Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

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

96 reviews

boundforinfinity's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A brilliant tale that kept me gripped for 2 hours. Southern mum's book club comes to terms with the horror in their neighbourhood, reading crime fiction about Ted bundy and Charles manson, Patricia and friends try to save their children and their souls from the dark and mysterious neighbour, James Harris. Well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexual harassment

kam_pearson's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

philomathean's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

vonny3492's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

This book was extremely gripping and there was a certain point where the behavior of some secondary characters made me want to reach into the book and strangle them, and I had to resist skipping to the end to make sure they got what they deserved.... So engaging!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fatphobia

ripxreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

prynne31's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Misogyny, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cyntismiles's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

I did finish the book but around the 70-80% mark I was reallllly thinking about DNFing this one. I really enjoyed the build-up of the book -- the women coming together and finding a way to be people outside of their "housewife" roles and all the pieces of the mystery falling into place. Then an obstacle hit and some characters (ahem the husbands and similar) did things I found irredeemable. Then the writing of specific scenes...did not feel right to me (more below). So I forced myself to finish it because I wanted to see the ending but the ending was also so drawn out in all the wrong ways...

A side note that really has nothing to do with anything: I found it really hard to remind myself that this book was set in the 90's but may be a good reminder that we aren't too far from these "old" ideals and probably still need to watch out for them.

For the majority of this book, I was leaning towards at least a 3-star rating. I enjoyed seeing the housewives exploring interests outside their families and getting to hang out together and whatnot. There were gross/disturbing scenes but it's a horror book -- I didn't love them but I didn't think a lot of it. However, what really bumped this book down in rating for me was the handling of the sexual abuse scenes. I will put a spoiler over this part of the review so it can be skipped over. Long story short, the way they were written was too graphic in all the wrong ways (?) and felt very disingenuous to survivors/real people.

The way that these scenes were handled made me feel really yucky. And sexual abuse/r*pe is yucky! I don't want to read scenes where it is glorified or made to be acceptable/nonchalant etc. I think what left me feeling really gross was the detail it was described in. I am not sure if this was to add to the horror element or the scene in general but it felt...exploitative? Like it didn't need to be described in such detail? I have read scenes about abuse that do a good job of conveying the gross, icky, disturbing feelings; empathy for the survivor; the pain and helplessness they feel; how horrible it is without describing the whole scene and specifics in such detail. I think I was just really rubbed the wrong way by the details the author chose to include? It felt like a disgusting lens if that makes sense. I did have to skip over sections of the second scene (yes I am appalled there was more than one???) because it was too detailed. I understand this may be written off as "personal sensitivity" but I'm not sure who needs to read about this in such detail, with these specific details. I am not sure who it benefits or if the story benefits from this (I don't think it does) and it felt weird knowing this was all written by a man. I'm not sure how to describe it but it felt really weird and more like a random plot point than an actual issue that happens in the real world??? Idk

The ending was okay. There was some wrapping up of certain plot points that was good but it wasn't a satisfying ending. A particular scene of the ending that may have been supposed to have been triumphant was really long and drawn out and described...too much. It really ruined the book for me. I ended up not really caring what the characters did or how they ended up after the climax (it wasn't very climatic tho??). I just felt very apathetic towards the whole thing.

At no point in this book was it going to be a 5-star book for me but the second half of the book really dragged down the experience for me (especially the last 80%) and it was almost unbearable to finish. I enjoyed the first half and read it quickly. I'm not sure how I feel for the characters in the end??? Just left feeling kind of not interested in reading a similar book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

kritika's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was an interesting social critique of what rich white men can get away with, how women are never believed and are presumed "hysterical", and how Black folks are seen as expendable, and how their white neighbors can't be bothered to help with a community crisis until it affects them personally. I enjoyed the complicated lives of the ladies in the Southern Book Club, and found the vampiric villain to be truly terrifying. 

I was quite unhappy with the turn this book took in the last third or so. There are ways to convey horror without resorting to violation and violence against women. There were plenty of horrific things already happening in the book, and rape just did not need to be one of them. It came out of left field and was deeply upsetting to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Drug abuse and Pedophilia

danscoada's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This is my third Grady Hendrix book and I think it's my least favorite, although it was still very enjoyable.

The title was a *bit* misleading. It was predictable to an extent, but I still found myself on the edge of my seat. This book had an interesting take on a vampire novel where there was only one who fit the "mould" of a classic vampire in some ways and didn't in others. The husbands were trash, the wives were frustrating but ultimately had each other's back.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

aniwillow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt