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My Heart Is a Chainsaw

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My Heart Is a Chainsaw

By: Stephen Graham Jones
Narrated by: Cara Gee
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Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel

Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th in the rollicking, bloody first novel of The Indian Lake trilogy by the master of modern horror Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

“Some girls just don’t know how to die…”

Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th in My Heart Is a Chainsaw, written by the New York Times bestselling 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. Crime Horror Murder Supernatural Thriller & Suspense World Literature Scary Paranormal Native American Fiction Native American Folklore Indigenous America
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Irresistible prose that puts you squarely in the shoes of the protagonist, a story that surprises at every turn (stay with it if you find yourself wondering where the horror is, really!) and maybe the best performance I've heard in an audiobook.

SGJ's best yet and with a god-tier performance

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Revisiting before the release of The Angel Of Indian Lake, and reacquainting myself with Jade and the world of Proofrock.

I know his writing is divisive, but SGJ is one of my favourite modern authors, and upon a second listen I think this may be my favourite. While The Only Good Indians is probably a better book, this speaks to me more - an outcast seeing the world through the lens of slashers is basically tailored to my tastes.

Jade Daniels, the revving heart from the title, is one of the best horror main characters in a long time. She's flawed, she struggles, she's been through a lot, but she persists. I found her so relatable and loved every second of following her journey, and I'm already excited to pick up Don't Fear The Reaper again next month.

Cara Gee's narration is spectacular here. Jones has such a unique writing style, and I feel like she performs it perfectly - if you've ever struggled to follow his prose, I can't recommend this audiobook enough. This reading is so good that it made his style 'click' for me, and I find it very easy to read myself since.

A must for slasher fans

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Whether you like this novel will depend entirely on whether or not you like Jade. She feels like a friend by the end and the finale will stick with me.

Jade makes this novel.

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If you’re like me and have a deep twisted love for the slasher genre and aren’t afraid to admit that maybe life is just like the deepest dank cellar of the last house on the left, then you will quickly find yourself enmeshed in the lives of the people, more specifically Jade, of the sleepy little Idaho town surrounding Indian lake. Simultaneously hanging on each breath and still trying to help the heroine before it’s too late.

A novel and horror movie all in the same place.

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Really enjoyed, even if I felt it was a little confusing in the beginning. A good read

For slasher fans

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