This is a rather unusual story. A hybrid between a supernatural thriller perhaps and a slasher horror film. Jade, an Indian girl from Proof rock, Idaho is our narrator.Jade’s obsessed with slasher flicks, and knows all there is to know about every one that’s ever been made. Her obsession is so all consuming that she dreams of the day a slasher flick will come to her small town. With the deaths of 2 random Dutch tourists, Jade sees the first signs of a possible slasher fantasy playing out in real life. From there things get wild, and a little bit disorganized. This story seems to want to be 2 things at once and I think it loses the coherence of the story in trying to make the story so broad. The ending was also a little flat. The story is sustainable with Jade as the heroine. As a troubled young girl with a history of trauma she is able to ground this story despite it getting pretty far out there. While this wasn’t a favorite for me it does stand out as very different, and that makes it memorable. Review posted to Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Litsy, LibraryThing and Amazon

Imagine you have spent your entire life watching all the horror movies ever made and now weird things are happening in your small town. Have you ended up in your own horror film or are you going crazy from your obsession?

Jade Daniels is just this person. Jade is just about to turn 18 and she has been an outcast her entire life that no one believes or treats kindly. Now she feels as if she is the only one who can save her town from a slasher. When a new development is going in across the lake from Proofrock mysterious deaths start to occur on the lake. Jade is convinced that there is a slasher in their town and she is the only one who can train the "final girl" to do what needs to be done.

Jade is not a character that ingratiates herself to the reader and you start to question is she is crazy and nothing is happening. This book is very strange and while it was well written it was not my cup of tea so I cannot really recommend it. It is just not my style but there are many who would love this.

Loved this book. I don't know that I 've ever wanted to hug a narrator more that I wanted to hug Jade at the end of this book. A slasher story with heart

Another great book by one of the very best in the business. MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW is a slasher with a ton of heart!
Highly recommended!

Raw , disturbing , thrilling love letter to slasher movies this book grabs you fro m the chilling opening and doesn’t let go . Be prepared to stay up all night reading or all night frightened . Brilliant storytelling

Stephen Graham Jones is the reigning king of horror. While I found the first half of this novel a little slow, I've never had the second half of a story pay off quite like My Heart is a Chainsaw did. Nonstop heart-pounding action, like the very best slasher movie put into book form. I barely breathed as I devoured every word. This is his best work yet. 5 stars.

I heard so many good things about this one, but I couldn't get into it. I just didn't understand enough about what was happening early on that it left me confused and not wanting to pick it up.

A thank you to Negalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having read The Final Girls Support Group earlier this year despite my not being a horror movie person, it's also the first novel by an Indigenous author that I've had a chance to read this year, and for that reason alone, it moved me far more. While I must stress that I am not of Indigenous descent, I did grow up on an Ojibwe reservation in Northern WI, so all of my best friends were Native American, and while I did experience some judgement second hand for who I hung out with, I did see what my friends and their families experienced, which was not always good. Far too many of people I knew did young and the poverty level is much higher than in other communities. Jone is an excellent writer and does an excellent job of bringing both characters and story to live. This would be a great read for older teens and has the potential to be a good movie.

I’m so confused right now. I had no idea on why to expect from this book but the whole slasher culture wasn’t one of them. I am not a huge slasher movie fan so half the time I as lost, the other half I was trying to understand (and not get bored by it). Be aware it’s a slow book and things take its sweet time to happen but when it hits you’ll need to be ready.

This was not what I was expecting, at all. I couldn't even read it, it was so boring. I ended up slimming, but was still so bored. The narrator, Jade, just drones on and on and on for no reason. Nothing happens, there's nothing but the main character needlessly talking about horror films. Constantly. For no reason. Definitely not the slasher book I thought it was going to be. Even when the book finally had things happening, which was at 70%, it was still biting. The main character managed to drivel on and on, and there was no focus on the things going on, just her narration. Snooze fest. So disappointing.

Wow this was difficult… this book was very dense and hard to get through. Being in this characters head was exhausting and I wanted to love this story sooo much and was just disappointed it was hard to get through

There is so much going on in My Heart is a Chainsaw. Our heroine is 17-year old Jennifer Daniels, half Native American, living in a small Idaho town. Jennifer refers to herself as Jade, and is a misfit/outcast who is obsessed with slasher films. Her entire world is viewed through the lens of these movies, and she becomes convinced that certain events in her small town mean that a real-life "slasher cycle" has started.

The writing here is both excellent and difficult. I've seen complaints that the first part is too slow and hard to read. It's not easy. We follow along the best we can with Jade's scattered thought process, and at times I did have to re-read passages. Chapters alternate between current events and Jade's series of papers on the slasher movie genre, written for her favorite history teacher. This fills in some nice backstory on the genre for those who have no idea, but there are still a lot of references to slasher films that will go over the heads of those who don't watch these movies.

