Reviewed by Jennifer Senick for Readers' Favorite

Being a kid can be frightening when the monsters are real people and ideas. In Final Girl: Surviving Church and Childhood, Debbie McNulty looks back on growing up in a household marked by conflict and a religion that taught her to be afraid of the Rapture and God’s punishment. Some of her earliest memories are small but telling. She remembers the bond she felt with a teacher, the pride of tying her shoes, and the embarrassment of her mother sharing too much with other adults. Her father’s nickname for her, “Turtle,” feels sweet at first because he seems like the safer parent. As Debbie gets older, though, her view of the people around her becomes more complicated. Family conflict, church teachings, violence, and abuse all shape the way she sees herself and the world. How does a child begin to understand fears she never should have had to carry?

Final Girl by Debbie McNulty clicked for me when McNulty compared herself to horror heroines like Laurie Strode and Ellen Ripley. The “monsters” in this memoir are not imaginary, and that made the title even stronger. I also liked the pendant image at the start of each chapter because it added to the mood of the book. I appreciated the ordinary childhood details, like her excitement over school supplies, story time, and books, because they reminded me that Debbie was still just a child trying to find comfort wherever she could. Those quieter memories pulled me in because they made the heavier parts feel even more real. The writing is direct and easy to follow, and the pace gives readers time to see how her emotions and family relationships change. The passages about abuse are painful to read, but her honest account makes clear how scary and confusing those experiences were for her as a child. I’m so proud of her for telling her mother what happened, even when she was afraid of her mom’s reaction. Maya Angelou wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” That idea is reinforced in the acknowledgments when McNulty explains that she isn’t trying to hurt anyone; she just wanted to share what she lived through. Readers interested in memoirs about childhood, religious trauma, and survival may find this a moving and thought-provoking read.