My Heart is a Chainsaw, By Stephen Graham Jones ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Attempted Suicide, Dysfunctional Families, Gentrification, Horror, Incest, Mystery, Native American Culture, Self-harm, Substance Abuse, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 31st, 2021

416 Pages

Synopsis: 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. (Goodreads)

Jones’ The Only Good Indians was one of my favorite horror novels of 2020 so I’ve been eagerly looking forward to diving into My Heart is a Chainsaw, especially when I saw the cover and read the premise. After spending the better part of the week making my way through it, I have to be honest and say this is one of the toughest books I’ve had to rate and review since I began this blog seven years ago.

The first chapter was fantastic and immediately hooked me, but then for about 60% of the novel, the story stuttered along at an excruciatingly slow pace. In fact, it was so bad that at certain points I have to be honest and say I skimmed a few sections, which I hate doing because I feel like I’m cheating. The chapters are overly long third person expository-style and are only broken up by Jade’s first person “Slasher 101” papers she’s writing for extra credit for her history class. Thank goodness for these breaks from the otherwise tediousness of the story, because I think they’re the only thing that kept me going. You see,  seventeen-year-old, half-Indian, Jade, is a Slasher expert, and her papers are full of fun facts and Easter eggs about film franchises such as Scream, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and more. She’s also convinced that there’s some sort real life Slasher that’s materialized in her small Idaho town, and that it’s tied somehow to the new gentrified development across the lake. Jade is a tough character to get a hold of and I spent a good portion of the story flipping back and forth on how I felt about her. She’s the poster child of unreliable characters, yet there’s something uniquely vulnerable about her that makes you loathe to turn away without discovering  what lies underneath her puzzling and unlikable exterior. When the truth is finally revealed, it’s as horrifying as the overarching plot itself, and I found myself firmly in her corner rooting for her.

As slow as the the first half of the book is, shortly past the midway point the story takes off like a bat out of Hell and all the teasing little plot points and what seems like an endless amount of minutiae, come together in a bloody and gory crescendo of mayhem and carnage that left me breathlessly wondering who was the killer and who was going to be the Final Girl. If you asked me when I was halfway through the book what I thought, I would have replied that I was disappointed and was probably only going to give it 2.5 stars. But that all changed because of those last 160 or so pages. I still can’t say I loved My Heart is a Chainsaw, but I can say that Stephen Graham Jones being called “the Jordan Peele of horror literature” is pretty on point. I finished it three days ago and it’s still interfering with my sleep. If you decide to give this a try, my advice would be to expect the slow burn of all slow burns. But if you have the time and patience the payoff is worth it…mostly.

Suggested Reading, by David Connis ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Attempted Suicide, Book Banning, Homophobia, LGBTQ, Mental Health, YA Fiction

Thanks to Edelweiss and Katherine Tegan Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 17th, 2019

304 Pages

Synopsis: In this hilarious and thought-provoking contemporary teen standalone that’s perfect for fans of Moxie, a bookworm finds a way to fight back when her school bans dozens of classic and meaningful books.

Clara Evans is horrified when she discovers her principal’s “prohibited media” hit list. The iconic books on the list have been pulled from the library and aren’t allowed anywhere on the school’s premises. Students caught with the contraband will be sternly punished.

Many of these stories have changed Clara’s life, so she’s not just going to sit back and watch while her draconian principal abuses his power. She’s going to strike back.

So Clara starts an underground library in her locker, doing a shady trade in titles like “Speak” and “The Chocolate War.” But when one of the books she loves most is connected to a tragedy she never saw coming, Clara is forced to face her role in it.

Will she be able to make peace with her conflicting feelings, or is fighting for this noble cause too tough for her to bear?

I finished Suggested Reading a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve been saving my review for this week, because a story about fighting against the banning of books is obviously perfect for Banned Books Week. 

Clara is a complex character who both annoyed me and made me want to hug her. She’s a rabid reader, so that in itself earns her major points. She’s also very focused and determined to stand up to injustice. However, at times these same qualities can get her into trouble, especially in regards to making assumptions about other people. After a near tragedy occurs, the Clara that emerges at the end of the book is much wiser and likable than the somewhat immature and self-absorbed teen that’s introduced in the beginning. The other characters, from Clara’s best friend LiQui, to some of the smaller characters, are well-rounded and relatable. 

What I love the most about this book though are the multiple themes that run through it that present perfect opportunities for discussion. First and foremost of course is what impact books have on our lives and how they can inspire us and make us think, but in addition to this there are other topics explored such as: not being so quick to judge others, mental health, and homophobia. 

While not perfect, Suggested Reading is a quick moving read with a relatable heroine and intriguing narrative. It’s a book that I believe should be in every public and high school library and it’s perfect for classroom discussion. With censorship continuing to rear its ugly head not only in this country but around the world, we need to share timely stories such as this.

Good Girl, Bad Girl, by Michael Robothom ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Attempted Rape, Attempted Suicide, Child Abuse, Mystery, Substance Abuse, Suspense, Torture

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 23, 2019

368 Pages

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of The Secrets She Keeps, the writer Stephen King calls “an absolute master…with heart and soul,” comes a fiendishly clever suspense novel about a dangerous young woman with a special ability to know when someone is lying—-and the criminal psychologist who must outwit her to survive.

A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won’t tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is twelve, maybe fifteen. She doesn’t appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA can’t be matched to an identity. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children’s home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case, demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he’s ever met—-fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who dies on a lonely footpath close to her home. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges—-one that Evie Cormac, a girl with no past, knows something about. A man haunted by his own tragic history, Cyrus is caught between the two cases—-one girl who needs saving, another who needs justice. What price will he pay for the truth? Fiendishly clever, swiftly paced, and emotionally explosive, Good Girl, Bad Girl is the perfect thrilling summer read by internationally bestselling author Michael Robothom.

Good Girl, Bad Girl is the first book I’ve read by Michael Robothom, and while there were a couple of issues I ran into, I still really enjoyed it. 

The best part of the book are Cyrus and Evie. I loved both their backstories and the mystery surrounding Evie, I found especially compelling. I confess I thought her ability of being a “truth wizard” would be more of a focus of the book and was disappointed that it wasn’t. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same emotional investment in discovering who was behind Jodie’s death. Don’t get me wrong, it was a solid mystery. I think I was just so captivated by the developing relationship between Cyrus and Evie, and the shared traumas between them, that I found Jodie’s story almost distracting. 

All of the characters are extremely well-written, with plenty of flaws amongst them, which serves to make them relatable (although there was one who I found thoroughly detestable and who didn’t get the just desserts they should have.) But again, it’s Cyrus and Evie who are the standouts here and raise this story above others in the same genre.

Good Girl, Bad Girl was an entertaining and quick read, and from the way it ends I will be very surprised if this doesn’t turn into a series. Both Cyrus and Evie are characters I easily grew attached to and I’d love to see more of them. I do want to caution though, there are triggers which some people may have a difficult time with. These include: Descriptions of torture, child abuse, substance abuse, attempted suicide, self-harm, and attempted rape. Otherwise, I highly recommend this to fans of mystery, suspense, and character-driven stories.