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eepyalgae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, and Rape
Minor: Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
fionamclary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
My Heart is a Chainsaw is not just a sophisticated slasher, however – it's also a quietly yet steadily raging manifesto about Indigenous generational trauma in white small towns, about what parents are supposed to do for their children and how they hurt and fail them instead, about the defiance of survival in a world that doesn't want you to exist. I hope to see this continue in the rest of the series.
There are some unanswered questions that I hope also get addressed in future books. What happened to Letha's mom? Why didn't Jade live with Kimmy after her parents split? Did
My only real criticism of the book is that Jade is so clearly queer, but it doesn't seem that SGJ was aware of this while writing her. Maybe this becomes apparent in later books, but like, no way is this girl with the dyed hair and the combat boots and the obvious barely-supressed crush on Letha straight.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Abandonment
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
The content involving child sexual assault does not occur on-page and is only described semi-graphically once, but CSA is mentioned/alluded to multiple times throughout the book. A survivor of CSA (shedevls's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Incest, Vomit, and Cultural appropriation
ghostinyourcellar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
gracecrandall's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault
janetpants's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cyndakeel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Colonisation
Minor: Cultural appropriation
torturedreadersdept's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
gamerreaper13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Jade was annoying and uninteresting. The constant call backs to slasher films was cute at first but quickly became repetitive and irritating. I signed up for a slasher book and only got the slashing in the final 100 pages of the book.
The twist at the end was good and the gore (when it happened) was amazingly written, it was just having to crawl and claw through the first 350 pages to get there. I found myself skimming pages waaaay too often throughout this one.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Incest, Rape, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Abortion
auteaandtales's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was ultimately about trauma, both Jades’ personal trauma from her abusive family and others but also the trauma that came with being Native American. Jade uses horror as a way to cope with this, and it also makes her an unreliable narrator as we cannot tell what is real and what is Jades’ imagination. Unreliable narration, especially in mystery/thrillers, is one of my favourite things to read. It also has other themes of gentrification, which provided some extra commentary on the horrors persistent within the book.
I thought it all flowed together quite well, especially at the start and the end, I couldn’t wait to get back to the book and read more. The middle felt pretty slow and dragged, it felt like the pacing was off, but once it got back on track it was amazing again. However, the way it was written overall felt like a representation of the mental state of Jade as she struggles with what she has been through and copes with grief.
I recommend this a lot. It felt like a love letter to the horror genre and I’d especially recommend this to people who love the horror genre, and those who used the genre as a way to cope with their own real life monsters. I may give this a go via a different format, though. I listened to this via audio, so a lot went over my head and I didn’t feel like I could engage properly. Maybe both audio and written text, even. Either way, I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series at some point.
Some quotes I liked:
“Horror is not a symptom, it’s a love affair”
“It’s perfectly natural for you to want to defend him. It’s the…it’s like you consider yourself an accomplice just because you were involved, but your involvement wasn’t complicit. Wasn’t voluntary. It never is, it can’t be. You don’t even know you can say no to a parent. Parents are good. Parents are shining and bright, they are the Gods of our world, so whatever they do can never be wrong. It must be your feelings that are wrong. Their mask is that they’re parents. Some of them are more, though. Some of them are monsters”
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Cultural appropriation