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Final Girl
The one who remains to tell the story - the "final girl" - is the last girl left alive in this bracing cycle of poems that draw on slasher movies, captivity fantasies, queer theory, and death from breast cancer. Sexy and tart, low-down and high-hearted poems such as Suture, Slash, Vamp, and Bride of Reanimator articulate the dark desires, fears, and traumas out of which pop culture is made. Author Daphne Gottlieb is the winner of the 2002 Firecracker Award and a 2002 Lambda Finalist.
130 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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437 people want to read
About the author
Daphne Gottlieb
28 books102 followersDaphne Gottlieb is a San Francisco-based Performance Poet.
Gottlieb has served as the poetry editor of the online queer literary magazine Lodestar Quarterly and was a co-organizer of ForWord Girls, a first spoken word festival for anyone who is, has been or will be a girl, which was held in September 2002.
She has taught at New College of California, and has also performed and taught creative writing workshops around the country, from high schools and colleges to community centers. She received her MFA from Mills College.
Photo by Marlo Gayle
Gottlieb has served as the poetry editor of the online queer literary magazine Lodestar Quarterly and was a co-organizer of ForWord Girls, a first spoken word festival for anyone who is, has been or will be a girl, which was held in September 2002.
She has taught at New College of California, and has also performed and taught creative writing workshops around the country, from high schools and colleges to community centers. She received her MFA from Mills College.
Photo by Marlo Gayle
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 6, 2017
*4.5 stars*
Brutal, lyrical poems about final girls in slasher movies, girls not lucky enough to be final girls, and real-life violence that can occur to women. Patty Hearst figures prominently in the last section of poetry, and the last poem, literally the names of women, famous and not, whose lives were touched by violence, gave me the chills.
Brutal, lyrical poems about final girls in slasher movies, girls not lucky enough to be final girls, and real-life violence that can occur to women. Patty Hearst figures prominently in the last section of poetry, and the last poem, literally the names of women, famous and not, whose lives were touched by violence, gave me the chills.
June 15, 2020
*4.5 stars*
I’m not much of a poetry reader, but this collection is simply superb. While there are a couple of poems that just kind of sat there on the page, the best are extraordinarily good indeed.
Most of these poems straddle the line between what I think of as ‘representational’ and ‘ornamental’ poetic language. I’m quite unschooled in my appreciation of poetry, so I don’t know if that distinction makes much sense outside of my head.
What I mean is that I was able to derive pleasure from the sheer poetic artistry because the referent (whether physically concrete, personal, or thematic) was usually readily identifiable. I tend to get lost quite easily among more purely abstract and expressive poems, so it was a pleasure being able to keep up. A lot of contemporary (including M/modernist) poetry makes me feel as if I’m taking a reading comprehension test, with my ability to derive something like sense from a poem being deliberately challenged in a game of semantic hide-and-seek.
Gottlieb’s poems, on the other hand, felt like an invitation to see things through her eyes. I would never claim that I got all or even most of what she might have intended, but the journey was pleasant and the sights and sounds were thought-provoking, emotionally evocative, and lovely.
For example, I loved the way her prose poem ‘Manifest Destiny (Great American Novel Remix)’ balanced concept/stylistic conceit (bits of Kerouac’s On the Road are woven into her text), emotionally evocative representation, and revelatory ornamentation and play, as in this passage:
My boy, in her boy clothes with his girl body, his girl clothes with his boy body. I stole his kiss. He stole mine back. We unbuttoned each other, took our girl bodies out of our boy clothes, dug into each other like treasure, and the room rolled like the ocean around us, found us in high seize.
[none of that is from Kerouac.]
My appreciation of some of her other poems, such as ‘Looking for the Area Code for Bali on the Day of the Dead’, was no doubt colored by my instant appreciation of the milieu she was representing. I’ve lived in San Francisco for some time and had a drink or two as an invited hetboy at the Lexington back in the late Nineties, and her poem beautifully captured the feeling of the time and place, at least as it appeared to this outsider.
The realization of the conceptual through-line of the ‘last girl in the slasher film’ is a bit of a mixed bag, and I’m pretty sure it was a late addition, conceived as a way of pulling together these poems written and published in various places over time. Most of the poems that I felt were a little flat were episodes in this slasher theme, though some were excellent.
Overall, I loved this collection and will be looking for more of her work. Coming from an unimaginative & poetically stunted reader, that is the highest possible praise.
I’m not much of a poetry reader, but this collection is simply superb. While there are a couple of poems that just kind of sat there on the page, the best are extraordinarily good indeed.
