Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

140 reviews

ejlee111's review

Too dark and random. Gruesome descriptions. Violence that didn't seem to go with the plot. SA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, Murder, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, and Cannibalism

kaylasbewks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

stars ,, 5.0
cawpile ,, 9.14

this book was insane ,, i read 80% in one day which explains a lot.

i'm a sucker for 'housewife horror' so i may seem biased when i say this but ,, the characters were amazingly written. were the ignorant? yes. were they stupid at times? yes. were they selfish? yes! but that's what makes reading about them so interesting, instead of seeing people suddenly rise up to the occasion you see the internal battle of ignoring the problem or fighting against it. also, the atmosphere was phenomenal, the amount of times i actually got freaked out was embarrassing ,, and the amount of times i giggled was unsurprising. i also seem to be a sucker for books that heavily lean into horror stereotypes ,, but are extremely self aware ,, so that's always nice to know!

i'd definitely recommend this but please check the tw's before reading, it's a dark book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gore, Rape, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, and Forced institutionalization

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a really intense book! Oh my goodness. I was in the edge of my seat the whole time. I was angry, I was sad, I wanted to shake some things in the characters. I loved the way the author drew things out. It's a crazy book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Dementia, Medical content, Terminal illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Mental illness, and Misogyny

fullybookedkatie's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Very anticlimatic ending tbh but such a compelling read and one I wont forget for a while. As a Southern female, I enjoyed a lot of the dialogue and small jokes too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity and Kidnapping

wheelyautistic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I actually really enjoyed this book. The amount of times I had to put the book down because of how tense it showed just how good the writing is. 

I'm afraid I have to disagree with most of the negative reviews regarding the 3-year skip, where the main character is complacent. Many reviewers viewed it us difficult and unrealistic or annoying however they fail to realise that this book whilst it does have a vampire and the supernatural elements is far more about a serial killer and a murderer then a high energy vampire slashing book.  It feels realistic that no one would believe her or that she would become complacent and subdued because in reality any outburst could land her straight into an institute given the timing. The race aspects were necessary to indicate and portray a very real and common thing seen in real-life killers: that those deemed as less than are usually the ones killed and often their murders are overlooked. I think this book perfectly paralleled the real lids true crime books the characters read with a hind of supernatural influence to increase the severity and difficulty of the situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Stalking, Gore, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Animal death, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Cannibalism

Minor: Racism

gabsoto20's review

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

1.5

I know that gaslighting and sexism was a large point of the storyline but dear god. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Gaslighting, Racism, Gore, and Mental illness

erhocking's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

This book made me feel a lot of emotions. There were times when I was just so pissed at characters that I couldn’t keep reading, but the end was so satisfying. The book truly shows how patriarchy and misogyny hurts all involved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Blood

winifred_k22's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Suicide attempt

brysonsmommie84's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I was so excited to read this. I’ve built it up for a year and I finally got to it. That was a mistake… Maybe I will update this later and make it more coherent, but for now I have wasted enough hours of my life finishing this book. Yes, finishing, all of it. Why? Because I stupidly thought it has to get better. 
I just feel sick. This book makes me so angry…

Husbands telling wives:
“The girls have something to say” 
“shake hands like a fucking adult” 
being forced to apologize… these are your wives… educated wives… the children are also treated like this. Carter is the worst character of all time! Worse than the “vampire”. 

Patricia is concerned about child molestation and you are all fucking protecting the stranger, because he has money and penis. Fuck these characters. Fuck this book. Fuck this author. They better all be under a fucking spell. 

BTW child molestation big trigger! Lots of child rape… by an old dirty “vampire”. Too detailed. Children dying/suicides. Kids killing dogs, because they have been “left under a spell”. More Rape, burning people alive… At least the racism and “classism” were finally called out, I guess… 

I will never give this author another try. The other authors that take flak for the misogyny and patriarchy in their books is bullshit in comparison and this author is being praised for this book. Fuck that shit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Blood, Suicide, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Death of parent, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

wickedgrumpy's review

slow-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

2.0

This book made me so uncomfortable at points because the writing is very visceral.  The fact that there is a time jump made everything so much worse.

I’m glad that I read it because I was interested in reading a few books by this author but I don’t think they will be for me after all.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Animal death, Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Terminal illness, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Bullying, Chronic illness, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Violence