Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

68 reviews

rosesofthespring's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

I wish it had wrapped up a few more plot threads, but overall an excellent novel. I'm not surprised that this one is so popular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Cancer, Ableism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Police brutality, Cursing, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Moderate: Excrement, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Racism, Torture, Cannibalism, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

There is a description of a previous ex-relationship with a huge power imbalance and considerable age gap. The younger party is 18.

earofthedog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and Adult/minor relationship

leahopkins's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the second Gradx Hendrix book I've read (first one being my best friend's excorcism) and I am starting to become a fan (though mbfe was better). 
I thought the concept was very interesting and an entertaining twist of the genre, especially since the final girls' backstories/franchises actually take heavy inspiration from existing horror movies. I am not a very big slasher connoisseur (I have only watched the first scream movie), so I had a lot of fun using my very limited knowledge and the power of Google to figure out what movies the different characters were references to. The characters themselves were fun as well, although I wished they were fleshed out a little more. Lynette especially was a very interesting protagonist because of here intense paranoia, which made the reader question whether you could trust her or if all of this conspiracy was just happening inside her head.

I have to say though, it was a little unnecessary that Adrienne, the only black character, dies first. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be humouring the slasher trope of "black dude dies first", but I would have really appreciated seeing more (/anything at all) of her, because based on what we got to know of her, she seemed like a very likable and caring character.

There were a lot of different twists, some more foreseeable than the others

(for example, Skye being the killer didn't shock me at all, but when it was revealed that Steph was also involved I was truly surprised)

and it was very fun trying to keep track of all the plot points and connections. However, in the middle part of the book, I thought it was slacking a bit and I had trouble staying engaged. The characters of Garrett and Chrissy felt a little out of place and at times even surreal

(the part where they visit Chrissy, her weird final girl museum and her homicidal boyfriend felt more like a bad dream than anything else. Same thing with the scene in which they leave a dead Michelle in a park with some old man.)

. 
I really enjoyed the ending.

I liked that noone died, and the scene in which a heavily injured Lynette runs away from the killer to distract him from the others was very well written and almost moving. The last chapter itself also felt very touching, because it showed the characters healing, physically and mentally.

Overall, this was a very fun read and I am excited to put more of the author's work onto my TBR.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Cancer, Medical content, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Excrement

flufficorn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The first third of this book excited me, as I realized I had never read/listened to a book like this. But at some point near the half way mark, I found myself struggling to stay interested. I think it is because I eventually realized that there are a lot of reasons I lost interest in the Slasher sub-genre of films, and this story falls victim to those reasons and still expects me to think they are asking me to question the genre through their end-of-chapter quote blocks. That part of the story felt phoned-in. If the author really wanted the reader to question the concept the The Final Girl and the Slasher sub-genre, they would have had Lynette question herself and her actions more. Instead, Lynette found justification for all of her behavior. To that end, this book might have some kind of commentary about group therapy/trauma therapy, but it isn't a commentary that I picked up on. 

A lot of reviews mention that this story is very predictable. While I did not specifically predict any particular plot point, between my knowledge of Slasher genre tropes and the clue crumbs left by the author, nothing in the story was particularly shocking or unexpected. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional to me, but Lynette did some healing at the very end there. Femme characters written by cis-men always fall flat to me, and this story was no different in that department. 

This story positions itself as something questioning the inherent misogyny of the Slasher genre and our relationship to it as media consumers, but is really just a Slasher genre story that wants you to think it is smarter than it is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Cursing, Medical content, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Torture, Mental illness, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Car accident, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Addiction, Drug abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement, Police brutality, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Cursing

multiplyoctopi's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Police brutality, Stalking, Blood, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Torture, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Car accident, Medical content, and Grief

leeghlee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Confinement, Violence, and Cancer

Moderate: Death of parent, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, and Mass/school shootings

sarahbiegelsen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Body horror, Terminal illness, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Torture, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, Gore, Cancer, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Confinement, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing

hmetwade's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Kidnapping, Cursing, Terminal illness, and Vomit

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

2.75

I didn’t really understand what was happening until page 164. Not long after is when I got bored with the plot. It was a cleaver idea but not executed well. I don’t think Grady Hendricks’ books are for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Cancer, Drug abuse, Addiction, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, and Suicidal thoughts