feeling of waiting for the next jumpscare if you will.

Now is My Heart Is a Chainsaw a new favorite book? Well, no. I liked it, I did. But, for me, it wasn’t my favorite. This novel is written for those who love slashers. You know the films: last girl [standing], a villain who is maybe human, maybe not, with a slow but steady method of racking up the body count, lots and lots and lots of death. The main character Jennifer (Jade) Daniels is a recent graduate of her small town high school in Proofrock, Idaho and everything is absolutely hate-worthy. The place, which she has a kind of love for, rejects her oddities. Her peers are too predictable. Her abusive father and his creepy predator of a friend are real life horror. Jade has spent her life wishing and hoping that a slasher would come to Proofrock. When a new girl who lives in Terra Nova, the new rich enclave across Lake Indian, moves right before graduation Jade is positive that Letha Mondragon is the final girl and finally (finally) things are being set in motion.

Here’s the thing. This novel is an ode to slashers. Jade’s massive understanding of the genre pulls you through much of this novel. Though there are deaths throughout, they’re not exactly harbingers of what most casual viewers will think of as slasher, except for the prologue which is very Friday the 13th meets Jaws meets what the hell is in this Indian Lake water. Yet there’s a clear undercurrent of anxiety, of discomfort throughout this that really shows Jones’s skill. The horror in My Heart Is a Chainsaw is slasher, but it’s also honest-to-goodness real life. There are monsters all around us. The people we expect to be the monsters might not be and the ones we know are monsters, but convince ourselves, protect ourselves from naming are the ones who need exposure.

I can already pinpoint why people won’t like this book. 1: it’s too slow. A lot of the action doesn’t happen until the final third or so of this novel. I felt like this was fairly evenly paced and I appreciated knowing what was inevitably coming because this is a Stephen Graham Jones book. If you’re hesitant or feeling like you might not finish, I beg of you to keep reading. The ending is pure slasher gold. 2: it’s not really about Indigenous people. Let’s re-reroute to the beginning of this review. Now, let’s think about how Indigenous authors don’t owe you tropes, stereotypes, or expectations. I know Native girls like Jade. I, in many ways, was a Native girl like Jade. It’s not all powwows and sacred teachings. Sometimes we just cope with trauma and also obsess over gorey movies just like anyone else. 3. It’s too gorey. This is obviously opposite point number 1 and I want to end of this one because Stephen Graham Jones knows gore. His books are not horror lite. They are visceral. If you cannot do gore (squishiness, blood, body parts, animal death, rot, etc.) you should probably not read this book. Jones does have others that aren’t as graphic. I always recommend Ledfeather.

All in all, I liked this book a lot. It was the kind of summer read I needed. It’s got a lot going for it, especially if you like your horror slasher-y. For me, it wasn’t my absolute favorite by Jones, but it reaffirmed my adamant declaration that he is one of my favorite authors. I could write a completely different review about being an Indigenous reviewer reading an Indigenous author (and I did for The Only Good Indians last year), but really my love of his work transcends that. This man has a skill and devotion to his craft that is so tangible in My Heart Is a Chainsaw. And like I’m sure Jade would say, some films (or books) are better than others for whatever purpose they serve when we watch(read) them. This is being filed away under: “remember this one. Who knows when it will come in handy.”

A final note that may not be strictly necessary: this book has a lot of content warnings.

Content Warnings

unphilosophize's review

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Going into it, I knew this book probably wasn’t for me bc I’m not a big horror fan.
I loved the prologue, but I didn’t really enjoy the main plot of the book. I think the parts where they talk about slashers is the strongest part of the book.
If you don’t like slasher you’ll probably find this book fairly alienating.

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