Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Southern Gothic - Das Grauen wohnt nebenan by Grady Hendrix

161 reviews

swewovsky's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ldyb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Things to know: this book is satire & commentary. Never in my life has it been this clear! I found several of the juxtaposed phrases to be so CLEAR that I highlighted them. I hope no one reads this book at face value - there is absolutely something pointed about almost every sentence, every chapter, every character. 

TW - In addition, there is gore, there is sexual predation and assault against women and children, there is suicide and death. A lot of this is graphically described, which is rarely necessary, and remains the flaw of the horror category. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

jenn_amanda's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

fiona_farrell's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Dementia, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death and Abortion

meganadams2244's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

0.25

Literally so gross. At the beginning, i was a little bored and cringed out, the middle was ok, then the ending was so discusting and i could not read it anymore.

I dont understand why he had to make james harris suck peoples blood through their inner thigh in a very sectual way abd describe it as being euphoric for the victim, especially because he always goes after kids, like thats so fucking discusting and does not need to be in a book.

without the gross parts and the ending, i could have given it a better rating but i can not give a book with such a horendus premus a rating better than the lowest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

ursimae's review against another edition

This book is a 1.5/5 stars.

The premise is sounds so good, but the execution was terrible. It's so bad that I dont think I'll even try reading another book by this author.
It's laughable that this book was supposedly written as like a love letter to his mom considering what happens in it.

Sorry for the rant, but I can't with this book.
Let me list out a few of the transgressions:

• Weak writing. Outside of the horror scenes, the prose felt sloppy.
• So many racist stereotypes. The only reoccurring black character is given the "mammy" role. The next mention of other POC are shown as servants to the rich white people of the town during parties. From there, the stereotypes just continue. At points, it seemed like Grady was opening good dialogue on how racism impacts black communities in regards to their valid concerns being downplayed and ignored. However, he kept dropping the ball with it. It's like he placed the talking point in front of us then swept it aside before we could fully digest it and have a meaningful talk.
• Why the hell does the son love Nazis? The kid is obsessed and idolizes them. It literally plays no part in the story. Why'd you add that Grady? It wasn't necessary. Why you keep bringing up Nazis. Also, why was the MC totally cool about it? Huh? Grady, why was everyone okay with Nazis? It wasn't plot relevant.
• SO MUCH GASLIGHTING. Omfg, it made me want to rip out my hair. 
• Hey, Grady...why did you write about the MC gaining 11 lbs as if she gained 200????? You just threw that part in there for what?
• Hey Grady... What's with the graphic retelling of a rape scene? Why?
• Hey.... Grady... Why did you have to include so many child sexual assault scenes... Story would've been totally cool without that. Really wasn't necessary.
• The MC attempts suicide and its treated by everyone (even the MC) like some petty "fuck you" to her husband.
• Also, there's just a lot of domestic abuse.
• I was 64% through when I DNFed and literally, never once was there a part about women becoming empowered and badass, taking on vampires. It was just 7+ hours (audiobook listener here) of a woman being severely abused.
• Not one character is likeable.
• All the other women in this book are just misogynistic stereotypes. None of them have any actual depth of character and feel very flat.
• The biggest horror wasn't the vampire stuff, but the husband, omfg they were the real villains.
• apparently at the end, she only gets a divorce from this dude... I feel like she should get to kill her husband for the shit he did to her. Also, none of the other women get to fix their abusive relationships?

There is probably more than I could say, but I've ranted about this long enough.
There is very important commentary to be had with the topics of this book that would be awesome to explore further, but it only comes across as 400+ pages of women being repeatedly abused, racist, sexist, and outright terrible characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia

kedaniels28'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

mariah_g's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Gaslighting

mushymargo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Lots of gross details you can tell it’s a man writing women. Lots of unnecessary naked women with WAY too many details and the sexualization of a minor

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

gwenna_laithland's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail