Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

90 reviews

dorianlecter's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'm officially obsessed with Grady Hendrix, if I wasn't already after I first read My Best Friend's Exorcism. This one focuses more on housewives and how they deal with all their problems quietly and often without their husbands' support. Fantastically written, with a token cryptic ending that had me seeing it like a movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Dementia, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Police brutality, and Racism

barefootamy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh boy this was a good one. Hendrix takes the bored housewife trope, flips it on its head, and makes it a thousand times better. The only thing I didn't love about this book was that certain parts get graphically gorey/body horror-y, maybe avoid if you're very squeamish. Definitely going to check out his other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Self harm, and Sexual assault

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

Minor: Alcoholism, Dementia, and Domestic abuse

alreads13's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Very fun and terribly disgusting. Couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Racism, Misogyny, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Dementia, and Torture

Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Medical content, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

litet_hjortron's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Adult/minor relationship

hebrideanreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

In the late 80s, Patricia Campbell finds her people, forging a “not a book club” book club with 4 other very different women, all of whom have a penchant for true crime books and thrashing out their personal problems. Their lives are predictable, and set in societal stone, governed by etiquette and manners.

Some years later Patricia is brutally attacked by an elderly neighbour, leading to the woman’s mysterious grand-nephew, James Harris swaggering into her life. He is funny and handsome and well-read and utterly magnetic for the women of the book club. But as children start to die in strange ways Patricia begins to suspect that her charming, handsome new neighbour is not what he appears to be, and that he is actually a monster previously only found in fiction.

I devoured this story (pardon the pun). It was compelling and horrifying and nail-biting. There are moments of gore and horror that make you want to turn away. And fair warning, there is a particularly dark incidence of rape, although the focus is on the aftermath, and the care provided by women, as opposed to the actual attack.

Where the genius of this book lies however is not only in the surface horror – which is tense and palpable (there’s one moment early on involving a hand where I genuinely felt my skin crawl) – but in the allegory. 

James Harris is able to slip into their lives, their communities and devastate them from the inside out because of the institutional racism and misogyny that permeates the Charleston communities: The societal systems which cause “good people” to turn the other cheek, shrug and think “Oh well that’s just the way it is” rather than standing up for what’s right. 

White powerful men are offered power and money on a silver platter to distract them and seduce them while their children are groomed, and the poor and minority areas of their community are ravaged,  and they are only too willing to reach for the gaslight if the women in their lives dare to ask questions. The real horror that turns the stomach are the subtle moments where you watch how easily James’ hold on the communities brings out the hate and selfishness in people, how quickly family relationships curdle, and how easily people are corrupted. 

In the 20s he wrapped his hold around the hearts of men who scapegoated their own failings onto vulnerable black men and had them lynched as a way to divert from their own evil choices. In the 80s and 90s he schmoozes and charms his way into being a pillar of the community, where he finds the existing darkness in people’s hearts and twists it until it grows beyond their control: Men become power hungry at the expense of all those around them; Women become fractured and suspicious; the racial barriers in the community are shored up with mistrust and betrayal as the rich elite ignore the pain of and suffering of the black communities; Blue and his minor (yet still uncomfortable) interest in World War two is steadily led down the path of fanaticism; children are seduced and corrupted while their parents look the other way. James Harris is not just a blood sucking monster, he is the hate, and darkness and sin that creeps and lurks, hooks onto the already existing dark spots in people’s hearts and insidiously grows until communities are unrecognisable. James Harris is Naziism personified. And despite warnings from Miss Mary, who lived through his terror before, he is invited in under the assumption that he can be controlled and befriended.

It is only when the members of the book club learn to trust each other and work together as a team, when they admit their mistakes and find their voices to stand up for each other and what is right that they can begin to route out the evil now embedded in their homes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Racism

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Self harm, Racism, Misogyny, Medical content, Infidelity, Excrement, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry

sunnyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

I read the whole thing and found it entertaining, so I have to give it a star for that, but wow. The premise is great. What a fantastic premise, but the execution is disappointing. And I get that this book is set in the '90s in the Southern U.S., but ick. I think the story could have been done without the white saviorism, racism, and rape, and Black children committing suicide. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Suicide

Minor: Ableism and Alcoholism

There's a significant amount of gaslighting done to the main character throughout the book.

silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I LOVED the storyline on this one, but it's hard to rate overall because a lot of the 'window dressing' on the story (general ickiness of all kinds included) is the sort of thing that makes it hard for me to enjoy the actual reading experience.

 I'm a huge fan of the part where the author writes homemakers in a respectful way, honoring what they do as homemakers, and of some of unusual juxtapositions that happen putting all of that in the context of a supernatural story. One of my favorites was the entire conversation discussing whether it's appropriate to take a casserole to someone after their relative has died, when that relative injured you before dying. 

Definitely an older teens to adults only story, and probably not for sensitive readers regardless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Gore, Racism, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Terminal illness

In addition, readers should be prepared for rats, cockroaches and related filth.