Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

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

394 reviews

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

quercine's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

This book was really tough for me to read and if you are a person who might need to be aware of things before hand, please read content warnings. I would absolutely never recommend it to anyone who is not prepared to a) read not only gore but every day life disturbing content and b) really think about how this book turns Dracula on its head in terms of what a vampire represents in culture.

In Dracula, the monster related horror is just a symbol for xenophobia. In this book, the monster related horror is a symbol for how you can let someone into your lives and neighborhood and that person can truly be a person in your community. Except they have unnatural urges that harm your children and “Uncle James” is actually a predator.

This book tackles a lot of real world issues such as misogyny and racism, and how white women can suffer from misogyny but still perpetuate racism. This book also tackles the reality that people of color face in the under reporting, under investigating etc of crimes against them. I absolutely urge you to read with caution if that’s not something you want to engage with. The racism in the world of the 90s era southern US is vibrant on the page.

I’m used to vampire feeding as a symbol for

sex and sexual assault.

I wasn’t entirely prepared for the way this vampire feeds to essentially BE

child sexual assault and for how he would create a new vampire to be rape.

It was shocking, and I stewed for a long time on whether or not I think

Slick’s rape or even Destiny and Korey’s grooming and assault

were necessary (especially so explicitly). Ultimately, I think because this vampire tale is about

letting someone you trust near your community and that trust being betrayed, it fits and it isn’t another example of a male writer using that kind of violence as shock value. But as a survivor myself, it was very difficult.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

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

emmieanna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I am so glad to say that this book is about more than just vampires. It’s about women who will do anything for their families, about sticking up for themselves and what they know to be true. It’s about getting in, getting out, about solidarity and shame. 

There is not one man in this book that observed anything about their wives. They blindly accept anything as long as a man tells them it is so and honestly they deserved everything that happened to them. 

Infuriatingly, Patricia never received the recognition she deserved for sticking to her beliefs even when everyone turned their backs. The gaslighting from her husband and friends who were meek astonish and she deserves better from everyone. Such is the life of a housewife.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse

tsalagitiffany's review against another edition

Unnecessarily disgusting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Rape, and Sexual violence

katenovah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

rocketdea's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Racism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Classism

ashleymwisk's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I would rate this higher if it weren’t so gruesome, with so many disturbing & triggering scenes. Had someone clued me into those, I would have skipped this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

cara_anne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Medical content, Stalking, and Death of parent

suvissiin's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

3.5

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started this book. The first part of the book lured me in with the quaint characters of the Southern housewives and their true crime book club, but it soon turned into a grotesque true-crime horror meshed with parts of paranormal fantasy. I felt all the feelings present in a good horror book: anger, disgust, uncomfort, frustration, and of most importantly the book kept me on the edge throughout the last part of the story. The reason I didn’t rank the book higher though is because I put this book down for a month in the middle of reading it, because the mood shift from the start to the end was so jarring (especially for me as a mood reader). There were also issues for me with pacing and repeating dialogue; I feel like as a reader I would’ve understood Patricia’s need to protect her kids with less mentions of it. The world also feels dark even in the end, I understand in it’s true crime nature the reader views the world in the aftermath differently, but for me I would appreciate more light at the end of the tunnel (even metaphorically) than the quiet life the housewives continue to live. Overall this book was a good horror read, even though I didn’t expect it to turn so gruesome. Definitely check content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Rape, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse