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

4.0

3.5 ⭐️ for me. This was my first SGJ book that I read during Halloween weekend and it was challenging for me. Hard to wrap my head around his writing style, so I felt lost at what the heck was going on during some parts. It was sooo slow to get to the *big ending* and I felt like a lot of the writing was filler! Like it took so long to get through a scene that I found myself feeling anxious for the author to hurry up and end it already. Maybe that was meant to be part of the experience? I mean, this is a book that is honoring slasher movies which is why I wanted to read it. I’m not a huge slasher movie person, but watched a lot as a kid and teen. There were gorey + graphic scenes, but they didn’t really do much for me (I’m not squeamish and slasher movies make me laugh rather than freak me out lolol) I wish there was more action! Honestly, the shit that Jade (the main character) went through with her dad had more of an impact on me than the gore. (Should also mention TW for s*xual assault and child s*xual abuse.) LASTLY I really liked the character of Jade and initially wanted to read this because she’s mixed race and of indigenous heritage (“Half Indian” as the author describes her.) As a mixed race person I could see bits of myself in her as someone who constantly feels misunderstood. Jade is far from a perfect person who has gone through some shit, showing the realities + struggles of indigenous people which is something I was looking to find in this book. TO SUM IT UP although I struggled with the writing and how slow it was, it was an ok introduction to the horror genre for me and I plan to read more of SGJ’s books.