Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

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

68 reviews

thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

The book was good. 
The main reason I am giving this book a 3.5 instead of a 4 is because the majority of the action took place in the last 1/4th of the book. I wish that there was more action in the first 3/4ths. Other than that this was a really good book. 
As always Hendrix is great at pissing me off with the assholes he writes in his stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Dementia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

madelinekramer2021's review against another edition

challenging mysterious fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

hea2109's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

I loved how this book used a dark, horror theme to discuss and portray the strength of seemingly “weak” women, especially in numbers. This book really focuses on the power of community and having each other’s backs, even when it goes against the status quo or is inconvenient. I tore through it in less than a week. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Police brutality

megmonahan's review against another edition

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

pclairx's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Cannibalism, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Stalking

venuscollective's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

2.5

This book was quite the roller coaster. I hated and really liked it for so many reasons.
The book follows Patricia, a boring and bored housewife who joins a book club and starts to spend her days reading murder mysteries and keeping her home in order. Still tired of the monotony of her life, she takes interest in one James Harris, a new mysterious neighbour. The closer James gets to her and her family, the more she realises he is not what he seems. Now she has to get rid of him.

This book has a really interesting plot and even though I had to take multiple breaks, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out completely. It's not very mysterious because they tell you everything as you go. But it did have quite tense scenes.
Patricia is a very bland character. She doesn't have very much personality but that's ignorable once you get into the thick of the story. One thing I can say about her though, is that she sticks to her beliefs for most of the book. Can't say the same for her friends who were pretty damn annoying and don't even get me started on her horrible children and husband. 

One thing I hate about the book is the near romantism of violence against women and girl children. Some of the sexual assault scenes almost read like they're supposed to sexy? Horrific definitely but also sexy. Which no. The way the women are spoken to and about ny the men also grated on my nerves so much I had to keep putting the book down. I know it's period-typical but God was it annoying. Maybe it's just me

I can also say with confidence that if you're a white woman you'll probably enjoy this book way more than I did.

P.S: I recommend finding playlists for this book to listen to as you read, if you're into that kind of thing

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6EQoLe7iHdurBEoVjpI8LH?si=WgBsLTt8S7qtnhi7OYqsyw&utm_source=copy-link

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LBIpICOlL54b7tiRzRBIL?si=U8SL7eSeTNKuVqYv7UK9Iw&utm_source=copy-link

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

sambashua's review against another edition

dark funny 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

hyac1nthgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

though the premise & story were entertaining, i can't get past the use of the black characters as props to carry the white savior complexes in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Blood, and Cannibalism

sunsetcity's review against another edition

challenging dark funny lighthearted 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

didireadthat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

Loved the premise of the book and couldn’t read through the end fast enough. I loved all the characters in the book. However, I did not like how the book jumped into the future. It was clear that the time laps was necessary later on, but when I got there I felt the story getting was long and I wanted to start seeing things progress a little faster (and it definitely did but I think just a little late).
I haven’t read a lot of horror so I think I missed out on a few references but the horror in the book was compelling. I definitely squirmed a few times and maybe the suspense of wanting to know the ending made me read through it so fast. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Dementia, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Excrement