Most of these poems straddle the line between what I think of as ‘representational’ and ‘ornamental’ poetic language. I’m quite unschooled in my appreciation of poetry, so I don’t know if that distinction makes much sense outside of my head.
What I mean is that I was able to derive pleasure from the sheer poetic artistry because the referent (whether physically concrete, personal, or thematic) was usually readily identifiable. I tend to get lost quite easily among more purely abstract and expressive poems, so it was a pleasure being able to keep up. A lot of contemporary (including M/modernist) poetry makes me feel as if I’m taking a reading comprehension test, with my ability to derive something like sense from a poem being deliberately challenged in a game of semantic hide-and-seek.
Gottlieb’s poems, on the other hand, felt like an invitation to see things through her eyes. I would never claim that I got all or even most of what she might have intended, but the journey was pleasant and the sights and sounds were thought-provoking, emotionally evocative, and lovely.
For example, I loved the way her prose poem ‘Manifest Destiny (Great American Novel Remix)’ balanced concept/stylistic conceit (bits of Kerouac’s On the Road are woven into her text), emotionally evocative representation, and revelatory ornamentation and play, as in this passage:
My boy, in her boy clothes with his girl body, his girl clothes with his boy body. I stole his kiss. He stole mine back. We unbuttoned each other, took our girl bodies out of our boy clothes, dug into each other like treasure, and the room rolled like the ocean around us, found us in high seize.
[none of that is from Kerouac.]
My appreciation of some of her other poems, such as ‘Looking for the Area Code for Bali on the Day of the Dead’, was no doubt colored by my instant appreciation of the milieu she was representing. I’ve lived in San Francisco for some time and had a drink or two as an invited hetboy at the Lexington back in the late Nineties, and her poem beautifully captured the feeling of the time and place, at least as it appeared to this outsider.
The realization of the conceptual through-line of the ‘last girl in the slasher film’ is a bit of a mixed bag, and I’m pretty sure it was a late addition, conceived as a way of pulling together these poems written and published in various places over time. Most of the poems that I felt were a little flat were episodes in this slasher theme, though some were excellent.
Overall, I loved this collection and will be looking for more of her work. Coming from an unimaginative & poetically stunted reader, that is the highest possible praise.
May 18, 2013
The slasher movies of the ’80s were many things, but much as I watched in seedy Times Square vaudeville houses never did I imagine they were poetry muses. But that's what they are: deeply rich in meaning as only exploitative media can be. The trope of the "final girl," the abused but surviving member of the carrion left by the killer, the one who lives to tell the tale, may have gained some notoriety in academic circles, but this ain't academia. Daphne Gottlieb works in a less refined and more realistic environment, where her characters are more not merely survivors. She gives her a voice, many voices, as these poems are often slashed together from lurid newspaper stories, ripped from headlines like killers ripping off heads, Frankenstein monsters of collage and courage. The myriad voices are stitched together in this volume, gaps here and there as the words migrate across the page or huddle together in the middle as if for protection, and scream to be heard.
January 20, 2013
An uneven collection, to me. There were some poems where everything was beautiful or powerful or quirky, and there is some truly brilliant writing in here. My personal favorites were "Dial X for Girl" and "Manifest Destiny (Great American Novel Remix)."
But there were others where I either never found the rhythm, or the message or saw the point. The list-poems, in particular, lacked impact. Lists of names or objects, or entries made entirely from names of horror movies. To me, these read almost like grocery lists, rather than anything with meaningful impact, and their recurrence too away from my overall enjoyment.
But there were others where I either never found the rhythm, or the message or saw the point. The list-poems, in particular, lacked impact. Lists of names or objects, or entries made entirely from names of horror movies. To me, these read almost like grocery lists, rather than anything with meaningful impact, and their recurrence too away from my overall enjoyment.
January 1, 2025
Contrary to my GR log I have actually read this collection before, but upon my first re-read in I think over four years, there was a lot more I noticed (good and bad).
Gottlieb tackles the concept of the final girl — aka the typically young, typically white, typically cisgender leading lady of a horror movie who survives until the end despite enduring unspeakable trauma — and connects it back to musings on gender and sexuality.
It could be Gottlieb's style, but there were a few poems that, as other reviewers have pointed out, felt more like writing exercises to me than fully formed thoughts. There were other pieces that I had to painstakingly research, which was great, but as a whole that made the collection feel disjointed.
That said, chances are you've seen smatterings of these poems across Pinterest and Tumblr — my favorite comes from "Slut" which reads, "And suddenly I'm an angel on the cutting room floor, wearing gore, a blank stare, and not much more."
