A review by dharma_
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The plot is really cool. I liked the idea of it—outcasted horror fan is the only one who realizes her town is about to become a slasher movie. I expected that plot, peppered with a lot of slasher references (which is was, that exceeded expectations), mixed together with some character development and a heartfelt message, and tied together in a neat bow at the end. I didn’t need the book to be super complicated and deep, but I was expecting it to at least be understandable.

The authors writing is really confusing. It’s not something you can really identify, but I was left scrambling for the first 2/3s of the book. It felt like the characters and their lives were introduced in such a way that I was supposed to know them inside and out. The weren't developed well in the beginning and fell kind of flat. And it was just confusing—it felt like there were a lot of pieces of the story I was missing. Overall, the sentences were worded strangely too. I kept having to reread sentences to understand what they were saying. Also, Jade is convinced the town is  about to become a slasher movie and throughout the first 2/3s of the book, I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to believe it’s all in her head or whether it’s real. Now, I imagine this is intentional, but I found it disorienting. 

I did like the gore though. It was VERY gory. Do not read this book if you have a weak stomach. It’s a very descriptive book. Although I have to say, the main character felt so unaffected by it, it didn’t come off as horrifying as it should’ve. The slasher references are constant and very fun as well. It’s clear the author knows his stuff. And now I feel like I know slasher movies well too. 

The very ending was confusing. It felt unfinished. To be fair, there is a second book, so that makes sense. But it still felt like it ended it a weird spot. The last 100 pages as a whole though were cool! The final massacre was everything Jade hyped it up to be.
I was not a fan of the reveal though. I didn’t like that they made the killer the Lake Witch. It felt lazy. I was looking forward to a slasher with a score to settle and a complicated reveal and personal backstory to each of the kills. Instead, it’s revealed that it’s the Lake Witch and her whole history as the witch is explained in a page as if Jade suddenly had an epiphany about it. It was disappointing. I also liked the parallel it made between Jade and the final girl. How she kind of stood up to her dad at the end (by killing him) and burst out of her chrysalis, like a final girl. And the moment at the very end with the momma beat was touching. But those moments would’ve meant even more if the book had executed the complicated relationship between Jade and her parents well instead of kind of having there on the back burner. It wasn’t incorporated into the whole plot well. It was just kind of thrown in at random times.
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