Reviews - My Heart Is a Chainsaw

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

6.83k reviews for:

contrary to most people I think I was more into the first half of this book than the second. I don’t mind books starting out slow, it’s nice to get to know the characters and the world. but I was struggling really bad near the end where action was happening but we were still trapped in jades pov as she just spent a lot of time thinking and observing and being isolated from everyone. which is the point to some extent but it made it hard to be invested in all the deaths happening and stuff. for me at least. there was also just a lot going on in the lore and with the characters and I don’t think it all came together the way I hoped. part of this is it being so meta made it hard to nail the reveal and the ending but it just felt like a lot of buildup without enough punch. I also really didn’t like how the plotline regarding jade’s secret was executed at all.

that being said SGJ always puts a lot of heart into his books as the acknowledgements at the end show and the ideas premise and themes here are very strong, the execution of some stuff just missed for me personally

newts_in_boots's review

DID NOT FINISH: 30%

I didn't get on with the writing like I was always in the main characters tangents and I just didn't care where the story was going

lalazee's review

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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: Complicated

oktho's review

4.0

3.5 rounded up.

suvata's review against another edition

3.0

#StoryGraph: fiction horror thriller dark mysterious tense 416 pages • first pub 2021 • 3 Stars

The story follows Jade Daniels, a girl whose encyclopedic knowledge of slasher films and classic horror proves frighteningly more useful than she ever expected. The novel is a deconstruction of slasher films that celebrates everything about them. However, its heart — the real cake under the shiny bloody frosting — is Jade, a girl whose trauma makes her a final girl dreaming of being behind a killer’s mask.

DESCRIPTION

In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Jade feels like she's trapped in a slasher film as tourists go missing and the tension between her community and the celebrity newcomers to the Indian Lake shore heads towards a tipping point, when she feels the killer will rise. Jade watches as the small town she knows and loves begins to head towards catastrophe as yachts compete with canoes and the celebrity rich change the landscape of what was designated park lands to develop what they call Terra Nova.

This new novel from the acclaimed author of The Only Good Indians and "literary master" (Tananarive Due, author of The Good House) Stephen Graham Jones, is a must-read, exploring the changing landscape of the West through his particular voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence that will have you cheering for the American heroine we need.