Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

100 reviews

britrcup's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ugh1ife's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.25

This book was a ride! First thing to know, these women are SOUTHERN. I was cringing a lot at the blatant classicism/racism/misogyny/etc. But the book did a decent job at criticizing it. AND BOY does the black community get the short end of the stick. Also, this book does kind of fall into the trope of having a black character (Mrs. Greene) do the brunt of the work especially in the aftermath. She also has to be the one to point out the obvious instances of prejudice which the other characters acknowledge in the moment but don’t really do anything about it?

At the end they admit that the black community was hurt the most but it’s in passing. And then that’s it. Like I think it’s meant to reflect that these characters are prejudiced and stuff, as a lot of rich suburb southerners are. There is also graphic violence depicted against black characters and straight up racism. So, this particular aspect fell short for me. Also, I am not black so I can only say the issues that I found with it

All the characters are extremely flawed, and so much of it had me furious (especially the husbands). It was also a deep dive into what being a “housewife” is really like and the learned helplessness of these women who have/had accepted their roles. I really think this book is for the parents: it does a great job at detailing the common worries that parents experience and their short comings. 

A short summary of the book?: a group of southern ladies form a book club that follows true crime novels. Patricia, a typical housewife in a strained marriage, befriends a newcomer to their tight night community. However, she begins to notice strange things happening and becomes increasingly convinced that their little home is in danger. 

The sexual content was a bit hard to get through, but I understand why it was there so I don’t really fault the book on it. Just be warned! 

SO SO SO MANY TRIGGER WARNINGS. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Classism

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, and Pregnancy

mr_cain's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

Good plot, but the gratuitous rape and violence was not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Dementia, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

soyboi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

Like having your teeth pulled out by barbed wire, but they're really polite about it. There is a very scary vampire, but, you know how all good horror is about the unnatural threat AND the real ones? There's more dread in a cocktail party with friendly acquaintances than in most of the scenes with, you know, vampirism. The book juggles its time and place, both as a setting dripping with dread and with a comfortable, sympathetic gentleness that never actually lets anybody off the hook (though Mrs. Green is really much too forgiving in the last act). Does a really interesting job with being horribly physical about the most mundane and most otherworldly manifestations of gore alike. 

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Content Warnings

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

I liked this book, but it's billed as more horror comedy, and I do want to be clear, the horrible parts are gonna hit.

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

If this book was 50 or 75 pages shorter, I would have enjoyed it more. There was a lot of background development that didn't really propel the plot forward. Similarly to other Hendrix books I've read, he does a great job at building a world and cast of characters around the protagonist. However, it felt like a little too much to keep track of and muddied the focus of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death

georgiashakey's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Vomit

catmech's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I have to review this book now (right after I've finished) so I don't let the book get to me too much. Listen. I liked most of the book. The beginning of the book. But also!!!! This book has made me remember that I should probably check trigger warnings because I read stuff I don't know that much about!!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha that sure was fun to read last night when I wanted to read and unwind a little. That was. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Anyways I am so tired of

rape being used to demean women. I guess it's how vampires spread their vampire-ness but I am tired. It was so unnecessary and it took me right out of the book. Also, I absolutely hate seeing rape in media. This is a me problem but still

. I think books about women that are written by men should always be looked at a little more critically but sigh. I don't know. I'm very tired. The vampire was not even fun in this book. He just sucked. Also I totally got gaslit by him and that wasn't fun. Also, the

husbands becoming evil and not caring for their wives at all after James Harris was just. Cool. Would have been nice if we still cared about them a little bit!!! Whatever!!!

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit

angelsfw's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism