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

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

537 reviews

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

Content Warnings

urmotherrr's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

This review is going to be filled with spoilers

So, honestly the title is kinda misleading. The book club fell apart halfway through, there was absolutely no guide for slaying vampires and there was only one vampire not vampires. And they only killed him in like the last few pages and no one even believed he was a vampire for most of the book.

The way the characters all didn’t believe Patricia was honestly super annoying and I hated her husband, I wish he died.

But the writing was very emotion provoking and it kept me hooked. Grady has an amazing talent of making you feel anxious for the characters. Yet, he does go off the deep end usually in the last view chapters

Overall it’s a good read and if you’re chill with paranormal stuff and gore then you’d enjoy it.

Content Warnings

blackbirdbibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Content Warnings

deshanejt's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book definitely has some dark themes that might not be for everyone's taste, but I absolutely devoured this book.

I loved it. It felt like a satirical horror and dark comedy. Hendrix put all the vibes of the 90s, good and bad into this story.

Picture the Goonies, meets Golden Girls & Designing Women, meets the Lost Boys.

Content Warnings

lipah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

sar_she_her's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings