Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

718 reviews

mermaidstories's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has so much potential to be great, but there were a lot of misses that I simply could not overlook. For instance, I knew there were some rumblings about the representation of Black people in this story, so I wasn’t surprised by some of the cringey moments I came across. But, then we get to the welfare queen trope…and then having a Black woman refer to herself and her people as coloreds…in the 90s??? That’s where you start to lose me…had the story taken place in the 50s/60s, then i’d understand. between that and having the only other representation of Black people being that they’re waitstaff for the suburbanite parties is egregious. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that Grady was making an attempt to highlight the differences in urgency when it comes to threats towards white children vs Black, but it loses steam when you still uphold harmful tropes. 

Another thing i take issue with is the

sexual assault

. What did it add to the story in any way? The same outcome could have been met. Not to mention the scene with

James Harris “feeding” on Korey—both being naked and she is a minor.

If not for the aforementioned issues, I probably would have rated this story a 3.75. In terms of conveying how thankless it is to be a housewife, i’d say Grady did well with doing so in a realistic way for the most part. Although i do wish there would have been more of a resolution with

confronting Carter with his infidelity, gaslighting, and general mistreatment and lack of appreciation.

. that, along with

Ragtag dying—what was even the point of including that after everything? totally unnecessary.

brought the rating even lower. 

Otherwise, the dynamic between the women of the book club seemed very authentic. They’re moments of anger, betrayal, misunderstandings, but also a strong friendship overall. They cared for and understood each other, flawed as they all were. i feel like he did well with showing the facets of their friendship. so overall, i give it a 2.5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Animal death, Dementia, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Dementia, Racism, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

krholin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Misogyny, Gore, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Pedophilia, Blood, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence

blfrankwriter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide, Cursing, Blood, Rape, Child death, Animal cruelty, Racism, Physical abuse, Sexism, Murder, Gore, Drug abuse, Death, and Body horror

kimbaudelaire's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bit of a slow burner but overall entertaining. The gaslighting  and marriages were way scarier and bone chilling than the monster itself. 
Miss Greene was my favorite character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, Sexual violence, Dementia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Sexism, and Infidelity

hollerfeller's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, and Gore

rachelvd's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, and Rape

cepramas's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Really enjoyed this! My main issue is

that the only character of color takes on a disproportionate amount of the labor!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Animal death and Child death

mimesatwork's review

adventurous sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I loved the set up, I liked the writing style, but I had a lot of issues with how this resembled more a screenplay than a novel.

I wasn't fond of the ghost either.

Edited after looking at other reviews here: I'm very confused as to what people consider a "diverse cast". The cast here is specifically and deliberately not diverse. They are all around the same age, white, able-bodied SAHMs (presumed straight). One major side character is not white. Don't pick this up if you want a diverse cast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

capmorrow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Violence

justmys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence