Final Girl (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hollywood horror, postpunk feminism, spoken-word energy, true-crime reportage, vampire lesbians and modernist cut-up techniques collide and explode in this exciting third effort from Bay Area performance poet Gottlieb (Why Things Burn). The "final girl" in horror movies is the last one alive, who confronts the killer; here, the series of poems called "final girl" (numbered I through X) ties together a collection of fiery short works as canny as they are sophisticated and as sophisticated as they are angry. Gottlieb sometimes offers short-lined monologues that cry out for performance: "in a name" warns "woe for the man/ who can't tell/ a kiss from a hiss." Yet she also shines in cut-up, collage and multivocal works, assembling them from newspaper accounts of hate crimes, from interviews, from letters and diaries; these latter works recall the technique and the attitude that fans love in the late Kathy Acker. The prose poem "Liability" comments strikingly on transgender issues: a memorable epigram (unprintable here) tells "the frightening truth about desire," while longer poems offer "the predawn mornings/ of lonely postcosmopolitan cities," where Generation Y resists sexual violence and tries to discover what its choices are. "I abducted myself at gunpoint," Gottlieb explains in another daring prose poem-"I am the X that marks my spot." "See me as part/ of a resistance/ movement," she asks elsewhere; and with her political appeal, her technical sophistication, her frequent touring (which includes prestigious rock festivals) and her youth following, a wide range of readers should line up to do just that.
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Review

"[S]imply devastating. Grade: A" -- Girlfriends

In [Final Girl]...Gottlieb is equally courageous in her quest to explore the performative nature of being female -- San Francisco Chronicle

One of the strongest volumes of political poetry to be published in years...[Final Girl] ranks as simply necessary. -- Joel Schalit, Punk Planet

[Gottlieb's] poems are courageous and startling. -- Roger Corman, Film Producer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press; 1 edition (September 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887128972
• ISBN-13: 978-1887128971
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,173,633 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poetry for the edge of your seat..., December 10, 2003

By	Chris B "zerocard13" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

I've had the good fortune to see Daphne Gottlieb read twice, and each time I've found myself sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation. She has that effect and is one of a handful of poets I know who manage to reproduce that on the page as well as on the stage and Final Girl is no exception. It is a stellar read, managing to be subtle or clear as needed.

In other words, this is poetry that makes me laugh when it should, moves me to honest tears and makes me think throughout. "My Mother Gets Dressed" in particular stands out as brutally beautiful read while "The Other Woman" is, to my ears and eyes, a stunning take on what could be adultery or maybe something much more profound.

Gottlieb is like that.

She's not an easy read. Although she's not an impenetrable writer, there is an effort involved in reading her work. Like most of my favorite poets, what you get out of her work is directly proportional to how much energy you put into reading it.

But much more to the point is this: ignoring the labels, this is simply good poetry that manages, by equal measure, to reveal and conceal everything needed to make the poem clear while leaving room for personal interpretation.

Read this if you're after a little blood in your poems.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Time for Heros, She's Saving Herself, September 7, 2004

By	Little Old Me - See all my reviews

When Daphne Gottlieb speaks, you have no choice but to listen.

I purchased FINAL GIRL at a literary reading during Chicago's 2004 Printers Row Book Fair. The poetry is centered around the survivor of a teen-slasher/horror flick, the one who has lost all of her friends along the way and the only one capable of defeating the killer. I finished the entire book that evening - this is the first poetry book I've been able to read from cover to cover in one sitting.

Daphne's poetry is firey and abbrassive, centering on the colorful cast of characters that inhabit the world of horror movies. She gives well-rounded three-dimensional voices to the stereotypes, builds up the greater story behind the small details and is willing to spit back in any adversary's face despite the consequences. She gives a reason and a purpose to the promsicuous girl who is always killed first in the poem, "Slut". She relates these stereotypical characters to their place in the real world and the violence they encounter from hate crimes, muggings and illness. Many of the poems relate to the death of Daphne Gottlieb's mother, as she occasionally writes about the Final Girl's desperate attempts to save her parents from the inevitable.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in performance prose and the theater of the bizarre. There is a very thick line between fictional suspense/horror and reality, but Gottlieb successfully blurs that line. She describes a vampire culture in all senses and scribes an aggressive plan of action against the dangers of a world, city-life and other human beings, while at the same time, displaying one's need for companions and other survivors. The writing is energetic and can cause a smirk as well as a horrified gasp. This is a must-have!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you were in her movie, February 29, 2004

By	"blissengine" (Norfolk, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

In her new poetry collection, Daphne Gottlieb takes us by the hand and leads us through a horror movie of her own labyrinthine invention, through to the sharp relief of survival. Using American iconic figures and the mythologies of horror movies, she explores what it means to survive, whether it's love or captivity or the death of one's mother or our ubiquitous pop culture appetite. By the last poems, like the last girl alive at the end of a slasher flick, we are battered and renewed, with dirt under our nails and a fierce determination to live. "Final Girl" is an invigorating vision of strength and courage.