Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Whoa. What an experience this book was. In addition to the graphic descriptions expected with a horror/ vampire book, I found myself totally captured by the side character storylines. There is so much potential for group discussion, that makes it a great pick for book clubs. I just wish the pace was faster. It felt like so much build up before I actually took interest.

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meganparsec's review against another edition

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sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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afterplague's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.25

I think people have strong feelings about The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, but I just don't really have those strong feelings. I didn't think it was amazing, and I didn't think it was terrible. I've seen some people speaking negatively about the portrayal of women or black people in the story. I can't speak for the black community because I'm white as the driven snow, but I think the portrayal of women was well done.

Each of the women had their own personalities and their own voice, but the novel is about disempowerment. These women are housewives, and when faced with a threat their husbands don't stand behind them and they bow to the pressures. The black characters in the story are further disempowered, and the white characters step away from the troubles the black community is facing because they are able to do so without consequence. It would be difficult to stand against their husbands and community to help those who are more disenfranchised, so they don't. They only care when their own are threatened.

I could understand some of the criticism. This is a story about white women (mostly), and the black characters are killed more and disregarded more than the white characters. I do think that this was the point and it tied into the overall theme. However, again, I am not black, so if those who are still feel like this representation was offensive I fully default to them.

I'm going to go into some spoilers below so be warned.

Patricia is our main character, and she's your typical suburban housewife. The book club she joins reads a lot of true crime and thriller books, so this is where my first disappointment comes in.

Based on the title you already know there's a vampire in this story, and Patricia is the first to encounter him in a vampiric form. However, she does not tell her book club that he's a vampire until the 85% mark. So this is not a story about a group of suburban housewives desperately trying to figure out a way to kill this vampire. It's a story about Patricia trying to convince her friends that James Harris is a drug dealer/pedophile and get him chased out of town or put in prison.

It's a little disappointing, and not what we were promised based on the title. There is eventually some vampire slaying that goes on, and I really enjoyed seeing them all come together and get him in the end. It just takes a really long time to get there.

Something else I wasn't really a fan of was a three year time skip in the middle of the book. Things have been escalating and escalating, and finally Patricia is driven to the edge. Her husband won't stand behind her, all of her friends have abandoned her, and even her kids are calling her crazy, so she makes an attempt on her life. Directly afterwards the story skips three years ahead, and Patricia has basically given in. She's friendly with James Harris and her family are very close to him etc. It just cuts a lot of the tension that the story was building. We essentially have to watch Patricia go through the same motions of convincing herself of the fact that James Harris is a vampire and getting all of her friends on board again. It's repetitive.

As far as the scares go in this novel, I think Grady Hendrix peaked WAY too early with the horror. The raccoon scene at about 15% in is the best horror in the book. I listened to it and I was scared, grossed out, and excited for more, but nothing really reached the same level of horror afterwards.

There was the cockroach scene at 70% that literally had me in tears, though I think that's just because I have a phobia of cockroaches. I think most people wouldn't have found it as frightening as I did. I had my boyfriend listen to it, and he thought it was gross, but he didn't have any reaction really and he's not a horror guy at all, so take that as you will. I just think I should've been more scared as the story went on but I wasn't.

There's another thing that makes this book contentious and I want to talk about that a little. Slick's sexual assault. A lot of people are saying that it was just done for shock value, and I don't know if I believe that. I really don't like reading about rape, and I try to avoid it when I can. Most stories that involve rape, didn't need to, in my opinion. I think the same of this book. It didn't need to happen.

I do understand it, however. Slick is a women who is extremely religious and has only ever been with her husband before. When she threatens James Harris with a photo of him forever young in the 1920s, he is insulted and wants to get back at her and intimidate her. It makes sense that the way he would do so would be to assault her and threaten her. It's a show of power as a man, and I don't think something like this is unrealistic. I think James Harris is a narcissist and he understands that this is how he can most hurt Slick. Contextually, it makes sense. If you're still upset about it, you're valid! I don't like reading about it either, but that's my opinion.

I think this book is fine. I don't think it was particularly frightening, but I have a pretty high tolerance. The writing was pretty good and the atmosphere was serviceable.
I see what the author was trying to do with the themes, and I found them relatively successful, but I would like to know what you think actually.

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allisonlessard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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meganadams2244's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

0.25

Literally so gross. At the beginning, i was a little bored and cringed out, the middle was ok, then the ending was so discusting and i could not read it anymore.

I dont understand why he had to make james harris suck peoples blood through their inner thigh in a very sectual way abd describe it as being euphoric for the victim, especially because he always goes after kids, like thats so fucking discusting and does not need to be in a book.

without the gross parts and the ending, i could have given it a better rating but i can not give a book with such a horendus premus a rating better than the lowest.

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erosmus's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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