Book Review: My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

 

⋆⋆½

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: death, violence, murder, gore, animal death, rape, misogyny, racism, child sexual abuse. Please keep in mind that all of the content in this book is very graphic.

Jade Daniels has spent all seventeen years of her life in tiny, backwoods Proofrock, Idaho. She's angry, an outcast amongst her peers who spends her time studying horror movies and hoping that an actual slasher will be knocking on their town's door soon. But when a slasher actually arrives in Proofrock, Jade finds herself caught up in all the gore -- and hoping that her knowledge will keep her ahead of the game.

This one was quite the ride. Of course my interest was piqued by the concept, since I'm a big fan of slashers and 80s' horror films, and the thought of a strong, Native heroine was exciting. I've never read anything by Stephen Graham Jones, but I had heard such good things about his previous books that it was enough for me to request this one. Unfortunately, though, it didn't quite all come together for me.

The main problem I had here was that the story itself just ended up being not that compelling. It takes a very long time for us to actually get into the slasher portion of the book, and while those elements are fun, the rest drags in comparison. There's a portion a little more than halfway through where I truly started to enjoy the craziness going on, but the ending left me feeling disappointed and a touch unsatisfied. 

Graham Jones's signature style is very much present, and while he is undoubtedly an accomplished writer, that style simply doesn't work for me. The sentences were overly long, overly complicated, and we spent the majority of our time in Jade's head as she monologues. While this works for some stories, for this one, it instead felt as if we were stuck in one spot for a little too long. There simply wasn't enough happening.

I do want to make a point of saying that I enjoyed Jade's characterization, and that it's refreshing to watch her go through the world with righteous anger. The rest of the cast is a bit one-dimensional, attempts at changing up horror film tropes and archetypes. It's clear that Graham Jones is trying to subvert our expectations, but sadly, the execution falls a bit flat. There's more that should be discussed here, particularly about Jade's background, but I can't go into too much without spoiling everything. Let's just say that there are some tropes that should be retired.

All in all, this one just wasn't for me. But, if you're a fan of Graham Jones's previous works, I have a feeling you'll enjoy this one. Horror fans should also give it a go, because once the slasher gets going, there's quite a bit of bloody fun!