Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

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

111 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Classism, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Drug use

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.5

This book is INTENSE. Kinda hit all of the trigger warnings on the way down. I was surprised how much I liked the author's characterization of the women, though.

But damn, I was so ready for Patricia's husband to bite the dust. He was on my last nerve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Dementia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Bullying, Pregnancy, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Body shaming, Confinement, Excrement, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, and Drug use

halbo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

ugh1ife's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book was a ride! First thing to know, these women are SOUTHERN. I was cringing a lot at the blatant classicism/racism/misogyny/etc. But the book did a decent job at criticizing it. AND BOY does the black community get the short end of the stick. Also, this book does kind of fall into the trope of having a black character (Mrs. Greene) do the brunt of the work especially in the aftermath. She also has to be the one to point out the obvious instances of prejudice which the other characters acknowledge in the moment but don’t really do anything about it?

At the end they admit that the black community was hurt the most but it’s in passing. And then that’s it. Like I think it’s meant to reflect that these characters are prejudiced and stuff, as a lot of rich suburb southerners are. There is also graphic violence depicted against black characters and straight up racism. So, this particular aspect fell short for me. Also, I am not black so I can only say the issues that I found with it

All the characters are extremely flawed, and so much of it had me furious (especially the husbands). It was also a deep dive into what being a “housewife” is really like and the learned helplessness of these women who have/had accepted their roles. I really think this book is for the parents: it does a great job at detailing the common worries that parents experience and their short comings. 

A short summary of the book?: a group of southern ladies form a book club that follows true crime novels. Patricia, a typical housewife in a strained marriage, befriends a newcomer to their tight night community. However, she begins to notice strange things happening and becomes increasingly convinced that their little home is in danger. 

The sexual content was a bit hard to get through, but I understand why it was there so I don’t really fault the book on it. Just be warned! 

SO SO SO MANY TRIGGER WARNINGS. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Body horror, Gaslighting, Violence, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Dementia, Drug abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

cbbyles07's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.75

For someone that has never read adult horror before this is a great book to try-out the genre.  The ending was a bit gory and there were a few parts with creepy crawlers that made my skin crawl, but other than that this book was entertaining and even funny quite a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

squid_ears's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This book is a worthy spiritual successor to Bram Stroker’s Dracula. It expands on the themes of the vampire as the greedy capitalist and the sexual predator, with commentary on systemic racism and how even white people who consider themselves non-racist are complicit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Excrement, Death, and Child abuse

Lots of imagery of rats, cockroaches, and other vermin doing some pretty fucked up stuff to people.

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

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Like having your teeth pulled out by barbed wire, but they're really polite about it. There is a very scary vampire, but, you know how all good horror is about the unnatural threat AND the real ones? There's more dread in a cocktail party with friendly acquaintances than in most of the scenes with, you know, vampirism. The book juggles its time and place, both as a setting dripping with dread and with a comfortable, sympathetic gentleness that never actually lets anybody off the hook (though Mrs. Green is really much too forgiving in the last act). Does a really interesting job with being horribly physical about the most mundane and most otherworldly manifestations of gore alike. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Racial slurs, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

I liked this book, but it's billed as more horror comedy, and I do want to be clear, the horrible parts are gonna hit.

lesbegays's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

for the first few chapters i almost forgot this was a horror novel because i was so invested in these housewives’ drama. but then things got dark FAST. i don’t think i’ve ever been angrier at a fictional character than i was at the husbands in this book. if i could have skinned them all alive i would have. i HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. 
side note: it is so nice reading a book set in south carolina????? like, i know the towns they’re talking about! they shop at bi-lo!!! the bit about the whole town being busy watching the clemson v. carolina game!!!!! is this what people who live in states that are more frequently featured in fiction feel like all the time??? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Gore, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexism, Dementia, Torture, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Racism, Animal death, Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Pedophilia

Minor: Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Drug use

amzimme's review against another edition

dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Toxic relationship, Murder, Terminal illness, Suicide, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual assault, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, and Rape