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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
Southern Gothic - Das Grauen wohnt nebenan by Grady Hendrix
374 reviews
mmelibertine's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This took a while to get going - about 11 chapters, for me - but then it picks up steam and never slows down. I was riveted.
I appreciate the care shown to the intersections of marginalizations. It bluntly shows how white supremacy damages everyone to varying degrees, even those who uphold it, and how thoughtlessly it's upheld by those of us who benefit from it. It never punches down at the marginalized trying to survive under the bootheel of white supremacy, and it doesn't excuse or let off easily those acting within it, even the well intentioned or ignorant.
And it's a damn fine horror story, too.
I appreciate the care shown to the intersections of marginalizations. It bluntly shows how white supremacy damages everyone to varying degrees, even those who uphold it, and how thoughtlessly it's upheld by those of us who benefit from it. It never punches down at the marginalized trying to survive under the bootheel of white supremacy, and it doesn't excuse or let off easily those acting within it, even the well intentioned or ignorant.
And it's a damn fine horror story, too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Murder, Body horror, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Blood
jimbonator's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault
Minor: Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, and Violence
kaila_bergmann's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide
Minor: Domestic abuse
jules_farkas's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Domestic abuse
kates_books's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? No
4.25
This book is definitely horror. To be fair, it is clearly labeled as such, but I was still shocked by the graphic gore and terrible scenes. I maybe would have liked a trigger warning on the first page about the level of gore and rape scenes. Despite my struggle to read the horror, I really enjoyed the book. It was a compelling read that touched on feminism, class, racism, and community. I also loved the deep dive to the vampire genre - loved that the entry point and the research the book club did was reading vampire books. Also loved the setting in South Carolina - it felt like being in a true Southern home.
I loved that Patricia got a divorce in the end! Her husband was so condescending and absent and didn't value her at all. When he said something about her having time to do something because she's just a housewife - my blood was boiling! The only part of the ending I didn't like was that Slick died from her rape injuries - so sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Death, Domestic abuse, Dementia, and Gore
rahellarad's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
THIS BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE!!
Honestly unputdownable. I was worried at first since this isn't my usual bag, and I have been known to hate books that follow a female protagonist with a family since so often they're portrayed as sad little pieces of cardboard to be moved around by other people. Patricia Campbell took that expectation and promptly stabbed it.
This book is so absolutely marvellously brilliant because it's a story about characters who do everything right. Grady Hendrix even mentions that so many people say of horror scenarios: "well if that were me, I simply would have done things correctly". And so he wrote a story where things *are* done correctly - concerns raised, evidence gathered, friends confided in, measures taken - and lo and behold, it helps not at all.
And that's exactly why this book is so terrifying. It's about being put in an inescapable situation with absolutely no way out, no matter what you try. Everyone you know turning on you, friends, family, people who have known you since childhood. All set against the quaint suburban backdrop of South Carolina in a neighbourhood where nobody is anything but polite - even when you insist that the man two houses over is a vampire.
Honestly unputdownable. I was worried at first since this isn't my usual bag, and I have been known to hate books that follow a female protagonist with a family since so often they're portrayed as sad little pieces of cardboard to be moved around by other people. Patricia Campbell took that expectation and promptly stabbed it.
This book is so absolutely marvellously brilliant because it's a story about characters who do everything right. Grady Hendrix even mentions that so many people say of horror scenarios: "well if that were me, I simply would have done things correctly". And so he wrote a story where things *are* done correctly - concerns raised, evidence gathered, friends confided in, measures taken - and lo and behold, it helps not at all.
And that's exactly why this book is so terrifying. It's about being put in an inescapable situation with absolutely no way out, no matter what you try. Everyone you know turning on you, friends, family, people who have known you since childhood. All set against the quaint suburban backdrop of South Carolina in a neighbourhood where nobody is anything but polite - even when you insist that the man two houses over is a vampire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse
It is suggested/implied that the monster of the book is engaging inj3rkin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Whoa. What an experience this book was. In addition to the graphic descriptions expected with a horror/ vampire book, I found myself totally captured by the side character storylines. There is so much potential for group discussion, that makes it a great pick for book clubs. I just wish the pace was faster. It felt like so much build up before I actually took interest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse
acviegut'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
hooligan_kt's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I found this book by browsing the immediately available audiobooks at the library, and thought that it was going to be mostly humorous and fun. Oops, there was actually a lot of gore and some pretty dark stuff, it's more of a horror book than anything else. There were also too many creepy, misogynistic, sexual scenes. I don't know how the author intended the book club women to come across, but I'd say they were around 20% believable interesting characters and 80% overblown male fantasy/puppet characters - and that's a generous breakdown. Overall I think maybe this book was trying to be too many things at once. Is it a horror story? A commentary on gender relations? A commentary on racism? A story about female friendships? Satiric? Funny? Disturbing? I think it would have been a more enjoyable book if it had picked one or two lanes and stayed there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, and Domestic abuse
kendralyris's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I thought this book might be bad at about 30%. By 50% I was sure it was bad. I was shocked at 75% when it somehow got worse. The characters are flat and emotionless.
The main character, a housewife with no personality, and an emotionally abusive husband, befriends what she later find out is a “vampire” but the kind that is a moth I guess since it has a proboscis of all the stupid shit. When she tries to fix it, she is thwarted by toxic masculinity in the form of every single man in town and she makes a suicide attempt. Rather than spend any time with the internal emotional world of this doomed character, the author decides to skip ahead, and in the last 20% of the book attempts to bootstrap some weird sexual tension between this monster and the main character. Don’t worry though, he didn’t forget to include rape! Nor did he forget to include an absolutely plot-point scene where the main character sees her high-school student daughter naked with the vampire. Oh, and one of the characters is obsessed with Nazis. No one has any personality or interests except the one kid who likes to read about nazis.
And I wouldn’t be that mad except that the author decided to include a preface to his book going into his process and how he essentially wrote it to honor his own southern stay at home mom, whom he had apparently ignored when he was a child, shocked as he got older that she was a real person.
This book is terrible.
The main character, a housewife with no personality, and an emotionally abusive husband, befriends what she later find out is a “vampire” but the kind that is a moth I guess since it has a proboscis of all the stupid shit. When she tries to fix it, she is thwarted by toxic masculinity in the form of every single man in town and she makes a suicide attempt. Rather than spend any time with the internal emotional world of this doomed character, the author decides to skip ahead, and in the last 20% of the book attempts to bootstrap some weird sexual tension between this monster and the main character. Don’t worry though, he didn’t forget to include rape! Nor did he forget to include an absolutely plot-point scene where the main character sees her high-school student daughter naked with the vampire. Oh, and one of the characters is obsessed with Nazis. No one has any personality or interests except the one kid who likes to read about nazis.
And I wouldn’t be that mad except that the author decided to include a preface to his book going into his process and how he essentially wrote it to honor his own southern stay at home mom, whom he had apparently ignored when he was a child, shocked as he got older that she was a real person.
This book is terrible.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Gore, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Classism, Dementia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Sexual content