Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

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

377 reviews

maddiemooney's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Classism

dailybaileyk's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

I loved the first few chapters of this book and I think this is an interesting and decently told story. I found myself skimming pages waiting for action to happen as a majority of the book is building/sitting in tension. It’s an interesting take on the vampire genre but I felt if you took the vampire part out of the book and replaced with an equally dangerous “normal human” male, you could have achieved the same effect, especially since the “supernatural elements” were few and far between. My anxiety was more directed towards the misogyny, racism, and the kids being kids. This also felt like a “gaslighting your wife 101” novel. I think this book did a phenomenal job illustrating the stress and struggles of a mom trying to navigate life and keep their family safe (even if the relationship with said family is horrible at best). This was less of a vampire hunting guide and more of a testament to make sure the men in your life should respect you.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

coldheartedbirch's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

i was expecting dark and gorey, but lovable moms fighting evil. what i got was actually one of the worst books i’ve read in years with ZERO likable characters. there’s really only one successful creepy/scary moment (aside from how their husbands treat them) as he’s prone to extremely overdone and campy horror scenes that were more laughable than anything. 

rampant sexism, crazy slow book into a way-too-fast, terrible wrap up, lots of things that make no sense, just not good. read Anything else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Antisemitism

vagaybond's review against another edition

4.0

I really loved this book and the way that it specifically called out the cowardice of white parents and the misogyny within suburban households toward mothers. I wish Ms Greene was given more due credit, and also that we learned how the actual core book club folks fared after in terms of their book club itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity

cannibalmukbang's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

One of the most gripping books I've read in a while. I got so attached to these characters that I had nightmares about them dying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexism

beiiadonna's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexism, and Blood

Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault

space__squid's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 Maybe the real vampire was the white supremacist patriarchy we realized we made and upheld along the way <3

Would have given 5 stars if I wasn’t a bit iffy about the story being told from a white perspective – it’s a great story, I highly recommend it, especially if you like your horror with a fair bit of rage and social commentary, but as with many other stories it centres white people’s experiences of racialized violence rather than the people who are the victims of it.  

That said, I can't remember when I was last this engrossed in a book or this angry and invested while reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexism

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

snarkycrafter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

There were elements of this book that were good and enjoyable for me, too many things irked me for me to give it a higher rating. 

I found none of the characters likable, and I recognize that the author may have written them this way on purpose, but it was still hard to read a book without liking any of the characters. 

The female characters all played into a “trad wife” narrative/stereotype which grated on me. They all seemed bored and unhappy, they were all being mistreated, gaslit, and/or abused by their husbands, and continuously accepted their husbands’ views and opinions as their own. I understand that this is a sad and difficult reality for many women, but it didn’t make it easier to read about in the way it was portrayed in this book. 

The fact that he preyed on the poor community of color first…and (most of) the white women refused to help until it directly affected them. That was very much “on the nose”. 

There were parts that were very enjoyable but others that were painful and cringey to read through. If someone were to ask me if they should read it, I’d say to give it a shot, but I wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s next read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

miilk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

I love it when the vampires are truly monstrous in every way. And I loved reading about all of the women and their lives and their faults and their struggles and and and bc everything with them was GREAT. Also Patricia is such an excellent protagonist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Much better than I thought it was going to be, mostly because I found the title so ridiculous. Turns out that the book was a lot of fun to read and that the title is very apropos. It was a little longer than I would’ve liked - I would’ve removed some of the events, maybe even whole chapters, because the first third of the book had me rolling my eyes. But I had enjoyed How to Sell a Haunted House, so I stuck with it, and I’m so glad I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism