Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

427 reviews

cavernism's review against another edition

dark funny sad 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? No

3.0

Definitely the darkest of Grady Hendrix's books I've read, and maybe the most horrifying, and not in a fun romp sort of way. Read the content warning tags before you dive in- I really wish I had, because I was expecting a different tone based on Hendrix's other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Child death, Suicide, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Rape, Animal death, and Racism

ashtonebemis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Sexual violence

averageawkwardasian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

3.5

Listened to audiobook narrated by Bahni Turpin. 

Overall fun and entertaining with a enjoyable imprecation of the vampire troupe. Love the female lead and female centric supporting cast. 

Narrator basically saved the book for me. Around the 75% mark it feels the story is dragging too long too much.

Putting a 3-year gap in the plot before the plot twist makes it difficult to stay engaged to the book.

If it wasn't for the entertaining performance of the narrator I would have dropped it. Huge kudos to Bahni Turpin.

Upon review I realized it is littered with triggers. While most are relevant to the plot, some are graphic enough I found mildly unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Body horror, Racism, Rape, Gaslighting, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gore, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infidelity, Child death, Death, and Suicide

delphellia's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

I enjoyed it for the most part even though it’s not my typical style. Writing style is easy to read. There were a lot of gross and graphic moments and a lot of abuse. The preface is important since it was written by a man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, and Violence

hannahhmh's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Classism, Suicide, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Excrement, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death of parent, Sexism, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, and Alcoholism

jocelynmwagner's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Misogyny

aheinicke27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Holy cow. This book was waaayyyy more intense and gory than I thought it was going to be. When I heard it was a comedy horror I thought I’d be able to handle it, but I think the comedy is some light southern women banter and that’s about it. And the horror is HORROR. This book made me realize that I haven’t really ever read a horror book written for adults before and I underestimated my tolerance level. The psychological manipulation, sexual violence, child abuse, racism, and societal horrors of being a women in the 90s in the wealthy, patriarchal south was a lot, not to mention the physical violence and gore. I listened to the entire story…but I do have to admit there were times I had to pause and come back later. Let’s just say the raccoon scene towards the beginning was not the vibe driving into work at 7:00 AM. 

I was really invested in the characters and wanted to punch all of their dumb husbands in the face pretty much every time they made an appearance — which granted wasn’t often because the husbands were pretty distant from their families due to their dumbness anyways. This was a great female power book, and I loved seeing how the women band together to keep their community safe. Amidst all of the horrors surrounding them, their friendship was the tool that helped them do what would have initially seemed impossible at the start of the book. 

Overall, I liked the book. Will I read another horror book anytime soon? Probably not. Will I tell people about this book? Yes, but primarily to process my trauma from reading it. 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gore, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Death, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child death, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

apriltee's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gore, Rape, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Racism, and Pedophilia

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed the opening of this book. The introduction of all the characters & the setting was really enjoyable for me. Then, when the action hit, I hit a slump & struggled to want to pick the book back up. I’m not sure why it was struggling to hold my attention, but it did. But after I pushed through the last 35% was definitely enjoyable (if not also quite disturbing) 
Definitely a unique take on a vampire story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

Grady Hendrix, you absolute buffoon. There is indeed a book club, the ladies are southern, but there is one solitary vampire and he certainly wasn’t slayed. How did he goof the damn TITLE?

Dislikes:

• All the characters + the weird choices they made. Has Grady Hendrix ever met a woman?Inquiring minds want to know.
• The misogyny and racism. It’s just so casually there and not addressed properly. Grady always misses the mark on these topics. Almost as if he isn’t qualified to be writing about them. Weird!
• James is just a shit vampire

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child death, Addiction, Death of parent, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

Minor: Antisemitism and Terminal illness

Tagged with antisemitism due to the son being OBSESSED with nazis. It’s weird and no one addresses it correctly.