Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

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

39 reviews

girlwiththeheadphones's review

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual violence

Minor: Domestic abuse

labinsky's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

first off there are just so many content warnings for this book so check that because you think you know what you’re getting into and the contents of the book does NOT match the tone of what’s on the tin.

this book is definitely a page turner, it’s over 400 pages and i finished it in under a day and i’m definitely not a fast reader. but just because it’s a page turner doesn’t make it good or mean that this book is well executed. it’s supposed to be a social commentary about racism and sexism and the way we accept the stuff of horror stories because we live in an unjust society. and it almost does that. but it’s written by a white man who capitalises southern and not Black. 

of course a horror novel is going to be graphic. of course it’s going to be gory and isn’t for the faint-hearted.

but there’s graphic depictions of lynching, rape, statutory rape, suicide, and suicide attempts. the main character’s white, christian adolescent son has an obsession with nazis that is entirely unnecessary, treated as only slightly concerning by his parents, and was stomach-churning for me to read as a jewish person.

and there’s plenty of run of the mill horror genre gore on top of this, which i fully expected going in, but everything else felt like when tarantino writes himself into a movie and his character says the n-slur with the hard r at least a dozen times. 

if someone with the lived experience of racism and sexism had written this book and if it was told from the perspectives of multiple characters (ie, mrs greene), it would have been a better book. it could have made the point it was trying to make. but instead of being a commentary about not only the horror genre but the society we live in, hendrix missed the mark.

in his version, a single vampire, not the world we live in, is identified the source of the violent racism and sexism and it goes away when they slay the vampire.

it falls short and it’s so frustrating because it could be such a good book, but it isn’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, and Suicide

beeskneesreads's review

dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

Minor: Animal cruelty

cate_with_a_c's review against another edition

It was good until it wasn’t. I didn’t like that all the men didn’t believe their wives when they were concerned for their children. Lots of sexism and fat phobia. I got bored about the half way point and couldn’t justify finishing it. Seemed like the women start out strong and the obvious abuse from some of the husbands was unnecessary and upsetting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Dementia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Antisemitism, Fatphobia, and Domestic abuse

elliesberrie's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexism, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Antisemitism

howl's review against another edition

dark tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

This entire book felt like the scenes near the beginning of a horror movie in which the husband doesn’t believe his wife when she tells him their house is haunted 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Gore, Racism, Rape, and Suicide attempt

dudadiamonds's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

eu to com muito ódio desse livro. ele não entregou Nada do que prometeu, amizade feminina foi feita da maneira mais porca possível, não tem mistério nenhum (muito menos gore), tem uma cena de estupro totalmente gratuita que não acrescenta em nada pra narrativa, e falando em coisas que não acrescentam em nada PRA QUE o blue era obcecado com nazismo? era pra ser algo Quirky?não tinha relevância nenhuma pra história mas mesmo assim fui obrigada a ler fatos & curiosidades sobre o holocausto. outra coisa que me incomodou muito foi a gente saber mais sobre o marido da patricia do que sobre qualquer uma das “protagonistas”, todas elas são extremamente one-dimensional,  seguindo uns estereotipos tipo a dona de casa religiosa e a dona de casa perfeita (e uma delas é estuprada e outra  apanha do marido), elas tem ZERO personalidade e qualquer coisa que faça com que se pareçam pessoas reais, isso sem contar com o white savior complex e lowkey racismo. ele sabia que iam pertubar por não ter personagens pretos de destaque na narrativa, já que todos são pobres e só estão ali pra ser mortos, e deu um papel maior pra mrs greene (que quase morre pra salvar a velha branca e constantemente pede ajuda das outras brancas), acaba que ela nem é tão desenvolvida e mesmo assim acaba sendo muito mais interessante que qualquer uma das protagonistas. a ambientação também é muito podre, nao tem nada de anos 90 ali e eu fiquei o livro todo com a impressão que eram os anos 60. não vou nem comentar sobre a morte totalmente desnecessária do cachorro no final do livro.

pelo lado positivo a escrita é muito boa e me engajou bastante :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Dementia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, and Domestic abuse

laurena's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

kacylynne's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When a tall, pale and handsome stranger moves next door, housewife Patricia invites her new neighbor into her home. A decision she will come to regret.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Antisemitism and Forced institutionalization