Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

135 reviews

kendralyris's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

I thought this book might be bad at about 30%. By 50% I was sure it was bad. I was shocked at 75% when it somehow got worse.  The characters are flat and emotionless.

 The main character, a housewife with no personality, and an emotionally abusive husband, befriends what she later find out is a “vampire” but the kind that is a moth I guess since it has a proboscis of all the stupid shit. When she tries to fix it, she is thwarted by toxic masculinity in the form of every single man in town and she makes a suicide attempt. Rather than spend any time with the internal emotional world of this doomed character, the author decides to skip ahead, and in the last 20% of the book attempts to bootstrap some weird sexual tension between this monster and the main character. Don’t worry though, he didn’t forget to include rape! Nor did he forget to include an absolutely plot-point scene where the main character sees her high-school student daughter naked with the vampire. Oh, and one of the characters is obsessed with Nazis. No one has any personality or interests except the one kid who likes to read about nazis. 

And I wouldn’t be that mad except that the author decided to include a preface to his book going into his process and how he essentially wrote it to honor his own southern stay at home mom, whom he had apparently ignored when he was a child, shocked as he got older that she was a real person. 

This book is terrible. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Gore, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Classism, Dementia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Sexual content

spikytortoise's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

mushymargo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Lots of gross details you can tell it’s a man writing women. Lots of unnecessary naked women with WAY too many details and the sexualization of a minor

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Blood, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

anabak's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.5

A reflection of southern women and their desire to be domesticated. Some of the scenes were quite vivid and shocking like there’s a rape scene. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Rape

justmys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

lilybarna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very interesting story, I just felt like some of the horror was rooted in s*x in a way that didn’t add to the story for me. I know Dracula is heavily based in undermining women and upholding old stereotype, but it took me out of the story sometimes. Had me rooting for those ladies tho! Also interesting to think about how long it actually took them to tell this whole story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content

pinto_los_flores's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really appreciated how the author touched on very relevant and problematic social issues through the lens of vampires (Gender roles, socioeconomic structures, biases, elitism, racism, sexism, assault, infidelity, greed). Despite this, I laughed out loud multiple times and empathized with the characters during their struggles. They were very real and very lovable, even if they suck sometimes. Ha. Get it?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Gore, Child abuse, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Alcohol

cmonique5's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Suicide, Sexual violence, Body horror, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Rape

jordanereuer's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, and Body horror

ahave10's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death