Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

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

189 reviews

twinkle_flavored's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Gaslighting, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Gore, and Child abuse

laurenlou's review

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dementia, and Sexual assault

sar_she_her's review

adventurous challenging tense

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

3.75

Entertaining, angering, and gory.

~ Entertaining at x1.2 speed. 

- Fyi LOTS of gore and Trigger Warnings for many themes. In addition to numerous ones cited below, also creepy/crawly/gross out factor. (Albeit, worst gore is mostly in isolated parts of book: earlier in book as impetus for some call to action, and 1/2-2/3 through book with family endangerment, and 3/4-end with more of the same.)

+ I used to have to skip any books narrated by the much celebrated Bahni Turpin bc her performances of immature, catty, or complaining/whiny characters was too grating. But her array of performances for this book's variety of personalities and ages really impressed me and even converted me as a new fan. impressive performance!

~ While surely part of the author's intentional commentary, his representation of the male partners and how dismissive, condescending, and unaware they were was enraging. His tipping of the scales, whether feeling odds were against certain characters, or the resolution of certain conflicts, felt too steep and stacked, left unfinished or too tidily wrapped up.  I wish these scenarios or interpersonal conflicts were more mixed and balanced.

~ Similarly, for better or worse, predictable. which can be helpful with scary horror, depends on readers' preferences.

+ That said I REALLY enjoyed the main protagonist, appreciated the representation of different aged women and black women, and glaring commentary around racism and classism and their effects. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Body horror, and Sexism

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Blood, Sexual assault, Racism, Addiction, Classism, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Bullying, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Rape, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Stalking, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

cyndi1966's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Rape, Death, Gore, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Animal death

gg_reads41189's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Torture, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

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

lauraevelyn's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Gaslighting, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Murder

andreanneveillette's review

1.5

Killing the dog in the last pages was uncalled for and didn’t do anything for the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Rape, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, and Body horror