My Heart is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones [book review]

My Heart is a Chainsaw book summary:

My Heart is a Chainsaw follows Jade. Jade knows a lot about horror movies. So much so she’s starting to see events around her that signal a slasher is in her town. If only her knowledge could help her with her anger and resentment towards her abusive father. absent mother, and a town that wants nothing to do with her. As blood starts to shed Jade is able to predict what’s going to happen next. But will the town listen to her?

What I thought about My Heart is a Chainsaw:

I have to say that I was pretty excited when I got an advanced copy of My Heart is a Chainsaw. I’ve heard so many good things about Stephen Graham Jones books. On top of that, it’s horror and deals with slashers. Slashers are of my favorite subgenres but I think this is probably the wrong book of his for me to start off with. Here’s why.

The Characters

So, My Heart is a Chainsaw follows Jade. She’s half Native American and has a fixation on horror. She’s fixated on slashers more than any other subgenre.

There’s a part of me that can relate to Jade so much. I have loved horror for a very long time. I may not know all the facts about it like Jade but I can relate to how people think she’s “weird” just because of what she likes. There’s a huge difference between the two of us though and that’s almost as if she thinks horror is real and follows the exact script as horror movies do.

I’m going, to be honest though. I found Jade to be REALLY annoying to the point where I was questioning if I was that annoying with things I enjoyed as well. Like I said I can really relate to Jade when it comes to being an outcast for the things you enjoy. But horror and slashers are literally ALL she can talk about. I understand that’s the point because she’s supposed to be an encyclopedia of horror knowledge but I didn’t realize that her knowledge and her delusions were going to be all that the book consisted of. Because of this, I ended up hating the book so much.

The Plot

I feel like the story is really lacking in a plot because the story is spouting out Jude’s knowledge. It’s almost as if Jude has to make everyone well aware that she has the knowledge when it really shouldn’t take much to let us know that she knows a lot. On top of that nothing really happens in the story until the last thirty percent or so. I get why everyone likes slow-burners so much but this one is so slow (to me) that I ended up not finishing multiple times.

The story probably would have been so much better if it was cut in half and got to the point so much sooner.

If you’re reading this review then I’m sure you haven’t read My Heart is a Chainsaw yet. Or you have and you just want to see what others thought. But! If you’ve read any of his books before let me know in the comments what book of his I should read that wasn’t such a slow burner like this one.

Have you read any of Stehphen Graham Jones books before?

If you like this review then you may also like We Were Never Here.