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A review by thexwalrus
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.75
when i picked this up, i was mostly concerned that the writing style wouldn’t be my cup of tea. i was shocked to find it was - however, the main character was very much not, and that made this book super hard to get through.
i have sympathy for jade - i understand why she is the way she is - but oh my god, i could not stand her. people are dying, jade, this isn’t a slasher film, there is no plot, have a fucking shred of empathy for a second and realize what’s going on. maybe i’m just too old to vibe with her - i read this at 28 going on 29 - but she is a teenager i would not have a high tolerance for.
the story’s well-constructed and well-written, and i liked a lot of the characters! the ending felt extremely satisfying when it made sense - in those few, blissful paragraphs where i was able to figure out what was actually going on and what was imagined - and i loved watching jade grow into her own hero, as predictable as it was. but i would’ve liked this a LOT more if we didn’t have jade’s internal monologues to deal with. again: being a teenager in her shoes is hard. i was a teenager living with an abusive father. i get it. but i just did not vibe with her at all.
also can we PLEASE stop using sexual assault as a "trope" in horror it doesn't need to happen and if it happens it needs to be handled better than this
i have sympathy for jade - i understand why she is the way she is - but oh my god, i could not stand her. people are dying, jade, this isn’t a slasher film, there is no plot, have a fucking shred of empathy for a second and realize what’s going on. maybe i’m just too old to vibe with her - i read this at 28 going on 29 - but she is a teenager i would not have a high tolerance for.
the story’s well-constructed and well-written, and i liked a lot of the characters! the ending felt extremely satisfying when it made sense - in those few, blissful paragraphs where i was able to figure out what was actually going on and what was imagined - and i loved watching jade grow into her own hero, as predictable as it was. but i would’ve liked this a LOT more if we didn’t have jade’s internal monologues to deal with. again: being a teenager in her shoes is hard. i was a teenager living with an abusive father. i get it. but i just did not vibe with her at all.
also can we PLEASE stop using sexual assault as a "trope" in horror it doesn't need to happen and if it happens it needs to be handled better than this
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Rape