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A review by leonalikesliterature
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
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
1.0
I am reminded once again to stop reading books written by men.
I think the concept of The Final Girl Support Group was interesting, but the execution was flawed. This book wasn’t scary, funny or satirical. I think this author didn’t have a deep enough understanding of gender or women within horror movies to successfully write this book. This book followed many horror movie stereotypes rather than playing with or challenging them. This book also lacks a deeper discussion of trauma, despite also being about a Final Girl support group.
This book is very misogynist. Every female character in this book was written terribly and were 1 dimensional stereotypes, like drug addict, rich girl, lesbian. Their relationships were catty and cruel to each other. The author didn’t know that women can have actual friendships with each other that aren’t based in bullying. The author also made a lot of generalized claims about how “men are killers and women are victims” or that “women create life and men take it” that were meant to be framed as deep, but just came off as uninformed and furthering or justifying misogynist rhetoric.
There were also two characters that were written very offensively. The character Danny is a lesbian and her wife Michelle dies from cancer. After her death, Danny tries to kill herself, which reinforces problematic notions that lesbians are toxic, unhealthy and codependent. She also physically assaults Lynnette when she’s angry at her, reinforcing the stereotype that lesbians are violent and emotionally unstable. Another character Adrienne is the only black girl and gets literally 0 page time and is only spoken about in past tense. She’s also the only final girl who actually dies, perpetuating “black guy dies first” stereotype. Her character is also turned into a martyr and she is applauded for not being angry when a white person is cast to play her in a movie. Just overall bad.
The plot itself didn’t really connect together and there was no time to rest or process. Somehow the action was constant and exhausting, but it also felt like nothing substantive ever happened.
I wish there was a single quality I could appreciate from this book but it was cliche, nonsensical and awful.
I think the concept of The Final Girl Support Group was interesting, but the execution was flawed. This book wasn’t scary, funny or satirical. I think this author didn’t have a deep enough understanding of gender or women within horror movies to successfully write this book. This book followed many horror movie stereotypes rather than playing with or challenging them. This book also lacks a deeper discussion of trauma, despite also being about a Final Girl support group.
This book is very misogynist. Every female character in this book was written terribly and were 1 dimensional stereotypes, like drug addict, rich girl, lesbian. Their relationships were catty and cruel to each other. The author didn’t know that women can have actual friendships with each other that aren’t based in bullying. The author also made a lot of generalized claims about how “men are killers and women are victims” or that “women create life and men take it” that were meant to be framed as deep, but just came off as uninformed and furthering or justifying misogynist rhetoric.
There were also two characters that were written very offensively. The character Danny is a lesbian and her wife Michelle dies from cancer. After her death, Danny tries to kill herself, which reinforces problematic notions that lesbians are toxic, unhealthy and codependent. She also physically assaults Lynnette when she’s angry at her, reinforcing the stereotype that lesbians are violent and emotionally unstable. Another character Adrienne is the only black girl and gets literally 0 page time and is only spoken about in past tense. She’s also the only final girl who actually dies, perpetuating “black guy dies first” stereotype. Her character is also turned into a martyr and she is applauded for not being angry when a white person is cast to play her in a movie. Just overall bad.
The plot itself didn’t really connect together and there was no time to rest or process. Somehow the action was constant and exhausting, but it also felt like nothing substantive ever happened.
I wish there was a single quality I could appreciate from this book but it was cliche, nonsensical and awful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts