Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

1124 reviews

ursimae's review against another edition

This book is a 1.5/5 stars.

The premise is sounds so good, but the execution was terrible. It's so bad that I dont think I'll even try reading another book by this author.
It's laughable that this book was supposedly written as like a love letter to his mom considering what happens in it.

Sorry for the rant, but I can't with this book.
Let me list out a few of the transgressions:

• Weak writing. Outside of the horror scenes, the prose felt sloppy.
• So many racist stereotypes. The only reoccurring black character is given the "mammy" role. The next mention of other POC are shown as servants to the rich white people of the town during parties. From there, the stereotypes just continue. At points, it seemed like Grady was opening good dialogue on how racism impacts black communities in regards to their valid concerns being downplayed and ignored. However, he kept dropping the ball with it. It's like he placed the talking point in front of us then swept it aside before we could fully digest it and have a meaningful talk.
• Why the hell does the son love Nazis? The kid is obsessed and idolizes them. It literally plays no part in the story. Why'd you add that Grady? It wasn't necessary. Why you keep bringing up Nazis. Also, why was the MC totally cool about it? Huh? Grady, why was everyone okay with Nazis? It wasn't plot relevant.
• SO MUCH GASLIGHTING. Omfg, it made me want to rip out my hair. 
• Hey, Grady...why did you write about the MC gaining 11 lbs as if she gained 200????? You just threw that part in there for what?
• Hey Grady... What's with the graphic retelling of a rape scene? Why?
• Hey.... Grady... Why did you have to include so many child sexual assault scenes... Story would've been totally cool without that. Really wasn't necessary.
• The MC attempts suicide and its treated by everyone (even the MC) like some petty "fuck you" to her husband.
• Also, there's just a lot of domestic abuse.
• I was 64% through when I DNFed and literally, never once was there a part about women becoming empowered and badass, taking on vampires. It was just 7+ hours (audiobook listener here) of a woman being severely abused.
• Not one character is likeable.
• All the other women in this book are just misogynistic stereotypes. None of them have any actual depth of character and feel very flat.
• The biggest horror wasn't the vampire stuff, but the husband, omfg they were the real villains.
• apparently at the end, she only gets a divorce from this dude... I feel like she should get to kill her husband for the shit he did to her. Also, none of the other women get to fix their abusive relationships?

There is probably more than I could say, but I've ranted about this long enough.
There is very important commentary to be had with the topics of this book that would be awesome to explore further, but it only comes across as 400+ pages of women being repeatedly abused, racist, sexist, and outright terrible characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Body horror, Blood, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Self harm, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

gaylelabreche's review against another edition

4.75

Genuinely terrifying. Delightfully creepy as hell. I loved all the characters SO MUCH. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide attempt, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child death, and Death

drpeeper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I would say check trigger warnings before reading this. not sure if it’s due to personal life struggles or the nature of the book, but this was a rough one. interesting characters and plot and some funny moments, but a pass for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Grief, Addiction, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

spikytortoise's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

crystalb0058's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Gaslighting, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

milooo's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

i’ve got to be honest, i was a little bit disappointed with this book. it started out really well, the setup is expertly executed and the concept is really cool. the dark side of this book is pretty well paced in the sense that you feel this growing tension and sense of dread. the female rage and the kind of helplessness and entrapment some of these women feel is palpable and imo very well written. the frustration of the characters very easily translates to the reader (especially if you’ve been raised as a girl). however. not all is well in mt pleasant, and i think the author should’ve put a bit more time into really exploring the intersection of race and gender, especially when it comes to these rich white women not acknowledging that the only well developed black character is the woman who did the bulk of the work and was the most affected. the subject of white privilege is touched upon, but it feels a bit like it’s dismissed in the end because of how much is happening. other than that, the action takes a LONG time to happen, which is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that when you have this really good and drawn out setup, it’s not really satisfying to have everything be solved in a chapter. finally, and this is purely a taste thing, it got a little bit too gory and disturbing for me at some points. this type of horror is very poignant and well written, it just happened to hit every. single. one. of my phobias (being buried alive, bugs and parasites, general ‘things burrowing under your skin’ kind of stuff), so bear that in mind if you have phobias, not just fears, of these things. overall, pretty good but personally i will not be bringing this for my book club :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Rape

muffycantread's review against another edition

dark medium-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

1.5

I enjoyed this book a little until about halfway through the book. Not the vampire slasher you want. Reading this made me feel like I was slowly drowning and not in a suspenseful, enduring way. Most of the "thrills" are pretty predictable anyway. Would rate 1 star if I wasn't truly enjoying the first 200 or so pages. It had so much potential... I will not be reading another Grady Hendrix and I think he'll be fine. >:( 
 

the amount of graphic sexual assault and domestic abuse of women and children ultimately seemed completely unnecessary for telling the story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Child death, Gore, Sexism, and Suicide

mariah_g's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Gaslighting

leiferwomann's review against another edition

Didn't realize Gene was horror, looked up trigger warnings and stopped prior to upcoming graphic rape scene

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Body horror

garlicghoul's review against another edition

dark sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Almost a banger, loved the atmosphere and tension, loved the vibe of the southern ladies book club… but it fell short in a lot of ways and had some unnecessary and triggering scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape