Reviews with content warning for Self harm - My Heart Is a Chainsaw

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

167 reviews

imaginary_space's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

If you read it, read the author's notes at the end! (After reading the book, because spoilers.) He talks about his process writing My Heart is a Chainsaw and it's very informative.

This book hit me harder the second time around. Probably because, as often happens, the first time I was occupied with keeping up with the story. This time I could appreciate all the little nuances, the hints and the small moments of foreshadowing so much more. And for me, it's all those layers that make this book so good.

The first time I read My Heart is a Chainsaw, the revelation about Jade towards the middle of the book completely took me by surprise, I had not seen it coming at all. Which I found shocking, and it made me take a long, hard look at my privilege.
The second time, I suddenly realized why I had not seen it. Because in a lot of ways, I was Jade at that age, so her inner monologue and her behaviour seemed completely normal to me. Which is astounding, because my circumstances growing up were very different from Jade's, and our experiences weren't even the same, just similar enough that we reacted in very similar ways.
So yeah, that fucked me up. Thank you, SGJ. (I mean that unironically. I try to read diverse stories not just because I find it to be a more interesting experience, but also to actively learn about lived realities different to my own, and be a better educated citizen of Earth. Which is why I like my horror to be mixed with a good dose of real-world horror.)

The fact that Stephen Graham Jones wrote a character that I, a person from a very different background halfway across the globe, could identify with so much I didn't see the obvious, proves two things:

He is a truly skilled writer.
Adult men can write believable teenage girls if they just write them as persons and not try to write them as "teenage girls(TM)". Thank you for that, too. Yes, I, too, am sad the bar is that low.

My teenage emotions aside, there's more I like about this book:

The story is multi-dimensional, there's a whole mythology around Proofrock and Indian Lake that feels very much alive - an abandoned camp, a creepy local legend, real past tragedies, things that happened in the past people don't want to talk about ... it feels like a real place and it gives so many layers to the story.
Also, I just love a
creepy little girl
, I'm biased like that.
I like an unreliable narrator, so to me it's refreshing and interesting to see the story through Jade's eyes and her eyes alone.
SGJ is a fan of "show, don't tell", and I appreciate that a lot. In general, his writing style is right up my alley, which is extremely important in horror.

Content Warnings

jully_bean's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

The book started out a little bit slow in the early parts while introducing the characters and setting the scene. But once things started getting more tense, it was hard to put down! Such a unique story!

Content Warnings

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75

This is a slasher that embodies just how effective the genre in horror literature can be. It’s exceptionally clever and easy to get sucked into. I’ve read a couple of Stephen Graham Jones’s books before, and I consistently rate his work highly. This one combines the things I enjoyed about the other two books of his I’ve read: the focus on cycles of trauma with underscores of political commentary in The Only Good Indians (5 stars), and the genre-savvy campy nature of The Last Final Girl (4 stars). While I think this is my favorite of Jones’s backlog so far, I think the execution on The Only Good Indians was just a bit more polished, and so I’m giving this a 4.75 and anticipating going higher with the next two installments.

I 100% recommend this to people who like slashers for both the gore/horrorfest and the sociological and psychological undertones and people who love horror media because it gives them control over the circumstances of their fear. The strongest aspect of this book is the perfect meeting of social commentary to a brutal slasher. The weakest is that I think the last chapter could be paced up quicker than it is to hold the momentum the last quarter picked up on a little more. I’m glad I finally gave this book a go after years of wanting to but not finding the time. If you can stomach gory writing and you’ve considered reading this book but haven’t yet, now is the perfect time to jump in before the final book in the trilogy comes out.

Content Warnings

cottagecorecabbage's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

tesshersh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I’m not sure if I extra enjoyed this book because I’ve read so many BAD books lately, or if it really IS that good, so take this with a grain of salt. But WOW. One of my only gripes is that it touches on some themes that I’m not 100% sure I love being talked abt from a teenage girl’s perspective written by a male author, but I think it was respectfully done.
Spoiler for my other complaint:

I wish that the conclusion/reveal of the killer DIDN’T have a supernatural element. I think the author’s point of regarding real life not being like a horror/slasher movie, about things like gentrification & colonization being a type of horror and violence of their own, was backtracked a bit by letting jade’s theory of a supernatural element be true at the end.

Also: cannot recommend the audio book enough, cara gee was amazing

Content Warnings