Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

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

14 reviews

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Like having your teeth pulled out by barbed wire, but they're really polite about it. There is a very scary vampire, but, you know how all good horror is about the unnatural threat AND the real ones? There's more dread in a cocktail party with friendly acquaintances than in most of the scenes with, you know, vampirism. The book juggles its time and place, both as a setting dripping with dread and with a comfortable, sympathetic gentleness that never actually lets anybody off the hook (though Mrs. Green is really much too forgiving in the last act). Does a really interesting job with being horribly physical about the most mundane and most otherworldly manifestations of gore alike. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Racial slurs, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

I liked this book, but it's billed as more horror comedy, and I do want to be clear, the horrible parts are gonna hit.

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 

“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires” is about how a small-town white community reacts when faced with a threat from the outside. How much can one sacrifice for safety and prosperity and who pays for those sacrifices? Who- and what- is worth protecting? How culpable is the one who watches and does nothing? 

This is a book that features deeply human, but nuanced, female characters. The female characters have rich inner lives and personalities even when operating within the social norms of their small Southern town.  This is an nuanced, layered exploration of womanhood- particularly how white womanhood is affected by white privilege. People dismissing the characters as "doormats" have clearly ignored the parts of the book that scream that they are choosing prosperity and security over the lives of Black children, which is easily one of the most realistic parts of the book.   The author is a man, but his mother inspired him to write this book, and it truly shows. I wish more female characters were written with this flawed complexity. I also really felt the author did a good job building and releasing tension. 

Also. Y'all need to get better at adding tags. We get graphic second hand accounts of both sexual assault and racism (a man was literally LYNCHED) and half of y'all only tag the sexual assault?? I think that proves my point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Murder, Suicide, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Stalking, Child abuse, Classism, Violence, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia

Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death

libby_c's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Racism, Misogyny, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

Minor: Forced institutionalization

sunnyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

I read the whole thing and found it entertaining, so I have to give it a star for that, but wow. The premise is great. What a fantastic premise, but the execution is disappointing. And I get that this book is set in the '90s in the Southern U.S., but ick. I think the story could have been done without the white saviorism, racism, and rape, and Black children committing suicide. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Suicide

Minor: Ableism and Alcoholism

There's a significant amount of gaslighting done to the main character throughout the book.