Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

161 reviews

emilywemily6's review

dark funny lighthearted 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? No

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and found it to have many more layers than I originally expected. It started off campy and hilarious, but turned more dark and serious. There is definitely both paranormal and more domestic-style horror elements and it felt like I read two different books between the first half and the second. I really appreciated the messaging about how no one listens to POC (specifically black people in this book), women, or children. And no one cares what happens to the black people in this book, many characters turn a blind eye and just say “oh well, that’s too bad” without giving it more thought. I feel like this book could have been a 5 star if it had been written by a black person and seen from Mrs. Greenie’s perspective. She was my favorite character!! I felt like the author did a pretty good job portraying Patricia in this book, but a lot of the other characters were more superficial. This book inspired a lot of unsettled feelings, both related to the paranormal and the relationships between the characters. It felt a little long and drawn out though, especially with Patricia getting back into the James Harris issue. I wish there had been more actual book club time throughout the book and that the friends could have been better friends to each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Pregnancy

nerdie88's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

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

kauliflower'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, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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