If I had to sum up why I like Kingfisher and her books so much, it’s because she creates characters that I desperately want to know and be friends with in real life. And not just her human characters. All of the animals she brings to life are just perfect. In her latest novel, Nettle & Bone, that includes a dog made only of bones and brought to life by magic, but who’s still just as dog as a dog can be. (Oh, and there’s a demon-possessed chicken.)
As you might have guessed from that, Nettle & Bone is a fantasy story. Or to be more specific, a dark fairy tale. Marra is a princess, sent to live in a convent as a backup should her sisters fail in their strategic marriages. Her family rules a small but vital kingdom with an important port that neighboring kingdoms have long eyed. To provide some protection, Marra’s eldest sister wed the prince of the northern kingdom. Sadly, she died under mysterious circumstances. The second daughter then replaced her sister as the prince’s wife. She successfully gives birth, but to a daughter. When Marra arrives in the castle for her niece’s christening, she makes a disturbing discovery. Upon return to the convent, Marra realizes that she is the only person who can save her sister, and possibly her kingdom.
But she doesn’t know where to begin. “If we were men…” she thinks to herself. However, as the powerless echo time and again:
They were not and the history of the world was written in women’s wombs and women’s blood and she would never be allowed to change it.
Rage shivered through her, a rage that seemed like it could topple the halls of heaven, then vanished under the knowledge of her own helplessness. Rage was only useful if you were allowed to do anything with it.
As she is unable to transform into a dragon, it seems hopeless. But then she realizes she could enlist the help of a dust-wife. Dust-wives were women who lived by graveyards and worked with the dead, along with doing other general witchy things. A dust-wife could give her the power to kill the prince. Of course, it’s never as simple as just asking for help. Marra must prove herself and on the way, she collects friends and allies, ready to challenge Prince Charming.
Kingfisher creates amazing worlds and this one is no different. The magic is fun and I love what she does with the idea of the fairy godmother. The other two books of hers that I’ve read, The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones, are more horror-ific (I’ll probably never forget her descriptions of the horrors of the Hollow Places), but even in those, her humor and her protagonists make you think you could handle it if they stay with you. I’m thrilled to add Marra and her companions to that group.
Not that long ago, if you had asked me if I was a horror fan, I’d have said no. Then recently I realized that I kept starting sentences with “I’m not much of a horror fan, but…” and proceeded to gush about the latest book I picked up from the horror section. Plain Bad Heroines.The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places. Books by AlmaKatsu. And then a friend of mine recommended The Only Good Indiansby Stephen Graham Jones. It was fantastic. I’m not great at visualizing things, but there were plenty of moments that became crystal clear in my mind (for better or worse – better). So as soon as I saw My Heart is a Chainsaw, I knew I had to have it.
It did not disappoint. My Heart is a Chainsaw opens with two European young tourists clambering into a small boat on a large, deep lake in Idaho in the dark of night. Even a horror novice like me could tell you that’s a bad idea. There has to be something bad lurking out there, right?
Well, if there is, Jade Daniels will figure it out. Jade is about to – hopefully – graduate from high school and she is ready to leave this small town that doesn’t understand her and never has. She makes sure she stands out and stands apart, though it’s clear she also desperately wants someone to reach out. Preferably someone who shares her adoration of slasher horror films or at least is willing to listen to her preach from the gospel of gore.
Because no one knows slasher films like Jade Daniels. In her attempt to bump up her history grade and actually graduate, Jade writes a series of papers on slashers. They’re sprinkled in throughout the book, giving us all a crash course in Slasher 101.
Jade is sure her little town is on the cusp of a slasher cycle – there’s even an old campground known as Camp Blood where kids died fifty years previously. As more bodies are discovered in town, Jade excitedly uses her knowledge to try to figure out who the killer is and, most importantly, help prepare the Final Girl to unlock her powers and be ready to defeat the slasher.
Jade is very clear that she is not Final Girl material, but she has zeroed in on who is. And as wonderful as it is to see her reach out to a new girl and start taking (somewhat hesitant) steps towards friendship, listening to her enumerate the reasons why she can’t possibly be the final girl is heartbreaking. Hiding under her tough, sarcastic exterior is a child who has suffered a lot. Abandoned by her mother. Stuck in a house with her abusive father. Dealing with a pervy school employee. Horror gives her a way to cope, a way to imagine revenge and justice for a life that sees precious little of either.
As always, Jones does an incredible job of immersing us into this world, specifically into Jade’s perspective of the world. At times, we’re unsure what’s really going on, where we should really be focused, because Jade isn’t sure or she is focused on the wrong thing. We know that she’s hiding things from herself, trying not to let everything in – she misses seven weeks of school right in the beginning as a result of a suicide attempt.
But even as we might be tempted to think that what we’re reading is simply Jade’s wishful thinking or dreams of justice, there’s a brutal murder that reminds us the violence and death is very much real. As the town prepares for its annual 4th of July celebration, including an after-dark showing of Jaws with everyone floating on the lake, we’re on the edge of our seats wondering if Jade and her Final Girl will save them – or if Jade even wants to.