This ends up becoming a sort-of coming of age story, a definite horror story, a very violent story, and a character study. There's a lot packed in and I don't think it's possible to read the book without being somewhat confused. However, the story is fascinating, and the ending is a major emotional punch. Overall, this may have a limited audience. It's for horror fans who also are okay with a certain degree of difficulty in wading through the writing, but worth it for those who take on the challenge.

I have enjoyed so many of Stephen Graham Jones' books and novellas. While I did enjoy the story, something about it just did not quite click for me. I enjoyed the horror movie aspect and the main character. I think upon reread I might enjoy more.

DNF @ 87 pages. I have LOVED other works by Stephen Graham Jones but I did not like the writing style of this one. It read very much like The Last Final Girl by this author which I felt was more cohesive. The stream of consciousness type writing style isn't for me. I still look forward to more from this author.

I definitely recommend this one to anyone that loves slasher films, as there are great references to all sorts of slasher films in a very unique way. While the story itself was 3.5 stars for me, overall it was a fun read and I’ll definitely be picking up more from this author.

Stephen Graham Jones has been publishing for twenty years, and he has been highly revered in the horror community as one of the greatest living horror writers. Last year was a good year for him. He published the novel The Only Good Indians in July and the novella Night of the Mannequins in September.

He won both of the 202 Shirley Jackson Awards for novel and novella with these two. His newest novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw, is highly anticipated, and there are some huge expectations for many readers based on this success.

My Heart is a Chainsaw does not disappoint. The novel surrounds Jade, an half-indigenous outsider at school with an absent mother and a drunk father. She does what she can to survive, which is to delve into her love of slasher movies and be convinced that her small town of Proofrock, Idaho is going to be the victim of a huge massacre. There are several settings in this novel that can be seen as old sets from slasher movies. Proofrock is on one side of Indian Lake, which might have a Lake Witch, the other side is an old summer camp called Camp Blood, and there is Terra Nova, a rich suburb that is still in construction on top of what very well might be a Native American burial ground. Jade is convinced that this is the perfect recipe for bad things to happen. Throughout the novel, she is trying to warn the town, trying to get someone to listen to her, and getting in trouble for her efforts. She latches onto Letha Mondragon, one of the new girls from Terra Nova, and knows that she is going to be the final girl. Unfortunately when she tells Letha this, she gets into even more trouble with the police. In the end, Jade does not give up; she needs to warn everyone of the impending doom the town is going to face, even though most of her insights are based on slasher movie logic and not reality.

Stephen Graham Jones loves slashers, and he pours this love into Jade. He has been on many podcasts talking about his love for the slasher genre, and when Jade talks about slashers in this book, she does not only talk about the big ones, like Friday the 13th and Halloween. She describes some deep cuts, like Just Before Dawn and A Bay of Blood. There are also essays written from Jade to her history teacher about the rules and history of the slasher genre and how it fits into the life and events of Proofrock. These rules and history of slasher segments are things I have heard come from Stephen Graham Jones himself during some podcasts, so listening to Jade, I feel like I am also listening to the author. He has poured his love into this character, and it really shows.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is a novel for horror fans. Jade is written as a horror fan that many horror fans can understand. Many fans were outsiders through high school or do not have a good home life, so many use a world of horror movies and fantasy as coping mechanisms. Jade might be a little more obsessed than many horror fans, but the sentiment is there. Horror is a way that many people have coped with a tough life or tough times. Stephen Graham Jones makes his character someone that many horror fans can relate to, and in the end, Stephen Graham Jones is not only writing a horror novel but he is writing a love letter to a genre.

I received this as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the atmosphere of My Heart is a Chainsaw, but the book seemed slow until the last about 30% where all the action happens. I usually don't have an issue with liking or disliking characters, but I could not get myself to care about, or relate to any of the characters in the book, which made this one an unfortunate miss for me. Even though this book wasn't a hit for me, I can appreciate all the horror movie references and some of the gore towards the end of the book. I will continue to pick up books from this author as his previous book "Only Good Indians" was one of my favorite books last year. Definitely pick this one up this fall if you love old-school slasher horror.

This book totally shares the great parts of all slasher movies! Jade has a hard life but her obsession with slasher films have helped her. She is convinced that something is happening in her town. She’s seeing all the signs that some strange things are happening down but what is it? Will the town survive?

My Heart Is A Chainsaw is a non-stop ride of slasher references, red herrings, and old school slicing and dicing. Jones writing just keeps coming at you and the red herrings keeps you guessing until the very end. This is a solid, fun read.

This was my most anticipated book of the year and it took me 2 months to read the first 60% and one morning to read the last 40%. Unfortunately, the meta narrative about horror and especially slashers is something I've seen a lot of before and this one didn't do a lot for me. Some people can't get enough meta stuff and that's great but it's just not for me. I really thought it would be more about the gentrification of the town which I found super interesting but overall feels like a forgotten storyline. The pacing just felt majorly off for me too with long scenes of metanarrative and winking at the reader that gave us no new information pretty frequently. SGJ's writing style is so distinctive and evocative that I will continue to read anything he ever writes though!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.