A review by uraveragelesbianreader
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

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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