Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

141 reviews

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow!! I loved this book, I don’t normally read gory books but this one was great! I love that it showed a normal group of women fighting for themselves and their families. Every single man in this book is completely infuriating, there were several times I was yelling for the women to answer the men with more sass than a lady like them would dare to. When the police and men think you’re crazy and won’t help, you just have to get your girls to have your back.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

rachelmerrie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I’m unsure how to feel, but I know it wasn’t a pleasant experience. 

-What was the point of the son’s personality traits? Nothing came of it. 
-The “friendships” between these women were surface level and them coming together in the end gave me zero comfort in their “unbreakable bond”. These women sucked just as much as the men did. 
-Why did the children randomly choose to live with the mom after hating her the entire book?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Self harm, Classism, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide, and Torture

2haileyyb's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is kinda weird but it kept me wanting to read more. I also think it’s should have been set in the 50s/60s because just how it goes about racial disparities reminded me more of that time. Not to say racism and classism didn’t still exist.

I also didn’t like slicks sexual assault like why in order to transform people it has to be like that, just for it to end up killing her bffr. Also the description of his “fangs” or whatever had my kinda confused cause it like retracts and then he sucks for the leg? Idk again weird yet fascinating

I also loved all the housewives bond at the end how they come together despite the circumstances and their dumbass husbands.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Misogyny, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Rape, and Sexual assault

asperomari's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Thought I was gonna get a bunch of badass southern moms fighting vampires like The Lost Boys: milf edition. But this, certainly wasn’t that. 

I’m not gonna say it’s bad because it wasn’t, but it was definitely underwhelming. The story had so much potential but it fell flat because for most of the book NOTHING HAPPENED. 

By far the most infuriating thing about this book is the incredibly stupid actions of the book club members. You’re telling me that this group of women who spend their free time reading true crime and are very knowledgeable about the psychology and behaviour of serial killers are just going to completely disregard all that knowledge when they’re faced with one? Even going as far as comparing him to Ted Bundy then going, ‘Nah, I’m just gonna ignore this.’ 
As someone who went through a phase of loving true crime themself, if that man was my neighbour, I’d move.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Gaslighting, Body horror, Rape, Blood, Gore, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexism, and Racism

there is a graphically detailed scene in which two people and a dog are attacked by a swarm of rats, it is incredibly graphic and disturbing. There is also a scene in which a cockroach crawls inside a person’s ear while they’re hiding and unable to move, once they can move they cannot pull the cockroach out so they kill it inside their ear.

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Whenever I read a book by a man lead by women, I’m always a little nervous. So let me just say I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a realistic view on women and their struggles from this book.

The book moving from a more lighthearted and occasionally comedic tone at the beginning before moving into the darker contents of the story was done so well. The shift was well executed and prose that once had ny laughing and smiling soon had me on the edge of me seat with anxiety and dread. Such a wonderful picture of emotions and conflict was painted and so much of it felt like something myself or my fem presenting friends would talk about struggling with.

The nuance and care in telling a story about sexism and racism in the 80’s-90’s and the deep south was appreciated. While I myself am white and can’t speak for the experience of POC reading this book, the angle on sexism and women’s struggles in that was very well done. It felt like each character face and struggled with societies poor views on women in their own way. While I wish we had seen more of the other women than just our leading lady Patricia, each one felt like nuance and care had been put into her character. I specifically remember telling my friends and praising how well the author captured what it feels like to be talked down to and condescended by men in your life. Every bit resonated with me and I cannot praise the author enough for managing to capture the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Rape, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Dementia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content and Child death

Minor: Domestic abuse

mrskatebeach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, and Violence

astareads's review against another edition

WTF, this book was pure anxiety. Toxic masculinity, racism, gaslighting, references to the ADHD-"craze" of the 90s, with hardly any actual vampire action. I think there was an effort to be like Dracula?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Dementia, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Classism, and Racism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Classism, Racism, Sexual violence, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, and Violence

julesbarthe10's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

80's house wives in a true crime book club, husbands that don't appreciate anything their wives do, neighbors who think they are safe in their cozy suburban neighborhoods while the slum neighborhood in the back is ignored, and 1 neighbor who may or may not be a monster. But who would believe that anyways. Monsters aren't real. Especially not in good ole suburbia and gated communities. 
This is probably the most realistic version of events I've ever read play out of how people would go about the situation that happens in this book. And my gawd i hated passionately every man in this book. Every single one was just trash and blinded by boys stick with boys. It was a good book because the story was just spot on but those characters were infuriating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

marlajensine's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

3.0

Grady Hendrix always has ideas for his stories that are so unique and captivating, but the execution never seems to live up to the hype of the concept; it all ends up falling a bit flat. The stakes are always made to seem higher than they end up being. Main characters are put through hell and suffer an endless list of setbacks only for things to work out in the end - usually after a final "battle" scene that just feels anticlimactic. I can appreciate a slow-paced plot to build tension, but this one seems to drag. And of course, because it's Grady Hendrix, the women are gaslit and abused in various ways, while their revenge on their abusers is never satisfying enough to justify having to endure those parts of the story. 

I do not think he *intends* to write women this way - it truly does feel like he thinks he's writing badass female leads, and I certainly appreciate the effort. But I really hope in his most recent books (which, for full disclosure, I've not yet read) he gives them more rounded characters and more satisfying endings.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Body horror, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Rape