Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

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

273 reviews

sierraclimbs'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed the opening of this book. The introduction of all the characters & the setting was really enjoyable for me. Then, when the action hit, I hit a slump & struggled to want to pick the book back up. I’m not sure why it was struggling to hold my attention, but it did. But after I pushed through the last 35% was definitely enjoyable (if not also quite disturbing) 
Definitely a unique take on a vampire story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

ezravalentine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

this was an absolutely insane read. the slower parts paid off and i absolutely love the societal aspects of this portrayal of vampirism and the symbiotic relationship he as a supernatural being has with a racist, classist, misogynistic society. i think some loose ends could have been tied up better, but overall its complexity was followable and enthralling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Hate crime, Suicide, Gore, Child death, Body horror, Racism, Violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Domestic abuse

as in many vampire portrayals, the vampirism is highly sexualised and the victims experience sexual euphoria and become addicted to being fed on. the vampire feeds extensively on children, especially poor, Black children, so the implications of this are obvious. it's extremely unpleasant, be aware.

twinkle_flavored's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Gaslighting, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Gore, and Child abuse

chaseisdying's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Why was the misogyny, racism and detailed rape necessary? Would've been a 1 star if not for the last 50 pages 
Waste of time and paper 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

pacific's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was a blast to read. The characters are loveable and their story is over much too quickly!

Plus, there's one point in the novel where I was so angry (on behalf of the characters) that I spite read late into the night just to see them vindicated. 

A wonderful dark novel from beginning to end. There are few horror novels that capture the fleeting feeling of suburbia quite like this one does.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pedophilia

Minor: Drug abuse and Animal death

kaitcope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Death, Dementia, Gaslighting, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Classism, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted 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? No

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and found it to have many more layers than I originally expected. It started off campy and hilarious, but turned more dark and serious. There is definitely both paranormal and more domestic-style horror elements and it felt like I read two different books between the first half and the second. I really appreciated the messaging about how no one listens to POC (specifically black people in this book), women, or children. And no one cares what happens to the black people in this book, many characters turn a blind eye and just say “oh well, that’s too bad” without giving it more thought. I feel like this book could have been a 5 star if it had been written by a black person and seen from Mrs. Greenie’s perspective. She was my favorite character!! I felt like the author did a pretty good job portraying Patricia in this book, but a lot of the other characters were more superficial. This book inspired a lot of unsettled feelings, both related to the paranormal and the relationships between the characters. It felt a little long and drawn out though, especially with Patricia getting back into the James Harris issue. I wish there had been more actual book club time throughout the book and that the friends could have been better friends to each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Dementia, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Infidelity

lewbug's review against another edition

I think a lot of my frustrations with this book deals with the way it was marketed. I expected a campy and funny story. I was told “Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meets Dracula”. What I read was horrific and gorey and graphic. It started out with funny elements and got exceedingly darker. I tried to tough it out and even got through the truly horrific rat scene (but not without gagging). I finally broke and looked up some more information and there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. There should have been an EXTENSIVE list of content warning clearly marked on somewhere on this book and they should not have marketed it like they did. There is rape (I stopped before this but I hear it is horrific and awful and doesn’t add to the story at all), racism, sexism, classism, abuse, child murder, child molestation, horrific deaths, body horror, gaslighting, awful scenes with rats and apparently cockroaches later, and so much gore in disgustingly graphic detail and frankly I feel a bit betrayed because I picked this up expecting humor and maybe a little bit of light gore. I’m sure there’s an audience for this book but I am not it and I’m kind of mad I was led to believe I was 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Rape, Physical abuse, Racism, Child abuse, Suicide, Death, Stalking, Classism, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

jessiphillips's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Overall it was kind of icky 😬 during the first half of this book I was thinking it would be a five star read, however the second half was so horrific that I don’t even want to give it three. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Rape

sar_she_her's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense

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

3.75

Entertaining, angering, and gory.

~ Entertaining at x1.2 speed. 

- Fyi LOTS of gore and Trigger Warnings for many themes. In addition to numerous ones cited below, also creepy/crawly/gross out factor. (Albeit, worst gore is mostly in isolated parts of book: earlier in book as impetus for some call to action, and 1/2-2/3 through book with family endangerment, and 3/4-end with more of the same.)

+ I used to have to skip any books narrated by the much celebrated Bahni Turpin bc her performances of immature, catty, or complaining/whiny characters was too grating. But her array of performances for this book's variety of personalities and ages really impressed me and even converted me as a new fan. impressive performance!

~ While surely part of the author's intentional commentary, his representation of the male partners and how dismissive, condescending, and unaware they were was enraging. His tipping of the scales, whether feeling odds were against certain characters, or the resolution of certain conflicts, felt too steep and stacked, left unfinished or too tidily wrapped up.  I wish these scenarios or interpersonal conflicts were more mixed and balanced.

~ Similarly, for better or worse, predictable. which can be helpful with scary horror, depends on readers' preferences.

+ That said I REALLY enjoyed the main protagonist, appreciated the representation of different aged women and black women, and glaring commentary around racism and classism and their effects. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Body horror, and Sexism

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Blood, Sexual assault, Racism, Addiction, Classism, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Bullying, Misogyny, and Sexual violence