My Heart Is a Chainsaw (1) (The Indian Lake Trilogy)
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel
Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR
In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.
“Some girls just don’t know how to die…”
Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th in My Heart Is a Chainsaw, written by the author of The Only Good Indians Stephen Graham Jones, called “a literary master” by National Book Award winner Tananarive Due and “one of our most talented living writers” by Tommy Orange.
Alma Katsu calls My Heart Is a Chainsaw “a homage to slasher films that also manages to defy and transcend genre.” On the surface is a story of murder in small-town America. But beneath is its beating heart: a biting critique of American colonialism, Indigenous displacement, and gentrification, and a heartbreaking portrait of a broken young girl who uses horror movies to cope with the horror of her own life.
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies…especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.
Yet, even as Jade drags us into her dark fever dream, a surprising and intimate portrait emerges…a portrait of the scared and traumatized little girl beneath the Jason Voorhees mask: angry, yes, but also a girl who easily cries, fiercely loves, and desperately wants a home. A girl whose feelings are too big for her body. My Heart Is a Chainsaw is her story, her homage to horror and revenge and triumph.
Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR
In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.
“Some girls just don’t know how to die…”
Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th in My Heart Is a Chainsaw, written by the author of The Only Good Indians Stephen Graham Jones, called “a literary master” by National Book Award winner Tananarive Due and “one of our most talented living writers” by Tommy Orange.
Alma Katsu calls My Heart Is a Chainsaw “a homage to slasher films that also manages to defy and transcend genre.” On the surface is a story of murder in small-town America. But beneath is its beating heart: a biting critique of American colonialism, Indigenous displacement, and gentrification, and a heartbreaking portrait of a broken young girl who uses horror movies to cope with the horror of her own life.
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies…especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.
Yet, even as Jade drags us into her dark fever dream, a surprising and intimate portrait emerges…a portrait of the scared and traumatized little girl beneath the Jason Voorhees mask: angry, yes, but also a girl who easily cries, fiercely loves, and desperately wants a home. A girl whose feelings are too big for her body. My Heart Is a Chainsaw is her story, her homage to horror and revenge and triumph.
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Community Reviews
2.5
This is my third SGJ book and I just don't know what it is about him that just doesn't connect with me. It's always a great idea, but the writing style loses me.
This is my third SGJ book and I just don't know what it is about him that just doesn't connect with me. It's always a great idea, but the writing style loses me.
MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW is a slasher with a ton of heart!
That's the good part. SGJ' love for the slasher genre of movies spills out of his guts and blood-soaked mind and lands all over this book. It's great at first but very quickly gets in the way of the flow of this book. The story takes too long to get moving and even though I love horror references, this book has twice as many references as needed. Jones is one of the best in the business, but this one missed a mark that should have been easy to hit. I think if it were half as long and tightened up, that would have helped the pacing and my overall enjoyment of the story immensely.
I really wasn't sure what the heck was happening in the final act and wasn't sure I'd pick up book #2 (I did, and it's flawed in similar ways, but I liked it better than this one!)
I do like Jade and hope she has the greatest ending of endings in book #3.
That's the good part. SGJ' love for the slasher genre of movies spills out of his guts and blood-soaked mind and lands all over this book. It's great at first but very quickly gets in the way of the flow of this book. The story takes too long to get moving and even though I love horror references, this book has twice as many references as needed. Jones is one of the best in the business, but this one missed a mark that should have been easy to hit. I think if it were half as long and tightened up, that would have helped the pacing and my overall enjoyment of the story immensely.
I really wasn't sure what the heck was happening in the final act and wasn't sure I'd pick up book #2 (I did, and it's flawed in similar ways, but I liked it better than this one!)
I do like Jade and hope she has the greatest ending of endings in book #3.
Bought this book because of the title and I’ve began reading it recently and I honestly don’t even feel like going any further with it. So much irrelevant details and dragging so many things that are plain simple. Like, get to the point already. Im constantly finding myself re-reading passages because I’m lost. There isn’t a smooth transition in between the scenes that tells you where the characters « are and where they’re headed » so much nonsense and rambling…. A whole paragraph about a name tag… who cares about a name tag???! This book is like running in circles and never getting to the finish line. This review is very direct, which isn’t at all like this book. I expected something good and easy and fun. Its more like a drag to read. I won’t be buying any other books from this author. I’m quite frustrated to be honest. Definitely not my type of tea…
“My Heart Is a Chainsaw” honestly is a wild ride. I wasn’t anticipating this novel to take as long as it did to get genuinely interesting, taking a lot of time to establish Jade and get us in her mindset before we got to the good stuff. Having previously read things from Graham Jones, I was a bit confused at times with the jarring transitions, which previously weren’t in his writings. Going from one paragraph to the next without any sort of context threw me off for a majority of the novel, which I can see being a way to show the way Jade thinks, but it made for a frustrating read at times. But, once you adjust to the writing style and get through the lengthy exposition, man oh man does this become a fun read. The last quarter of the novel reads so smoothly, with so much action taking place, becoming a pretty breathless read. It was certainly worth all of the work it took to get there though, becoming a climax that I will absolutely never forget, and one that I just had so much fun reading. I’m hopeful for “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, since I understand Graham Jones’ writing style better, and we don’t have to go through the heavy exposition and introduction to Jade. Overall, this definitely was worthwhile, even if it took nearly half of the novel to finally click for me.
There's a lot going on.
I have questions.
I don't think I would like being around Jade.
She kind of sucks.
Why did it end like that??!!?? I need answers!!!
I have questions.
I don't think I would like being around Jade.
She kind of sucks.
Why did it end like that??!!?? I need answers!!!
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