Gottlieb tackles the concept of the final girl — aka the typically young, typically white, typically cisgender leading lady of a horror movie who survives until the end despite enduring unspeakable trauma — and connects it back to musings on gender and sexuality.
It could be Gottlieb's style, but there were a few poems that, as other reviewers have pointed out, felt more like writing exercises to me than fully formed thoughts. There were other pieces that I had to painstakingly research, which was great, but as a whole that made the collection feel disjointed.
That said, chances are you've seen smatterings of these poems across Pinterest and Tumblr — my favorite comes from "Slut" which reads, "And suddenly I'm an angel on the cutting room floor, wearing gore, a blank stare, and not much more."
January 9, 2023
holy hell. this collection rocked me. favorites include "vamp", "liability", "the rough rider pulls it tight", "looking for the area code for bali on the day of the dead", and "for suicide girls who have considered extensions/ when manic panic is enuf" (holy shit what a title lmfao)
some lines etc that changed my life, popped my third eye open, or whatever:
-"tom cruise is a girl." (vamp)
-"she draculas her garlic to full scrotality" (again vamp, which SLAYED.) (SCROTALITY?!?!? ms gottlieb your MIND!)
- might add more here l8r.
some lines etc that changed my life, popped my third eye open, or whatever:
-"tom cruise is a girl." (vamp)
-"she draculas her garlic to full scrotality" (again vamp, which SLAYED.) (SCROTALITY?!?!? ms gottlieb your MIND!)
- might add more here l8r.
August 14, 2022
really appreciate the project here, but in execution feels more like an exercise. the impulse to examine horror tropes through an academic lens is always something that makes me pick up a book, but the trap of that focus not letting this narrative become its own story always happens. the poems that strive for their own little horror-worlds instead of just playing around with slasher names were by far more interesting. a very picky reader here though, so take this review with a grain of salt.
August 19, 2021
Yeah so this is one of the best works of contemporary poetry I think I've ever read. Confronts poetic structure with the same merciless, critical lens that it turns on male violence and slasher film mythology.
August 10, 2013
This is the second time I've read this collection. Unlike the other times I have read Gottlieb's works, I took the time to look up every single reference she makes here. And there is a lot! I never bothered before. As I was growing up, I never liked to look up words i didn't know while reading; I thought I could figure them out through the context. I guess I assumed similarly when it came to the famous figures and events Gottlieb meditates on in this novel.
I was very wrong! I'm happy I looked things up, although it took longer to read the collection due to that. It really deepened my understanding and enjoyment of the book, so I suggest you do so as well - if you aren't as up to date on your historical references, like me.
This book examines the concept, not developed by Gottlieb, of the final girl. The final girl is an archetype of modern horror films; she doesn't break any of the rules of survival. She tends to be white, and is generally a "good" girl. She does well in life and doesn't party or have sex. At the end of the movie, she survives.
Gottlieb uses this as a starting point for this collection. This collection really examines three positions in the horror film - killer, final girl,and audience. If you are a fan of scary movies and are radical enough to think there's some feminist implications in them, this book is for you.
Gottlieb also expands the concept to real women, like Mary Rowlandson and Patty Hearst. This is where the book began to fail for me. While I think Patty Hearst was an ok fit, I didn't like Gottlieb's use of Mary Rowlandson. I didn't want to read about the Native Americans as "bad guys," and I don't thinks he wrote enough to get that point across. (While, like any other people, Native Americans made/make mistakes, I don't think it's cool to demonize them as I felt occurred at times here.) I also didn't like some of the implications Gottlieb made about trans people. Both of these observations were a little strange, since Gottlieb's politics and poetics are usually so radical. Maybe I'm missing something.
The whole collection doesn't always focus on the final girl concept, but as always, many of her poems are about love, drugs, sex, and death.
Some of these poems really sucked. Their form was standard, topic boring; there was a section of this I had trouble getting through and enjoying. But other poems really, really moved me. This is a very complex work. As I get older, I think Gottlieb relies a little too much on from more and more. But here, she used it sparingly, and for the most part, effectively.
I was very wrong! I'm happy I looked things up, although it took longer to read the collection due to that. It really deepened my understanding and enjoyment of the book, so I suggest you do so as well - if you aren't as up to date on your historical references, like me.
This book examines the concept, not developed by Gottlieb, of the final girl. The final girl is an archetype of modern horror films; she doesn't break any of the rules of survival. She tends to be white, and is generally a "good" girl. She does well in life and doesn't party or have sex. At the end of the movie, she survives.
