Reviews tagging 'Gore'

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

860 reviews

tsalagitiffany's review against another edition

Unnecessarily disgusting

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Content Warnings

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

kgpierce's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Interesting, fun read that kept me locked in till the end. I like how Hendrix really commits to the perspective of the protagonist in his novels, drastically shifting the protagonist’s positionality between stories and yet it always seems as though he is so familiar with that particular life experience that it is his own. It speaks to his deep familiarity with the region and timeframe (SC in the 80s/90s) in which he sets his books. He’s also, as always, extraordinary at creating a captivating nostalgic world of the pre-Y2K southeastern United States.

One critique I have of this book is how one dimensional the only POC character is. I know there’s intention to properly depict the social reality of the white, middle-aged protagonist in this setting, but the one Black character is given this random bizarre character trait that is left unexplored unlike the traits of the other white women in the book. Throughout the novel I felt she was left as a glaringly one dimensional character in contrast to all the other well fleshed out white characters. Which again could’ve been an intentional immersive tactic on behalf of the author in order to truly convey how the protagonist’s worldview does not allow for BIPOC to be seen as more than one dimensional, but if that were the case I feel the author could’ve done a better job of conveying that throughout the course of the story opposed to simply reproducing the age old racist trope of the 1 dimensional Black character amidst a strong cast of complex white characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Stalking

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

themdash'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

4.0

Dear god please check the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

jesserbessers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Rape, Violence, and Blood

cursedepub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

A thrilling and socially-grounded horror in the vein of Ira Levin and Shirley Jackson that balances paying due respect to “women’s work,” especially homemaking, and crafting a brutal, violent, gripping horror story. I appreciate the attention paid to intersections of race and class in the story’s feminism. However, this doesn’t quite make a 4-star rating as I felt there was an over-belabouring and repetition of some points, the sort of ennui and lack of fulfillment in being a housewife that Patricia experiences isn't really explored, and the novel did not feel as cohesive and polished as it could have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infidelity

geissgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Dementia, and Murder

hellsbails_98's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

rubiecore's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i honestly almost completely gave up on this in the first 30-40% but then i had to ask myself, am i annoyed bc it's genuinely bad or bc that's how the author wants you to feel? there were so many moments where i was annoyed, mostly with the male characters but also with the book club. i didn't love them as much as everyone else did. like, i understand them and their struggles sure, but they're still white women and the only reason the vampire was slayed was bc a black woman and her community suffered first. that is mentioned and acknowledged by them in the story but it bothered me to no end. this was something i had to sit with for a little bit to really reel in my thoughts on because, yes although they are white women and they allowed a black community to suffer in their place, they still experienced misogyny at the hands of their husbands and the expectations set forth for them, they are not the villains here, obviously, but it still annoyed me a little bit.

the men were all horrible, obviously, but carter's specific insistence to medicate everyone in his family the second anything is actually wrong with them is so goddamn annoying.

i started enjoying this a lot more after the time skip once everything came together and there was more actual "horror" involved lmao. and maybe this is me being petty, but i'm shaving a little off the rating and making it a 3.75 bc there was something that i think should have happened at the end that Didn't.

overall though, i enjoyed hendrix's writing and tandem read this along with the audiobook and enjoyed the way the narrator really brought all of the characters to life. i think reading the author's note beforehand is especially important to understand why the characters are written the way they are. and i would also reccommend checking the trigger warnings bc i did Not and had to take a break after That happened to one of the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, and Suicide attempt