Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - My Heart Is a Chainsaw

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

21 reviews

lee_brahms's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

2.75

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rhyanashah's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

1.25

I spent more time frustratedly talking to others about this book than I did reading it. I've never DNF'd a book but this is the closest I'd ever been

From the absolutely infuriating main character, incredibly slow moving plot, messy finale, and a bordering obscene amount of referencial head-nodding that makes Ernest Cline's Oasis/Wade Watts series look timid.

I struggled with every aspect of this book, and it's genuinely a shock considering how this book has almost everything i love.
Horror, non-white protagonists who must personally grow in spite of trauma, small town secrets, potential Queer storyline.

Instead i have.... whatever thiw was. An insufferable lead, about 200 unnecessary pages and a lot of loose threads that were "Yada-Yada"'d through at the end. How can i be bored when there's MURDER happening? And yet. The "sisterly" relationship between our main and another character just came across like "historians will say they were friends" energy.

Also TW/Spoiler warning

did not enjoy whole scenes of our protagonist being effectively deadnamed and outed as a child victim whilst 4 other characters try and force them to confront/confess allegations against their parent.

I must also add that i never EVER feel comfortable about men writing from the perspective of young women/female children who have been S/A'd or R****d.

Whilst not all of the topics i've put in the content warning are Graphic, they are all frequent and i do emplore anyone considering reading this book to consider if they will be affected by these topics, and to avoid if that is the case.

In a summary, i think the book is about 50% too long and i was disappointed by about 150 pages in, but continued on. The ending was VERY disappointing. I only said "medium paced" because 300 pages are slow and 150 aren't but there is no "inconsistently paced" option.

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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demon_catheter's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Really fun read, a bit confusing at times but not in a bad way. Keeps you asking questions right along with Jade and really sucks you in. Also loved how fleshed out the setting was, I’ve never been to a town at a high elevation in Idaho but My Heart is a Chainsaw makes me feel like I have.

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meggs1005's review

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

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heroicfrenzies's review

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dark 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? Yes

5.0

I didn’t read Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is a Chainsaw until April 2022, 7 months after release. I know exactly how I spent those 7 months – I read some amazing books within that time! – but do I wish I squished this in there with them? Eh, yes and no.

It was released on August 31st, amongst the waning yawns of summer, like attending those first days of school when the hallways still smell stale, anticipating all things Fall, Autumn, and Halloween. I could say this absolutely fits as a Halloween read, but honestly, reading it in the cool, muddy spring felt right. For some people, slashers and horror and weird are a year-long way of life, not a seasonal tradition toasted with pumpkin spice lattes, punch, or brewskies at lazily-costumed Halloween parties.

I don’t know what it is about Halloween, autumn, and the like that monopolizes horror in the public consciousness. We have our seasonal stand-out exceptions, don’t get me wrong, but they are, notably, exceptions.

So, despite loving this book as much as I did, why don’t I wish that I read it sooner? Glad you asked me, me, a few reasons:

If I did, I probably wouldn’t fully appreciate each book I’ve read individually, I like taking my time with my reads, even the rereads.
This book deals with some heavy shit, as can be inferred by the list of content warnings. And some people get a seasonal boost to their regular ol’ depression and sometimes heavy shit just feels a whole lot heavier.
It’s just a kind of book that’s really complemented by a muddy Michigan, I don’t know what to tell you, it just feels like it was the right time to read it.

If My Heart Is a Chainsaw is ever adapted into a film (and fuck, do I wish it was), it would be a summer horror flick. The novel reaches its climax on the 4th of July and yet the summer within the book isn’t a hot, beachy summer, it’s a summer with cool nights and some frigid waters. This realistic Idaho summer is seemingly just as out of place for the genre as our protagonist main character, Jade.

Jade would be hard-pressed to call herself a protagonist, she doesn’t see herself as the ‘final girl’ in her beloved slasher flicks, and that leads to her driving motivation: to help prepare the new girl, the real ‘final girl’-to-be, for the slasher film currently taking place in the small Idaho town of Proofrock.

Whereas most final girls are the intuitive, reserved type who get good grades and live in the perfectly manufactured safety of middle-class suburbia, Jade is a half-Native teen (and even that is presented as ‘imperfect’ because she doesn’t have ties to her Native family, she’s not enrolled, and she’s not even quite sure what tribe, band, or nation she’s from) obsessed with slashers. She has very badly dyed hair and instead of modest skirts or practical jeans, she mostly just wears her work overalls and big-ass combat boots. She’s a greasy horror girl that almost definitely has some kind of infected facial piercing, maybe a self-pierced lip ring. [So, while muddy spring was a great time to read this, I think a better time would have been like, 15 years ago when I was a 17-year-old, mixed-race, teenage horror freak in the suburbs of Detroit, but it’s okay, Mr. Jones, this one’s for the next gen of teenage weirdos, I forgive you, promise].

The point is, is that she doesn’t fit in – not with the kids at school, not with any locals, not with her family – what family she has. She’s a loner and what she has, and has a lot of, is movies. I’m almost embarrassed by how much I identify with this fictional character. Even right down to the fact that the movies are on tape. [At work, when we get donations of VHS tapes, everybody knows to save them for me, I always say, no, horror movies must be watched on tape, it MATTERS, it’s just the right VIBE, dude.]

To be honest, I’m having a difficult time reviewing this, are there issues with it? Sure, if you’re a certain kind of reader.

As somebody who’s never read Ernie Cline (but may or may not know of him from his spoken word days), I’ve seen some reviews that complain about the frequent references to slashers in this book, drawing comparisons between it and Cline’s work. But even though I recognized most of the references, those references are part of the storytelling. Even if you’re not familiar with a specific reference, there’s enough context in the book, especially with the frequent short essay chapters about specific slasher tropes. The references complement the story while also acting as a form of characterization for our main character. The references are what give the story framework if you’re unfamiliar with the genre. I will say, though, that I was glad to find a list of the referenced movies online.

Now, this is where we get into some spoiler-ish territory:

There’s a problem in fiction, especially thrillers generally, where girls and women are sexually assaulted to plot-up the book. Does a man need motivation? Let’s assault his wife/daughter/sister. Does a woman need to be a badass? Well, we can’t have that without some incident that brings out her inner badassdom. And there’s a difference between sexual assault as a cheaply rendered plot device, and a book that is about sexual assault.

This book is about sexual assault.

This book is about a teenager coming to terms with a traumatic event from her past the only way she knows how. The event itself isn’t directly acknowledged of her own volition though, instead she’s accosted by a few people who truly have her well-being at heart, and this itself is nothing but another attack, forcing her to make herself vulnerable in circumstances that they do not allow her to control.

The implication, however, that people can read a letter or essays, such as in this book, and just be able to obviously tell that somebody had been sexually assaulted is flawed. Can things be inferred based on topics, approaches, and perspectives? Sure, but what the initial character does – alerting authorities based on her intuition and nothing else, not once speaking to Jade – is harmful. Accidental, thoughtless harm, sure, but harm nevertheless. I think this exchange in the book, as uncomfortable and heartbreaking as it was to read, was amazing writing. It’s also morally complicated. Everybody involved was trying their hardest to do their best by Jade, and in the moment only presented her with a hostile, untrustworthy environment. And, in the process, it also puts the reader in an uncomfortable position. Do we choose to read Jade as this cool, slasher-obsessed teenager? This hurting, traumatized teenager? Do we read her as a victim? It may seem silly to talk about characters being able to give readers consent, but how do we, as readers, look over a character’s shoulder, peer into their brain, and then categorize them against their genre-savvy will, into a position of forced vulnerability?

I don’t know! Maybe that’s a question for another day.

In the meantime, however, I highly recommend this book. I don’t think any specific movies are required watching to be able to get a handle on the subject or what the book is doing. If you wanted just a single title to get you familiar with the genre, I’d go with Scream (1996). It’s also a self-aware slasher, but it’s accessible, digestible, and also just fun as hell.

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patroklos's review

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dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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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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kaiyakaiyo's review

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emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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raesengele's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Entertainment: 🌟
This book had me hooked from page one. And while it's pretty character driven for a lot of it, there's enough of a mystery that I think it would keep those who aren't into that kind of stuff going. What I loved the most is that Jones managed to ride the line between character study and genre fiction so fascinatingly well and honestly, that's all I've been asking for lately.

Story: 🌟
The story goes exactly how you want it to, while also shoving you under the water so you can burst back out gasping for air and going "what the fuck just happened?!" There is not a single nugget of information presented that I can think of that isn't used to it's full potential by the end. It takes true talent to deliver that and clearly Jones has it. I envy you, good sir.

Character: 🌟
Jade took her machete and carved her way straight into my heart. What I loved the most is despite Jade's trauma, you never pity her and it's never played up for drama points. Yes, I want to hug her at times and tell her everything's alright, but I also believe that she can handle herself and doesn't need my sympathy to get through life. There were points where when other characters brought up her trauma and she rolled her eyes, I kind of felt it, too. Like, my nosey self wanted to know what happened, but I was also like there are more important things going on here, people! I kind of like this depiction of trauma. It's always there and always looming, but it's also periphery. It's not the nexus of Jade's every thought. And there is an argument in there that's it's entirely because of unhealthy coping mechanisms, but that's how mental health works. It's messy and it's hard. This is a discussion without being an after school special and I love it.

Writing Style: 🌟
Jones has such a captivating writing style. There are chapters in here that are upwards of 60 pages and they flew by without a second thought. You melt into Jade's head until you're no longer questioning the slasher in real life that she's laying out in front of you.

Descriptions: 🌟
If this isn't already in the works to be a movie, it needs to be. How Jones manages to simultaneously keep us in Jade's head while also delivering such cinematic writing is beyond me. Just 👏👏👏

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