Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

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

8 reviews

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

ariana3's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I was really excited to read this book, especially given the hype I've seen around it for so long. I was pretty disappointed in it, and I just don't think it was my kind of book. This is the first bloody horror book I've read, and it didn't mind that so much as the gaslighting, misogyny, and explicit descriptions of sexual violence. I think a book can be really good without all of that. I'm glad I gave it a shot, and I did read it pretty quickly (mainly because I was hoping it would turn around at the next chapter...).
Plot summary:

Set in this utopia-like southern town near Charleston, SC, weird occurrences start to happen when someone new moves in. Patricia, the main character, sees a man in need and with her southern hospitality helps him out. He immediately ingrains himself into the community, despite Patricia feeling weird about him and trying to make him leave. All of the men, including her terrible husband, gaslight the group of women friends into thinking it's just one of their true crime books affecting them. Turns out Patricia is right, and James Harris is a vampire and has lived for 400 years, and Mrs. Greene (the only person of color and of course the cleaner for the community) is the only one who believes her and wants to help. Gaslighting and misogyny continue, Patricia tries to kill herself because no one will listen. Several years go by and Patricia finds out her now teenage daughter is serving as a "food source" for James Harris, and her son is obsessed with him as well. James Harris attacks one of their friends, and they decide to kill him. Patricia serves as a sacrifice while the others knock him out, dismember him, and burn him/drop him down a pit where ashes are stored (I'm not super clear on if he's ashes or if the several bags that are his body are just down a big hole). Their friend dies and decides to be cremated so the "thing" that James Harris impregnated her with also dies. Things seem to go back to better situations, despite the community now being poor. Patricia thankfully wanted a divorce and the kids decide to live with her. I am glad it had a happier ending. I was waiting the entire time for the other shoe to drop, saying that James Harris found a way to continue living and that he'd be back for Patricia's kids or grandkids or something. But it didn't!! And I liked the little additional notes and letters at the end, I thought they were clever and a nice touch to the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Gore, Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Dementia, Sexual violence, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death, Infidelity, Classism, and Excrement

Minor: Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Car accident

kier__'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Dementia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cursing, and Death

cam_cates's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Sexism, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, and Self harm

Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident

ruthmoog's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

This gave me chills. Once I was invested I whizzed through the story, whisked up by the relentless challenge to overcome the vampiric.

The group use their women's work skills to fight, but this was a bit cliché for me - and you could play content warning bingo with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: War, Abandonment, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident

Nazism

cozyteareads's review against another edition

I really enjoyed this book to start but it just got a little bit intense with some aspects that I believe would be considered gaslighting and abuse partway through, and I wasn’t able to get through those sections. They lasted longer than I expected and too long for me to power through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Gore, Child death, Suicide, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Murder, Racism, Cursing, Death of parent, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Car accident

A lot of Bible talk and discussion

delilahreads's review against another edition

dark

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Car accident

ricareviews's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

I finally finished it! It took me a whole month, but I somehow did it. I wanted this book to be campy, exciting, and entertaining. It was everything but that. I got a mixture of everything I despise in a book: one-dimensional characters, weird pacing, boring plot, and prose that is too descriptive. A lot of scenes just made my heart boil. There was no reason to include them because they served no purpose to the story - at least that's how I see it. The book's aim to be disgusting and vomit-inducing was accomplished, but at what cost? I could have lived without having read this and I wouldn't have regretted it one bit. Perhaps the greatest sin this book committed was that of being forgettable and ultimately really dull.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Dementia, Excrement, Medical content, and Vomit