Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

39 reviews

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

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Final Girl Support Group works on many levels. It’s a feminist reframing of horror tropes. It’s a love letter to every Final Girl. It’s a protest to a culture of violence and dehumanization. It’s also a very good thriller. The only reasons it’s not rated higher is because it could’ve been improved by a more diverse lens of womanhood (all of our protagonists are white) and beyond our POV character, the others were hard to get a full read on until the end. The ending though is Top Notch. If the premise is at all appealing, this is worth the read!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Medical content

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I think it would have been a little better with a female author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

travelseatsreads's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

3.5/5

A great fun read which plays of many horror/slasher tropes but I felt the end got a little too Rambo-ish for my liking which distracted from my enjoyment of some great twists.

I really enjoyed Grady's writing style though so will be going back for more.

Full review to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cannibalism

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

ricksilva's review

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

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

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

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

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

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