Stephanie

Book Review ✨ My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Jade knows everything about Slashers. She can tell you every body count for every slasher. Okay maybe the better word for it is obsessed. After a body is found in the town lake, it's Jades time to shine. She knows this is how all slasher films begin, and she knows who the final girl is going to be and it's not her. It's Letha Mondragon, she's beautiful, smart, kind and a perfect final girl. Jade must prepare her for the inevitable, the Lake Witch killings.

I'm not sure if you're aware but I'm not a fan of SGJ's writing but this book has given me a little hope. At first I wasn't feeling it but around 30 percent I was hooked. I needed to know what was going to happen. SGJ tends to rant and go off topic and characters often speak in circles and the story becomes hard to follow. However, after around 30 percent, his writing becomes more fluid only going off track a few times. If he could cut out about 100-150 pages of extra details, rants and boring information about boring subjects, this book could easily be a 5 star read.

The plot is what won me over. It's fun to guess who the slasher is, only to be completely surprised at the end. I enjoyed his characters, especially the main character. She's absolutely tapped, and definitely interesting.

I will say SGJ added perfect amounts of humor at the right moments. His kill scenes are also cringeworthy. Like any typical slasher, he throws in lots of blood and gore, so beware if you are squeamish like me.

Okay so I have a few things to say about this novella. The story was interesting and definitely unique but I realized I just wanted it to be over. I expected something different. With the title Night of the Mannequins I expected creepy mannequins popping up around town or something more spooky.

This is my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones and I don't know if I'm a fan. His writing is too wordy and kind of veers off often with descriptions and tidbits I feel are unnecessary for the story. To be honest, I feel like there are too many run-on sentences that make the story confusing and overwhelming at points. It's like an information overload. I want to read his other works specifically The Only Good Indians, but I'm reluctant to because I could barely get through a novella of only 131 pages. I can't imagine trying to read an entire novel of run on sentences and extra descriptive words. It sounds tedious and boring. I gave the novella 1 star. I did enjoy some parts of the story but his writing style is not for me.

Although there are a lot of good stories in the collection, there are a number of boring ones that made it hard for me to finish, but I pushed through.

I enjoyed the stories that focused on creatures and folklore tales. I also enjoyed the stories that dealt with racism. I was pleased to see Cherie Dimaline in this collection. Her story was one of my favorites out of the collection.

All of the authors brought their A game when it comes to writing. Pacing is excellent, styles are cohesive. I would recommend people to read this collection because every story is written by an Indigenous author, which you don't see often in horror.

In the afterword, Junji Ito mentions he was going through a phase where he couldn't “write” horror. I wouldn't even have known that considering how horrific the stories are in this collection. It's one of my new favorites of his work and it shows how expansive his imagination truly is.

Review to come