Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Final Girl Support Group

This book was slow to get into…hence it took me fully out of reading for a bit and 3 months to finish…but the second half was compelling and adventurous. It was quite mysterious and I liked how you had to attribute things back to real horror works and slashers. Unfortunately the slow start really pushes it down in the ratings significantly for me.

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win_bin's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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rosesofthespring's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

I wish it had wrapped up a few more plot threads, but overall an excellent novel. I'm not surprised that this one is so popular.

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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leonalikesliterature's review against another edition

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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.

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anoveldestination's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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

4.0

I was intrigued when I first started this book, but I wasn't sold until the ending. At the beginning, I struggled to understand the character's motivations and questioned the choice of Lynette as the narrator over other girls in the book, but by the end, Gary Hendrix had once again made me fall in love with all of the characters and their journeys. There's so much that happens in this book and so much to unpack, that I'm honestly still processing it. However, Grady Hendrix is a talented writer, and he juggles so many complex themes, characters, and plot points with ease. The writing and story are both emotionally impactful and suspenseful and entertaining.

With all that being said, I thought the pacing was off. The story starts with a bang, but I thought the whodunnit plot dragged in the middle, and the scenes at the police station, while important for Lynette's character backstory and growth, felt like they didn't add anything to the plot and were an unnecessary interruption. I also think that while each character was developed well in the story, there were too many characters. I don't think we needed to see Michelle in the story. I also think some of the themes could've still been communicated without having both Garrett and Stephanie in the book. I wasn't sure if Garrett needed to be an actual character in the book or just someone we heard about through Lynette. Also, Pax, while essential to the plot, I don't think the story needed him and that Gary Hendrix could've found a way to make the plot work without Pax. Still, I was never overwhelmed by the number of characters. I just think some of the characters and their purposes felt too similar.

Despite my issues with the book, I love the way everything comes together at the end. The book is also engaging, with great moments of suspense. It's a true thriller that you won't want to put down. Within this entertaining plot, Grady Hendrix manages to insert truly original characters and communicate important feminist themes. The book is the perfect balance of reading for pleasure and reading for enrichment.

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