This book is so good that even before I finished it, I was recommending it to people. That can be dangerous, since I’m sure we’ve all experienced a book or movie or TV series that started out amazing and then failed to stick the landing. Not a problem with My Heart is a Chainsaw – it’s thrilling from start to finish. Of course, as I read late into the night, it took a lot of courage to let the dogs out when they started whining…
Also, if you aren’t a slasher movie fan yourself, this book is still well worth the read! I’m definitely not a horror movie person. I remember watching a few at sleepovers in junior high/high school (Halloween and Candyman, specifically), but most of my knowledge of horror movies come from early Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror episodes. It didn’t hinder my understanding or enjoyment of this book in the slightest. I’m sure if you do know your slashers, it’ll be an extra level of delight, but I hope no one decides to pass on this because they don’t know the foundational texts. Besides, Jade does a great job with her essays. She definitely deserves an A just for that. And so does My Heart is a Chainsaw.
I planned on reading this as soon as I got it, since I really enjoy Katsu’s books, but I figured it would be a while before I got the review up. I recently did my review of The Hunger and I still have a few more books lined up that I read over the past couple of months. But I started reading The Fervor on Thursday and then the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe dropped on Friday. By the time I finished The Fervor over the weekend, it seemed like this was the review to do for this week.
The Fervor takes place across several locations across the Northwest U.S. in 1944, including one of the internment camps where the U.S. imprisoned all Japanese and Japanese-American residents of the West Coast. This was based on the pretext that there may have been spies and fifth columnists hiding in the population. It was, if you’ll excuse the academic jargon, bullshit.
The government had no evidence of “disloyalty” when Franklin Roosevelt signed the executive order, they didn’t find any evidence throughout the course of the war, and no evidence emerged afterwards. The push to round up and get rid of population stemmed from good ol’ American racism. Whites in the west had their eyes on Japanese/Japanese-American-owned farms, land, and businesses and wanted everyone of Japanese descent out of there.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 halted any immigration from China, but the anti-Japanese movement had been unable to get a similar Japanese Exclusion Act to pass. They got around that with the 1924 Immigration Act, which barred immigration of people belonging to a nationality prohibited from becoming a naturalized citizen. Since American immigration laws dating back to George Washington barred anyone deemed “not white” from becoming naturalized citizens, that effectively excluded Japanese immigrants. Still, it didn’t do anything to get rid of those of Japanese descent who were already in the country or provide a way for white Americans to take their land. The hysteria after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, however, did.
Anyway, back to The Fervor. (I would like credit, though, for not continuing to write out my lectures on race, immigration, and internment – once a history professor, always a history professor.) We’re initially introduced to Archie and his wife, Elsie. Archie is a white pastor in a small town in Oregon who seems to have an ideal life – beautiful wife, baby on the way, a good job, a good home, heading up to the mountains for vacation. Yet his past haunts him and a vision of woman in a red kimono suggests it may be catching up with him…
Meanwhile, at Camp Minidoka in a remote part of Idaho, Meiko Briggs worries about her daughter, Aiko, while walking her to the internment camp’s school. Aiko is a bit of an outcast among the other children – she’s half white (her father is a U.S. fighter pilot in the Pacific) and on top of that, Aiko is a very talented artist who draws many of the ghosts, spirits, and demons of Japanese folklore, whom she sees in the camp. Meiko is concerned about all of this and about how growing up in a prison camp is going to affect Aiko. The more immediate threat, however, is a strange disease burning through the camp, turning formerly peaceful people into violent murderers. And now there are more American officials turning up, strange trucks, and disappearances…
Finally, out in Nebraska, reporter Fran Gurstwold witnesses a mysterious explosion in the night sky while at a remote cabin with her editor, with whom she is having an affair. They walk through the darkness and discover thin sheets of a papery substance, which she at least is smart enough not to touch barehanded. Her journalist instincts are telling her she’s on to a big story, one that might pull her out of the usual “women’s news.” Despite her increasingly agitated editor’s admonishments, she starts hunting for clues, tips, and connections to other mysterious flashes, leading her out of Nebraska and towards Oregon and Idaho…
As I’ve mentioned previously, I really enjoy Katsu’s writing. The Fervor is a bit different from her other two books. While there is still a spiritual/otherworldly element to this tale, it is much more grounded in reality. Katsu’s in-laws were interned at Minidoka during the war and she draws on their experiences, as well as her own background and family history. The illness aspect also ties closely to the rise of racist attacks against Asian-Americans due to Covid and false, racist claims regarding China. While the demons Aiko sees create all sorts of fear, the real horror is watching how easily people can succumb to their worst instincts, while seeing themselves as heroes. Even when people know what they’re seeing and doing is wrong, it is so easy to slip into justifications and rationalizations.
The story of internment is also a reminder of how fragile many of our basic rights are, a lesson those who had the privilege to forget are learning again. Most of those interned, like Aiko, were American citizens, born and raised in the United States. They had basic constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure, unlawful detainment, etc. When Fred Korematus challenged his imprisonment, the Supreme Court ruled in Korematsu vs. United Statesthat military strategic concerns were enough to justify stripping Americans of their rights. The Court claimed it was not based on racial prejudice, even though it only applied to Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the West Coast (where racial bias against Asians was highest) and there was no similar action against German or Italian Americans.
But The Fervor also reminds us that individuals can still make a difference. It’s hard not to feel completely overwhelmed at times or that there’s no way one person can make any kind of difference. And yet it’s still imperative to try.
So overall, The Fervor is another great work of weaving historical fact with otherworldly tones like The Hunger and The Deep. Though the otherworldly aspect is a bit less in this book, the horrifying nature of the reality keeps you wondering who will survive and how, and maybe get you thinking about what you would do in a similar situation.
Nothing major, just something funny I wanted to share- I don’t think it will totally destroy the book for you, but it might and I don’t want to risk anyone being upset because they wanted to make connections for themselves and now I’m just rambling in a very long, run-on sentence that is going to kill my “readability” statistics, which already don’t like me because I am too verbose and use too many words and don’t use any headers, but I think you, the reader, can handle it, and is this long enough now for you to have backed out if you decided you didn’t want any kind of potential, possible, hint of a spoiler? Also, this probably will make more sense once you’ve actually read the book, so maybe go read it first and then come back for this last line, unless you’ve already read it, in which case, proceed.
Last chance.
Ok, anyway, I finished reading this book and went running two days later, where I ended up running face first into a spider web. Then two days after that, I got sick. Hmmmm….
I’m so excited to get to this book! Alma Katsu is definitely one of my new favorite authors. The Hunger is the second book of hers I’ve devoured. (If you’ll excuse the pun. Or even if you won’t.) She has a brand new book out called The Fervor, which I really want to get and read right now, but I’m forcing myself not to get any new books until I finish my current stack (which means I need to talk with work about how I can get a sabbatical, even though that isn’t a thing in my industry).
But in the meantime, I get to talk about The Hunger!
Set on the ol’ Oregon Trail, this book follows the infamous Donner Party as they try to make their way to California. Now, like many people around my age, the bulk of my knowledge regarding pioneer trail life comes from the early computer game, Oregon Trail. It was always a great day to walk into the computer lab, sit down in front of the old green screen computers, and push those giant floppy disks into the disk drive. Then the decision-making began: what kind of profession should you choose? Banker with money to buy provisions? Carpenter with better of odds of fixing the inevitable breakdowns of the wagon? (I never chose farmer.)
But when you left was the most important decision. Leave too early and risk getting stuck waiting for your path to clear. Choosing to leave to late, however, almost certainly condemned you to a cold, hungry, miserable death in the snowy mountain passes (assuming you even made it that far without drowning in the river, dying of dysentery, or losing your oxen).
In real life, the Donner Party “chose poorly,” leaving much too late and taking their sweet time as they started. Katsu really captures that sense of urgency that some members of the party have, realizing this is not going to end well if they don’t get moving, but not wanting to leave the safety of the group. Slowly, it began to dawn on the rest of them that their provisions weren’t going to last forever. As their hunger increased, the distinct absence of game to hunt became ever more noticeable. Who – or what – was competing with them for food?
While I don’t remember ever actually learning about the doomed Donner debacle, I clearly absorbed it somewhere, but only the broad strokes – a group of hopeful pioneers who sought to find a shorter route to California, misjudged the time it would take, became trapped in the mountains, and eventually resorted to cannibalism. That’s all I knew.
That didn’t matter in the least though in being able to enjoy this book. It’s creepy and suspenseful, as an insatiable hunger stalks the wagon train. Katsu does a brilliant job of weaving the historical with the fantastical and creating a story you don’t want to stop. (If I was still a student, this would be the kind of book that I secretly hide inside the textbook to make it look like I’m doing the assigned reading. Although let’s be honest, I would have already completed the assigned reading too.)
The novel jumps from different characters perspectives as they move out along the trail. Tragedy strikes early when a horribly mutilated corpse is found on the prairie. Try as they might to convince themselves that it was an unfortunate animal attack, a sense of uneasiness takes root. In addition to a shadowed horror, the group also tackles the rising tensions spinning out from a lack of strong leadership, competing personalities, wealth and status differences, and the sheer struggle of surviving the elements. When they finally find themselves stranded, as we knew they would, all those horrors combine into a seemingly inescapable maw.
I have a deep appreciation for authors who can sweep a reader into history. Obviously, this is fiction, but Katsu keeps everything grounded in the characters’ reality, with a supernatural element. Writing from multiple characters’ perspectives can be hit or miss, but I enjoyed jumping around from person to person. We see how the struggles of the trail played out differently for individuals, while also learning what drove them west.
And if you like this one, I also strongly recommend The Deep, the first book of hers that I read. I found it accidentally while looking for another book of the same title (which I also recommend). Katsu’s The Deep follows a young woman recovering from the trauma of surviving the sinking of the Titanic. As World War I rages, a fellow survivor offers her a job working as a nurse on the Britannica, Titanic’s sister ship drafted into becoming a hospital ship. The story jumps between the two ships and slowly begins to unlock the same darkness haunting both.
Stayed tuned here and eventually I’ll get to The Fervor as well!
