Between The Pages: My Heart is a Chainsaw
 | Author:
Rachael Elliott-Brug, Reading Leaves
Rachael Brug: MT43 News Vice President and Copy Editor |
Between The Pages: My Heart is a Chainsaw Rachael Elliott-Brug, Reading Leaves My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, has been described as Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th, and won the Bram Stoker award for Best Novel.
This frequently amusing and ultimately satisfying meta-horror novel follows Jade, a Native American high-schooler with no friends, no extant future outside her janitorial job, and a deep love for slasher flicks, which are her coping mechanism in the face of an alcoholic father and absentee mom. Film trivia pervade the narration at every turn, but slasher newbies will find the references easier to follow thanks to Jade's essays, presented in between chapters.
Soon enough, a series of deaths convince Jade that a real slasher cycle is starting. Is this the overactive imagination of a struggling teen? And if not, what is it?
My Heart is a Chainsaw balances its obligations to both developing real characters of the sort not seen in pulp films, and functioning as a slasher itself, one that will keep you guessing until the end. On the way there, horror tropes are used to examine Native American identity, economic inequity, and childhood trauma. If you're into slashers this is one you can't afford to miss.
Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and been the recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association.
He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder and is currently teaching creative writing as a guest Professor at the University of Montana.
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