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A review by ronnieb
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Trigger Warning: Sexual Violence, Death of Family on the page, Descriptions of blood and body harm, Suicide, Cancer
I have really conflicting feelings about this which leads to my 3-star rating. The story follows our main character Lynnette who was part of a massacre in the 80s and now belongs to a group of other women who survived this same thing. The way this is described and they are all characterized is my first issue with the book. If you are a horror movie, specifically Slasher films, the references in this book are galore. It is pretty obvious which real-world franchise each character is supposed to emulate and it does become a bit unbelievable at points. Obviously, this kind of book requires some amount of suspension of disbelief but for me as a reader to believe that these multiple women went through multiple attacks/massacres like a Scream or Halloween just was a lot. I am a slasher film fan and it is much easier for me to do that for those films than it was for me to do that for this novel. The number of times they would mention the movies, books, and the term “Final Girl” as they relate to this group would just pull me out of the story at times.
I also found our main character to be unlikable which is fine but she was also so annoying and kind of dumb. I see why she is characterized this way as it makes sense to her arc and it is satisfying but being in her head was difficult during some pages of this book. The other characters were mostly fine but there were a lot of characters and keeping them straight and their individual stories straight was difficult at points (especially when it comes to all the women in the group and the attack they went through). I think if the book included a pseudo-cast list in the beginning almost as a table of contents that would have helped a lot. It also would have fit thematically with the book as it really reads as if the events taking place on the page were a movie playing out.
My final point of discussion is relating to the pacing/plot of the book. I will say the book surprised me with almost every twist and turn except our final one. However, they all had a very low impact as I realized that I was just not invested or cared that much. Looking back the twists make sense though and the overall pace is fine. I think it does sag toward the middle a bit but the beginning and ending is interesting in my opinion.
I have really conflicting feelings about this which leads to my 3-star rating. The story follows our main character Lynnette who was part of a massacre in the 80s and now belongs to a group of other women who survived this same thing. The way this is described and they are all characterized is my first issue with the book. If you are a horror movie, specifically Slasher films, the references in this book are galore. It is pretty obvious which real-world franchise each character is supposed to emulate and it does become a bit unbelievable at points. Obviously, this kind of book requires some amount of suspension of disbelief but for me as a reader to believe that these multiple women went through multiple attacks/massacres like a Scream or Halloween just was a lot. I am a slasher film fan and it is much easier for me to do that for those films than it was for me to do that for this novel. The number of times they would mention the movies, books, and the term “Final Girl” as they relate to this group would just pull me out of the story at times.
I also found our main character to be unlikable which is fine but she was also so annoying and kind of dumb. I see why she is characterized this way as it makes sense to her arc and it is satisfying but being in her head was difficult during some pages of this book. The other characters were mostly fine but there were a lot of characters and keeping them straight and their individual stories straight was difficult at points (especially when it comes to all the women in the group and the attack they went through). I think if the book included a pseudo-cast list in the beginning almost as a table of contents that would have helped a lot. It also would have fit thematically with the book as it really reads as if the events taking place on the page were a movie playing out.
My final point of discussion is relating to the pacing/plot of the book. I will say the book surprised me with almost every twist and turn except our final one. However, they all had a very low impact as I realized that I was just not invested or cared that much. Looking back the twists make sense though and the overall pace is fine. I think it does sag toward the middle a bit but the beginning and ending is interesting in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide