Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

23 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

I really enjoyed this one more than I expected! I’m not a big fan of slasher films and have only seen 1 or 2 but I could still appreciate and understand the references. 

None of the characters are likeable but the plot and great writing style made me tolerate them and keep reading 😂 This was an exciting and quick read with plenty of unexpected plot twists! I realized after finishing this, that I actually have another book from the author on my nightstand for this months TBR so I can’t wait to read more from him! Whether you’ve watched/enjoyed slasher films or not, I’d highly recommend this horror thriller novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Body horror, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

Minor: Animal cruelty and Misogyny

kimberlyswalters's review

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

Moderate: Child death and Grief

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

kbea88's review

dark mysterious 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

3.0

This was such a bizarre concept for me from the very beginning. On one hand, the idea of Final Girls getting together for group therapy is so interesting, on the other hand, the thought of Final Girls existing outside of a movie is horrific. I’m not a mega slasher movie fan, so maybe this was never going to do it for me anyway, but I didn’t feel like the characters were very developed, the twist at the end was very much glossed over. I felt like there should have been a lot more time spent on Skye and Steph and their motives. What made this idea good and had the potential to make it great was turning a flat trope (slasher movie final girl or villain) into a flushed-out character and it missed the mark for me on both ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Gore and Death

Minor: Pedophilia

demon_catheter's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Death, Violence, Gun violence, and Grief

Moderate: Police brutality, Stalking, and Terminal illness

Minor: Car accident, Vomit, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, and Cancer

childofmongreldogs's review

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Sexual harassment, and Abandonment

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Ableism, and Racism

msradiosilence's review

dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

2.0

Tldr; others have done this plot, but better. None of the characters are likable. If I read one more recent release with the bury your gays trope I’m gonna set something on fire.

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-final-girl-support-group.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, and Vomit

reya94's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

theakilahbrown's review

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

house_of_hannah's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

3.0

This could have been a 4 star read as I quite enjoyed the plot, but the characters were just insufferable. The main group of final girls we are introduced to at the beginning range in age from late 30s to early 50s as their trauma happened in the 70s & 80s. However, they acted like catty high school girls, and argued over the most petty things. I'm not sure if this was done in a "their trauma happened when they were teens, so they are stuck mentally at that age" thing or what, but it was really hard to picture them as older women. 

On a positive note, this is a very readable book, and I found myself flying through the pages quite quickly. It flows well, has great pacing, and the chapters are the perfect length. This is also a mixed media book, as at the beginning of each chapter there is an article, transcript, or even a reddit post that gives some insight to the backstories of the characters. 

Overall, this was a promising book, but I just found it too difficult to look past how annoying the characters were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Pedophilia