You know how it goes. You have some time to kill in town, so you think "I'll just pop into Waterstones, just to look - I won't buy anything". You head to your department of choice, carefully ignore the lure of the buy one get one half price tables, you're just looking. Maybe you'll just take a photo of a cover or two to add to your list. Well you got paid last week, so maybe you'll just treat yourself to one. And you've had your eye on that one for ages, so you might as well get it while you're here. Oh wait, what's this? Suddenly you're at the tills with five books in your hands, You didn't mean to, you swear, it just of... happened.
And that, folks, is how I ended up buying My Heart Is A Chainsaw (among others), after popping into Waterstones to kill twenty minutes. A dangerous game we can all agree. Not one I have any regrets over though. Other books from that little shopping spree may have been disappointing, but Chainsaw is a wild ride from start to finish.
Jade Daniels is an outcast in her small, rural lake town of Proofrock. She's the 'weird kid' at school, she works as a janitor, her mother is absent, and her father, the only Native American in town, is also the town drunk. Jade finds her solace in slasher movies, and is pouring her heart and soul into her final high school history assignment - a history of Proofrock through the eyes of horror cinema. Despite it's looming gentrification instigated by the new Terra Nova luxury development on the far side of Indian Lake, Proofrock has a dark and bloody past that refuses to stay buried - a drowned town, brutal murders at a summer camp decades earlier, and the old legend of a vengeful lake witch. When two young tourists disappear on the lake, followed by the arrival of Letha Mondragon, the epitome of a "final girl", Jade is convinced that a chain of events has been set in motion that can only end in bloody tragedy.
I'm not usually keen on books that are full of pop culture references, I find they date easily and sometimes it's irritating to have to continuously look stuff up. I didn't have that issue with this one - I do have a relatively decent knowledge of slashers anyway, but even if the only Michael Myers you know is the one that plays Shrek, Jones has got your back. The excerpts of Jade's history essays, frame her life in Proofrock through the rules of her favourite genre and discuss tropes and themes, providing context and explanation to all the references, because after all, Mr Holmes the history teacher isn't an expert on the subject. Even if you enter the book a novice, this educational homage will make sure you leave it well versed, and probably with a big long list of films to watch.
We've all been in that awful situation where you're desperately trying to convince an authority figure of something and try as you might they will not believe you. It might actually be one of the most frustrating thing to experience, this book conveys that perfectly, I felt like I was right there with Jade, especially as things started to ramp up and she begins to get more desperate. The thing is though, Jade isn't exactly a reliable narrator - is she completely delusional, or is she right about the inevitable slasher spree? Her obsession with horror is her lifeline, the salve for her traumatic childhood and outcast life, and it's understandable that she might start to project her solace onto her real, less than ideal world. She fixates on rich, graceful Letha Mondragon because she can't possibly imagine herself as ever being good enough, pure enough, to be the "final girl".
I won't lie, it's a bit of a slow start, and some parts are straight up confusing - there are a good few conversations between people who aren't listening to each other, and it takes a bit of patience to unravel the threads. It also takes a keen eye to spot all the clues that are tucked away, ready for the grand finale. At around two thirds of the way through, things start to kick off in a big way - you'll definitely need to bring your stomach for gore - and they don't stop until the final page, and the final girl are all that are left. It's rollercoaster of brutality and scares, but at the same time absolutely heart-breaking. This is about more than mindless killing, there are deeper themes at work that I won't spoil but the last couple of pages gut punched me in a way that left me staring at nothing and just digesting it for a good few minutes - if anyone's read it, drop me a message because I'm dying to discuss it with someone.
If they're anything like this one let's just say I'm very excited to check out Stephen Graham Jones' other books. I wouldn't say this book is for everyone, but if you like it, and if you like slashers, I'm pretty sure you'll love it.
Comments