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A review by whatyoutolkienabout
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
5.0
Review: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Firstly I want to say I actually finished the book a short while ago and I am still thinking about it which is always a good sign. Stephen Graham Jones is well and truly one of my favourite authors. His writing style and story telling and top notch, fun, engaging and give a sense of realism. I found him via Only the Good Indians and after finishing that novel I knew I had to read the rest – I was not disappointed but this is about My Heart Is A Chainsaw so let’s get on.
am older than Jade but could see parts of my teenage self in her. I would think a lot of people could see snippets of themselves in her as well which makes it easy to get invested in her and the story. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At the very core the story focuses on Jade who is one class away from graduating high-school. Only that is the one class is keeps failing, local history. Our protagonist is dragged down by her past, her family and being an outsider but she has a plan. A epic essay series on the unifying theory of slasher films! As you can I guess I already knew this was going to be good. Slowly Jade begins to see a pattern in the recent events in her rural lake town that could only point to one thing, if you have a plethora of horror cinema knowledge, like Jade and the final straw? The arrival of the archetypal Final Girl, Letha Mondragon.
We follow Jade as she prepares of the inevitable slasher killer to arise, further signaled by tourists going missing, and tensions growing between locals and the new celebrity newcomers starting to build their mansions on the other side of Indian Lake, the town lake. While preparing and continuing her epic essay series Jade delves into the town’s history, and most importantly the tragic deaths that occurred at the nearby camp years’ ago, and finding out about the missing tourists no one is sure really existed to start with and the murders that start happening.
The small and peaceful town in true fashion hurtles full pace towards catastrophe, that Jade is sure will come to ahead on the 4th July, in one epic showdown between rich and poor, luxury yachts compete with canoes and inflatables, past and present, townsfolk and celebrities and above all a slasher and the Final Girl.
The pace and tension created within the novel is brilliant, true to Jones style who is a true master of his genre and craft. By using mixed styles of narrative and the essays Jade is compiling we get a greater insight into the town history and Jade’s mind. Peppered with references with classic and cult slashers alike the references are sure to make you smile, if you love horror which you obviously do to be reading this! Another reason to love Jade is she is self-aware. At some points in the narrative we are made aware that Jade knows this is typical bad horror movie etiquette but in the heat of the moment she has no other choice. While it is a work of fiction asides like this help build a sense of realism that it could, in fact, happen.
Again I want to keep this spoiler free but the ending was incredibly powerful. It’s the one part that sticks out so vividly to me. I’ve already recommended this to all my horror loving friends and will continue to do so.
The book will be released on 7th September. I want to thank Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-Arc of the title in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Firstly I want to say I actually finished the book a short while ago and I am still thinking about it which is always a good sign. Stephen Graham Jones is well and truly one of my favourite authors. His writing style and story telling and top notch, fun, engaging and give a sense of realism. I found him via Only the Good Indians and after finishing that novel I knew I had to read the rest – I was not disappointed but this is about My Heart Is A Chainsaw so let’s get on.
am older than Jade but could see parts of my teenage self in her. I would think a lot of people could see snippets of themselves in her as well which makes it easy to get invested in her and the story. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At the very core the story focuses on Jade who is one class away from graduating high-school. Only that is the one class is keeps failing, local history. Our protagonist is dragged down by her past, her family and being an outsider but she has a plan. A epic essay series on the unifying theory of slasher films! As you can I guess I already knew this was going to be good. Slowly Jade begins to see a pattern in the recent events in her rural lake town that could only point to one thing, if you have a plethora of horror cinema knowledge, like Jade and the final straw? The arrival of the archetypal Final Girl, Letha Mondragon.
We follow Jade as she prepares of the inevitable slasher killer to arise, further signaled by tourists going missing, and tensions growing between locals and the new celebrity newcomers starting to build their mansions on the other side of Indian Lake, the town lake. While preparing and continuing her epic essay series Jade delves into the town’s history, and most importantly the tragic deaths that occurred at the nearby camp years’ ago, and finding out about the missing tourists no one is sure really existed to start with and the murders that start happening.
The small and peaceful town in true fashion hurtles full pace towards catastrophe, that Jade is sure will come to ahead on the 4th July, in one epic showdown between rich and poor, luxury yachts compete with canoes and inflatables, past and present, townsfolk and celebrities and above all a slasher and the Final Girl.
The pace and tension created within the novel is brilliant, true to Jones style who is a true master of his genre and craft. By using mixed styles of narrative and the essays Jade is compiling we get a greater insight into the town history and Jade’s mind. Peppered with references with classic and cult slashers alike the references are sure to make you smile, if you love horror which you obviously do to be reading this! Another reason to love Jade is she is self-aware. At some points in the narrative we are made aware that Jade knows this is typical bad horror movie etiquette but in the heat of the moment she has no other choice. While it is a work of fiction asides like this help build a sense of realism that it could, in fact, happen.
Again I want to keep this spoiler free but the ending was incredibly powerful. It’s the one part that sticks out so vividly to me. I’ve already recommended this to all my horror loving friends and will continue to do so.
The book will be released on 7th September. I want to thank Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-Arc of the title in exchange for a fair and honest review.