Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

92 reviews

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

overall, i enjoyed reading this. the writing was so digestible and the characters were all so different and distinct. i think my biggest issue was the ending. i did not think it was realistic or well flushed out. it felt kinda cheap imo. also nobody ever talks about how graphic this. i was kinda caught off guard to be honest. please keep that in mind before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

annieisawesome's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

It was very slow to read. The action didn’t really start until half way through. The beginning was very hard to get into. I actually had to get this book out of the library 6 different times to finish. I did enjoy the portrayal of the different horror movies within it. The ending was incredibly predictable however, and I’m not sure if it was worth the time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I recently read Final Girls by Riley Sager and it was not for me. The characters fell flat, the story dragged, and the ending was chock full of tropes and not in a good way. 

I’m glad to say this final girl read was a totally different experience. This read had multimedia, complex characters, discussion of final girls and how the media views and portrays them, and was action-packed. It reminded me a lot of Scream mixed with the Final Girls movie with equal parts found family elements, dry humor, and slasher action scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

On the surface, yes, this is a great book for classic 80s slasher fans. It has awesome nods to all your favorite movies and iconic final girls (so scream, halloween, friday the 13th, nightmare, texas chainsaw). It has just the right dash of campiness to tickle the senses of camp fans but not piss off people who dont like campy things. The book is very fast past which i liked. The author does very well writing an almost exclusively female cast and making them feel authentic while keeping strong individual voices. I get nervous when male authors try to tackle female trauma but i think it is very well done here. The final girls all offer an interesting look on the ways trauma can impact people. There are valuable themes of found family, different forms of trauma, the complexity of "monsters" and what defines a victim. The concept of gender violence and our society's lackluster response to it is dealt with very well. I read this not long after the Evan Peter's Dahmer thing came out on Netflix and there has been a lot of DISGUSTING discourse in favor of Dahmer online as a result. When looking through that specific lens, this book hits so much harder. It gets into the ways we trivialize trauma for entertainment and the sick ways some "true crime fans" will glorify serial killers. And how, even if youre watching something like a fictional slasher, many of us are complacent in allowing this exploitation of the victims to continue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

risquish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

sheisfierce's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ll say the negative first: I was horrified to find out after finishing this that a man wrote it, and the only  Black (& POC) character immediately dies.

That being said, this is the fastest I have finished a book in years. It was a thrilling read that I finished in two days and absolutely couldn’t put down. I was reading on the beach and completely lost track of time. Personally it sucked me in quickly and I loved how ambiguous/mysterious a lot of elements were. 5/5 stars on the suspense. The narrator was a really interesting voice that added a lot to it. I love the concept so much and I do think it was well executed. I’m not sure how much I love a man writing this story, and I do think I would have read it in a different light knowing that, so I’m kind of glad I didn’t realize it (not sure why I thought Grady was feminine name). 

This book got me back on my reading grind and I’m really grateful for that!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Alcohol

jackieyvette's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First time ready anything by Grady Hendrix and it will not be the last. Not so much horror as it is suspense, but it was still an enjoyable read. Jumps right into the story and doesn’t stop. 

Crying score: too mad to cry 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

cgoiris's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

I'd already read Horrorstör before this, and liked and disliked the same things about both books. 

Hendrix clearly has great insight into horror tropes, given that this entire book is very meta and full of nods to the classics.

That said, I expected this insight to take the story somewhere unexpected. The thing is, most characters fall pretty flat and the plot twist revelations are either easy to figure out beforehand when hinted at, or completely absurd and nonsensical when not hinted at (those who've read it will know).

I usually like an unreliable narrator, but Grady employs it in a really frustrating way to force the plot sometimes, which makes some parts pretty nonsensical.

Grady seems to have a theme going for him: great concepts, poor execution with a bit of a sizzle instead of a bang.

Enjoyable read if you like figuring out all the nods to classic horror along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism

bookishsapphicshay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Alcohol