Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

35 reviews

uraveragelesbianreader's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read this book in two hours on a train ride and honestly I think this is the best way to read this book. It was not good, the plot was not highly logical (although I think this was mostly on purpose) and the characters are odd but I actually didn't hate this book. It did mostly everything it was supposed to, it was almost written like a scream of a book. It feels like it should be a movie that you watch once on a plane and then never think about deeply again and I think if it was in that format I would have liked it a lot more. Firstly to address the illogical plot, I don't think this book was TRYING to be realistic, it reads like a comic book and I think that is not trying to be a serious book. None of what happens is realistic which I generally can enjoy but in this book I think it often becomes lost in its own sauce which ruined my enjoyment. This book does do a good job parading old tropey horror and the trope of the final girl, I think the themes are done well and aren't overly heavy handed. I did not find any of the characters uniquely compelling, but I didn't HATE any of them either, overall I felt very neutral towards most of the characters. The plot twists in this book feel either TOO well earned or out of nowhere. Partially I believe this is because we are reading from the perspective of a paranoid narrator. But at points it often feels like the twists are not earned by the plot and if they were they would have been much much more enjoyable. Plot points come at you too fast and it feels like whiplash whipping you around chapter to chapter instead of a slower plot. This doesn't mean I thought the PACE was bad, I think the pace actually served the novel more than hurt it but just because a book is fast paced doesn't mean it has to be rushed in its delivery of the plot. If every chapter was just a few more pages I think it would increase my rating of this book significantly. The characters in this book were also mixed for me. They were definitely flawed but somehow not also complex?? It is almost impressive how the main characters of the novel were flawed and they acted on those flaws but not in ways that are logical. I think this could have been solved if we got a little more screen time on certain characters to see their motivations. This is the specific situation that has occurred throughout the whole novel, there was a lot of telling not showing. Oftentimes the author just quite literally TELLS you what the theme is and what the message is instead of it being more implicit. I also found the ending to not be satisfying or enjoyable for me as a reader. It felt rushed, fake and honestly just rung wrong for me. Overall, I did enjoy this book and it was not a horrible read in the sense of enjoyment. As a reader I tend to read more for enjoyment which is why this book makes 3.5 stars for me, if your someone who reads purely for enjoyment and enjoys horror comedy (because I did oftentimes find this book funny, on purpose or not) then you will like this. However if you are someone who reads more for the literary aspect or any of the early concerns mentioned in my review sounds like dealbreakers turn back now. It is a hyper specific book in the same way that slasher/final girl horror (Think the scream franchise) is hyper specific. If that sounds like something you're into then you will probably enjoy this book, if it doesn't then you will hate this book and should turn back now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

aseel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

the premise is so so so interesting but omg the execution was awful, the plot twist/reveal was so anticlimactic, boring, and random. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Death, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Violence, Sexual violence, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

ricksilva's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I think I'm the perfect audience for this one. I've got enough familiarity with the 1980s "slasher" horror films that I appreciate the reference, but I'm not enough of a horror movie fan to get nitpicky.

So the concept is a support group for survivors of the "real events" that inspired those slasher films. The author uses renamed but pretty obvious stand-ins for Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, Silent Night Deadly Night (really kind of an amalgam of holiday-season horror tropes), and (I am guessing a bit here; this one got the the fewest details) Leprechaun.

The survivors, now middle-aged, meet regularly for group therapy with a therapist specializing in survivors of violence. Now, the violence has found them again. Holiday season massacre survivor Lynette had dedicated her life to isolation and self-protection, but her carefully-laid defenses fall apart and events go out of control rapidly.

This was a fun story with a lot of nostalgia and some solid deconstructing of the horror movie tropes that inspired it. The characters are all flawed and scarred, but they were great fun to cheer on. The plot was loaded with twists, some predictable, but a decent amount unexpected.

The story is extremely violent, especially in the flashbacks to the horror movie scenarios, which are made more disturbing because we get to see the realist aftermaths of movies that normally cut to credits the moment the action is over. The grief, trauma, and long-term injuries give further impact to the violence of the various murder sprees.

The worldbuilding based on the premise that all of the slasher films were actual movies but were adaptations of the stories of real crimes was intriguing, and there was enough left unanswered (especially about this world's version of Nightmare on Elm Street) to warrant a sequel. Which is something every good (and almost every bad) slasher film should have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

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

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

childofmongreldogs's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An interesting way for the author to pose questions and levy a challenge about the way we as a society sexualize, idealize, and voyeuristically consume the female body in horror/violence.

Kept me on my toes, constantly guessing what would happen next and who was at fault. Cast of characters was sadly a bit dull and less fleshed out than one would hope for. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

bloopyfloopy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child death, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Blood

theakilahbrown's review against another edition

dark 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

 
This was a fast read for me, in that I burned through about half of it in one day. The premise is basically "What if horror movies were real? What happens to those final girls after their movies are over?" The short answer is that they would form a support group. The long answer is that the horror is never truly over for them for a variety of reasons.

This is a horror book that critiques horror books, so, on the one hand, a lot of the commentary was on point, but on the other hand, I found myself wishing at times that it wasn't a *horror* book so that the point could be made in other ways, but that's not really the point of the book. As much as it is about movie monsters, it's also about real life monsters and the impact they have on the women (and children) they harm and what the glorification of movie monsters means. So, basically, it's like Scream but with a feminist bent.

I thought Lynnette was an interesting choice of a main character for many reasons, but one of the big ones is that she's not a "true" final girl because she didn't kill her monster like the other women did, and she also has the smallest life and is the most paranoid. I think there was a missed opportunity for Hendrix to get into WHY the other women made different choices because it almost seems like he's saying Lynnette made the right choice, which I don't necessarily agree with. There also should have been way more female friendship stuff in here, but it is there so I can't complain too much.

Those are relatively minor quibbles, though. I liked the book overall and thought it was smart and engaging. I wasn't sure at first how I felt about the ending, especially who the real life monster turned out to be, but the more I think about it, the more I like and appreciate it, so there's also that.

Some quotes:

Does this ever end? Will there always be someone out there turning little boys into monsters? Will we always be final girls? Will there always be monsters killing us?

I won't let messed-up parents keep making monsters, and I won't let these boys keep making more final girls. It's not some profound and ancient ritual. It's just a waste of life.

All in all, I would recommend it, especially if you're a fan of horror movies and/or badass women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Stalking, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Chronic illness and Addiction

Minor: Rape, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

artistneutral's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Gun violence

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Sexual violence

middumullu's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

3.25

definitely a book with an unreliable narrator! it was really interesting and since i like horror, using the slasher genre as the backdrop for everything happening was engaging - especially thought the chapter titles were funny. i was impressed with how accurately this author conveyed the fear of men that people can experience, and all of the intricacies of cult obsession with serial killers. i liked the ending of it, that the whole book focused on older women. the phrase "final girl" was kind of overused throughout the story, but i liked reading the conversation about these different stereotypes or constructs people can place themselves in. would have liked to see more of the ideas or themes followed through more consistently, it definitely wrapped up quickly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Stalking, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual violence