Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

184 reviews

gjenn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

jesika's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Stalking, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Outing, and Physical abuse

brizlee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Why are we more comfortable with fast, dramatic deaths than the slow decay most people get? After all, isn’t this why we fought so hard?

This book is hard to review since much of the actual plot is very forgettable. However the media between chapters, some of the quotes and commentary, and each of the main girls stories are phenomenal. Hendrix struggles to balance his typical comedy horror but delivers a fast and fun thriller. I’d recommend this book for any fans of the horror or slasher film genre purely for the references. While I enjoyed the story the ending felt very cliché to me especially after some of the discussion the book allows. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Stalking

Moderate: Gun violence, Terminal illness, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Self harm and Kidnapping

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

If the premise of this book sounds interesting to you I would say to give it a try. You will not be left better or worse off for having read it, and it's a fun palate cleanser between more serious books. The characters are static, but the journey is fun and has perfectly placed dark humor. Parts of this book seem like an unpolished first draft, while others are beautifully written. Definitely worth a shot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Addiction, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Ableism, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

punkrockingnerd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

I really like it! It's def a work made by someone who loves the original horror classics but is willing to put a twist on them to make the stories more impactful. I wish the characters were more like a family, though. When bad stuff starts happening, I really wanted them to be more supportive of each other, but they dove right into fighting, and it wears on you after awhile. So... not found family, but it's a fun time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Violence, Cancer, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Ableism, Animal death, Torture, Cannibalism, Self harm, Confinement, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

kllyholt's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

The premise was so interesting, yet it was very obvious to me that this was not written from a woman’s perspective. 
Don’t recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting

sasper87's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Murder, Grief, Gore, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mass/school shootings, and Death

root's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-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? Yes

4.5

I loved this book. The story is inherently about someone who has survived horrific trauma--she is an unreliable narrator with interpersonal issues as a result. It is not just about current events in the book, it is about how trauma survivors' lives change drastically because of what they experienced and how they are trapped in the past even as they deal with the present.

The majority of the "plot twists" are not plot twists so much as the product of an unreliable narrator jumping to conclusions about small things that, if you look at the actual evidence she is using, is utterly meaningless or at least is missing details. Because she is not just reacting to what's happening now--peppered in are comparisons of people who look like someone else, how she trusts them or wants to keep them safe because they remind her of people, how she distrusts others for the same reason. 

I think that itself makes the book outstanding, to depict a variety of very real reactions to trauma in such an accurate way, including their flaws. It is a testimony to the fact that being hurt does not make you inherently better at surviving: it can also make you that much more vulnerable and unsafe. It is a very real look at the effects of trauma, and a good critique of how the true crime community and of the horror genre turn real events into mindless entertainment at the detriment and suffering of real, living people.

Criticisms of the book would be the following:

It is a very rudimentary, white feminist perspective of the world that goes exactly one layer deep in gender politics which is "man evil, violent inherently" and "girl (not woman) innocent, dainty, victim." Even the author's attempted subversion of it still ultimately played back into this rather elementary understanding of the sociopolitical effects of gender. It's very "girlhood is grief" in its angle.

The very few times race is brought up is...unfortunate. I think it can be difficult to include only one Black character in horror media due to the limitations in author choices. His choice in this instance was essentially to have the Black character die or have the Black character live but being chased down and tormented by a white man. Neither of which are particularly good to read about. It tried to be progressive about race but just failed spectacularly.

The last point is something I've seen others bring up. Although the author was presenting a criticism of how the true crime community and horror in general utilize real events and make references to external stories, he was also simultaneously doing the same thing. I understood what the author was trying to do with this. He was trying to show that the book itself is Also That, that the reader should be cognizant that THEY are being criticized and that their consumption of the book itself is participatory in this exact thing. But it wasn't done well so the message was lost on a lot of people and so it just felt flat. I appreciated the sentiment, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Mass/school shootings, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Racism and Suicide

jules6469's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

demartinodoc's review against another edition

reflective 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

5.0

One of the best horror books I’ve read in a long time! Hendrix is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse