Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

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

38 reviews

hollowspine's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

This book was a frustrating read, it had so much misogyny and misogynoir, gaslighting, and violence against women that I found myself with clenched fists and jaw almost the entire time I was reading it. I hated all the men so much. The desire of white men to be rewarded for mediocrity and thinking that they have a right to things they haven't worked to earn, the entitlement and treatment of women and especially black women that they are nothing but either pets or 'the help.' That they think that they need to stick together and defend each other no matter what, and taking each others word over that of their own wives just is maddening.

The author definitely does not hold back when it comes to describing all the horrible things that happen throughout the story as well, the physical abuse, rape and gruesome murders are detailed. So watch out.

The story itself was good, and I could see the way the author was showing all the negative consequences that come from patriarchy and being complacent with misogyny and racism. It was just something that was difficult to look at, though maybe that's the point. May want to put a mouth guard in if you have issues with teeth grinding...

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emmeline's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, Hendrix does a good job of creating a tense atmosphere and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. One thing is that I wish we had explored Mrs. Green as a character more. She felt like she had a lot of potential and I wish she was more of a main character instead of a side character.

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lifeofafox's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

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sarah984's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked parts of this book, but overall it disappointed me. The little flairs to remind you the book is set in the 90s are pretty cute. Some of the scares really worked for me (there is a scene where the main character is trying to escape a location without being seen that is both so tense and SO gross, and I'm not usually squeamish), and the idea of a vampire that is hunger personified (he just always wants more no matter what) was interesting. When the book club finally gets together for the plan I had been waiting for the entire book, it's great. The intro mentioned that the book is kind of a tribute to the author’s mom and I could really feel it in those moments.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with the Mrs. Greene character and the vampire going after children he thinks won't be missed but the execution didn't really work for me. Mrs. Greene had to take charge of everything all the time and it basically circled around from her being part of the team to her having to coddle and take care of all the white characters. The women in the book club were thinly drawn and not very interesting. I only finished the book a couple of hours ago and I can only remember that Slick is religious, one is named Kitty, one wears whimsical sweaters and Grace is the biggest jerk. Patricia is a huge doormat and the husbands are universally terrible. It was weird to me that the parents weren't more concerned with their son’s nazi obsession, aside from it being mildly embarrassing in public.

My biggest negative though is the use of rape in this book. It really feels like it's just there for the shock scenes, and the way the women's (and girls’) bodies are described during those scenes is really voyeuristic and weird. The worst of the rape scenes takes place off-screen and the author STILL manages to describe the victim’s breasts and the state of her pubic hair. What happens to the character afterward is also weird and felt pointless.

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