Gottlieb uses this as a starting point for this collection. This collection really examines three positions in the horror film - killer, final girl,and audience. If you are a fan of scary movies and are radical enough to think there's some feminist implications in them, this book is for you.
Gottlieb also expands the concept to real women, like Mary Rowlandson and Patty Hearst. This is where the book began to fail for me. While I think Patty Hearst was an ok fit, I didn't like Gottlieb's use of Mary Rowlandson. I didn't want to read about the Native Americans as "bad guys," and I don't thinks he wrote enough to get that point across. (While, like any other people, Native Americans made/make mistakes, I don't think it's cool to demonize them as I felt occurred at times here.) I also didn't like some of the implications Gottlieb made about trans people. Both of these observations were a little strange, since Gottlieb's politics and poetics are usually so radical. Maybe I'm missing something.
The whole collection doesn't always focus on the final girl concept, but as always, many of her poems are about love, drugs, sex, and death.
Some of these poems really sucked. Their form was standard, topic boring; there was a section of this I had trouble getting through and enjoying. But other poems really, really moved me. This is a very complex work. As I get older, I think Gottlieb relies a little too much on from more and more. But here, she used it sparingly, and for the most part, effectively.
March 20, 2015
As a horror movie fan I loved the premise of this collection. I had read a few of Gottlieb's poems before and therefor was excited to get my hands on this.
At the end, I have mixed feelings, some poems I could feel, others not all. Her voice didn't seem as strong as I got to know it before, which is a bit of a requirement I think, to have a strong and punching voice when you write about the final girls out there.
I am not saying this is a bad collection (because it is by far not) but it lacks the big jaw dropper, something to blow you away and keep you thinking, wondering and admiring. The one poem you want to share with everyone. Even though I enjoyed quite a few I never felt urged to talk about them. Have to admit that I love this line though: "You can't kill me/because I'm made of light/You can't kill me because/you need me to tell the story later".
My favorites were: Name the tune, Liability, Night of the dead living, I knew it was over, Slut, Dirty, Gone to static. From the ten "Final girl"-pieces I favored: Reel to real, The frame, The killer and The final girl.
3, 5 stars!
Update: I just reread this the other day, and on going through it again I still believe it is a bit more mixed than I would like but I really like the ones that I mentioned above and don't look as harshly upon the ones that didn't do much for me. This concept is just to good to not rate it higher and the fact that I came back to it speaks for itself. Rounded up to 4*
At the end, I have mixed feelings, some poems I could feel, others not all. Her voice didn't seem as strong as I got to know it before, which is a bit of a requirement I think, to have a strong and punching voice when you write about the final girls out there.
I am not saying this is a bad collection (because it is by far not) but it lacks the big jaw dropper, something to blow you away and keep you thinking, wondering and admiring. The one poem you want to share with everyone. Even though I enjoyed quite a few I never felt urged to talk about them. Have to admit that I love this line though: "You can't kill me/because I'm made of light/You can't kill me because/you need me to tell the story later".
My favorites were: Name the tune, Liability, Night of the dead living, I knew it was over, Slut, Dirty, Gone to static. From the ten "Final girl"-pieces I favored: Reel to real, The frame, The killer and The final girl.
3, 5 stars!
Update: I just reread this the other day, and on going through it again I still believe it is a bit more mixed than I would like but I really like the ones that I mentioned above and don't look as harshly upon the ones that didn't do much for me. This concept is just to good to not rate it higher and the fact that I came back to it speaks for itself. Rounded up to 4*
April 17, 2015
Hmmmmm. I like the concept and "Final Girl II" a lot. Some great, powerful, sometimes funny stuff in here. But very hit or miss and in places the thematic-integrity is worn a bit thin and intentions not very clear. (I don't think one always has to know what one saying for poetry to be brilliant and good, but I think it is important to care for the messages being sent, especially given the material Gottlieb addresses, and I'm not sure such a thorough awareness is always in here).
I wish I were better at talking about line breaks and perspective, tone and style and such.
A few lines from "Don't Fall For Pretty", which I think is one of the stronger poems. I really like the word institution in here. She keeps the stanza's thin and sometimes when they thicken (like a good plot?), it's noticeable.
It serves me
right.
I always
fall
for the wrong
ones.
I am lost,
and I stop
in front
of some large
institution...
I like
poets.
I fall
for it
again...
I follow her
to dinner...
We split
the check
and split.
I walk
her home...
I don't think we'll be
seeing each other
again....
I wish I were better at talking about line breaks and perspective, tone and style and such.
A few lines from "Don't Fall For Pretty", which I think is one of the stronger poems. I really like the word institution in here. She keeps the stanza's thin and sometimes when they thicken (like a good plot?), it's noticeable.
It serves me
right.
I always
fall
for the wrong
ones.
I am lost,
and I stop
in front
of some large
institution...
I like
poets.
I fall
for it
again...
I follow her
to dinner...
We split
the check
and split.
I walk
her home...
I don't think we'll be
seeing each other
again....
January 12, 2013
I didn't read the synopsis before reading the book. I grabbed it, turned to the first page and, feeling so bonded with the content, I found myself at the last page within moments.
While reading these raw, unique prose and intricately woven together words, I felt a comfort that this person had experienced similar situations as myself.
The reason I mentioned not having initially read the synopsis is because by reading that it was presented as a pop culture reference in films with its supposed theme of horror, trauma and fears; not only did it lose its authenticity, but it also took away that personal connection that I appreciate most in a book.
In conclusion, it's still a great read. My subjective response has nothing to do with its immaculate content.
While reading these raw, unique prose and intricately woven together words, I felt a comfort that this person had experienced similar situations as myself.
The reason I mentioned not having initially read the synopsis is because by reading that it was presented as a pop culture reference in films with its supposed theme of horror, trauma and fears; not only did it lose its authenticity, but it also took away that personal connection that I appreciate most in a book.
In conclusion, it's still a great read. My subjective response has nothing to do with its immaculate content.
August 4, 2016
Surprisingly enjoyable collection from a radical feminist with numerous 'all-female' ties, including Mills College.
The title was inspired by slasher flicks. There are ten pieces that share the title: Final Girl I, Final Girl II, etc. Mary Rowlandson, Patty Hearst, and Jack Kerouac make appearances.
Favorites:
"The Frightening Truth about Desire"
"The Babysitter"
"Kicks"
"Looking for the Area Code for Bali on the Day of the Dead"
if a girl falls in the woods
running for the phone,
you'll get her machine
- "Dial X for Girl"
The sunlight - pure Hollywood, like going for the jugular.
Bites were always on the breasts.
- "Vamp"
She's not
the first poet
I've heard.
I support
the arts.
- "Don't Fall for Pretty"
The title was inspired by slasher flicks. There are ten pieces that share the title: Final Girl I, Final Girl II, etc. Mary Rowlandson, Patty Hearst, and Jack Kerouac make appearances.
Favorites:
"The Frightening Truth about Desire"
"The Babysitter"
"Kicks"
"Looking for the Area Code for Bali on the Day of the Dead"
if a girl falls in the woods
running for the phone,
you'll get her machine
- "Dial X for Girl"
The sunlight - pure Hollywood, like going for the jugular.
Bites were always on the breasts.
- "Vamp"
She's not
the first poet
I've heard.
I support
the arts.
- "Don't Fall for Pretty"
May 16, 2011
A strong cycle of poems predicated on the trope of the Final Girl, the girl who survives the killer's onslaught in slasher/horror films, the girl who must face the threat alone, with no one to help her. "You can't kill me/ because I'm made of light/you can't kill me because/you need me to tell the story later."
January 2, 2012
I bought and read two of Daphne Gottlieb's books last year because I simply couldn't get enough of her writing. Her poetry, the prose. It's all brilliant and raw. And in this particular collection, poems about the final girl, the last woman standing, there were two poems that actually scared me and I had to skip over them.
Read
May 19, 2011I don't feel this collection was as strong as Why Things Burn, in part because of the horror movie theme. Don't get me wrong: it does work for some poems, but I'm not interested in poems that are just lists of movie titles. I'm not hip enough.
December 30, 2009
Excellent poetry that is theoretically grounded. Gender and sexuality buffs meet slasher films = awesome.
March 6, 2010
I love the idea of the final girl (the one who lives to tell the story in horror movies) and Gottlieb does a fine job of giving them a voice which is both haunting and alluring.
October 24, 2010
provocative imagery. I couldn't read it right before bed.
November 21, 2016
name that tune
i knew it was over
pornography
manifest destiny (great american novel remix)
looking for the area code for bali on the day of the dead
. .
i knew it was over
pornography
manifest destiny (great american novel remix)
looking for the area code for bali on the day of the dead
. .
January 19, 2026
favorite poem “slut” ♡
July 11, 2015
Review to follow.
January 5, 2015
One of Daphne Gottlieb's most solid works.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews