Book cover of I Am Not Your Final Girl

Book description

Now an Elgin Award-nominated book!

"There is nothing else in this world / like realizing / you’re going to live / and not being sure / you can."

From Claire C. Holland, a timely collection of poetry that follows the final girl of slasher cinema - the girl who survives…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked I Am Not Your Final Girl as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I absolutely loved this creative take on the whole final girl slasher trope! I really enjoy a strong female character in horror where they’re “just like us.” Reading these poems where the females can be outspoken and confident but also quiet or slutty was powerful.

I enjoyed how they’re inspired or based on different movies. When I finished the book, I had a whole list of movies I needed to watch or re-watch. This collection was on my mind for days after.

Much like fairy tales and folklore, horror stories have their own rules and tropes for how the female protagonists or villains are expected to behave within the confines of their own stories. I Am Not Your Final Girl is a powerful collection of horror-themed poetry that gives voice to female characters from horror cinema — the survivors, victims, and monsters who prowl through dark worlds, facing oppression, persecution, violence, and death. Holland’s words provide these women a platform to channel their pain, trauma, and rage into a galvanizing force. These women are survivors and fighters, women who claim their own…

From Andrea's list on women reclaiming their own power.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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