Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

433 reviews

degitzlibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Rape

Minor: Physical abuse and Infidelity

transkidjulian's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

maegenll's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

0.25

Should have DNF it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Rape, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

andreanneveillette's review against another edition

1.5

Killing the dog in the last pages was uncalled for and didn’t do anything for the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Rape, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, and Body horror

fullybookedkatie's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Very anticlimatic ending tbh but such a compelling read and one I wont forget for a while. As a Southern female, I enjoyed a lot of the dialogue and small jokes too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity and Kidnapping

queerfucker's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

3.75

Southern ladies, a charming mysterious stranger, and missing kids with a new take on the vampire. 

This book feels like it’s aware of its privilege, but just misses the mark by having a middle aged white woman “saving” children of color from the rich white man instead of having the perspective more from Mrs Greene who seems the most aware ? I would’ve been interesting to hear Mrs Greene’s internal thoughts as a woman of color in south during the 90s.

I enjoy how Patricia and Grace are confronted with the fact they turned their backs on the murders until it threatened their own though. 

Overall a good scary story that builds up the dread perfectly in a way I rarely feel with books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Dementia, and Racism

Minor: Medical trauma

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

I can always rely on Grady Hendrix for a good time. I wouldn't say this was my favorite of his books, that crown still belongs to "How To Sell a Haunted House," but I still really enjoyed it. A fun southern gothic horror comedy that manages to squeeze in commentary on racism, sexism, who people choose to believe, and how easy it is for us to refuse to see what's right in front of us.

Additionally, I always love how he manages to put a twist either on the lore of the horror he’s tackling, or on the lens it’s filtered through. In this one, I love how he filtered it through the lens of the “true crime” genre. It was unexpected and fun for a vampire novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Misogyny, and Racism

wheelyautistic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I actually really enjoyed this book. The amount of times I had to put the book down because of how tense it showed just how good the writing is. 

I'm afraid I have to disagree with most of the negative reviews regarding the 3-year skip, where the main character is complacent. Many reviewers viewed it us difficult and unrealistic or annoying however they fail to realise that this book whilst it does have a vampire and the supernatural elements is far more about a serial killer and a murderer then a high energy vampire slashing book.  It feels realistic that no one would believe her or that she would become complacent and subdued because in reality any outburst could land her straight into an institute given the timing. The race aspects were necessary to indicate and portray a very real and common thing seen in real-life killers: that those deemed as less than are usually the ones killed and often their murders are overlooked. I think this book perfectly paralleled the real lids true crime books the characters read with a hind of supernatural influence to increase the severity and difficulty of the situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Stalking, Gore, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Animal death, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Cannibalism

Minor: Racism

darlingunknowing's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

1.0

Not a good book, very shallow characters with a un-nessacary, Rape plot point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Pregnancy, Self harm, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

su_uro's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Murder, Body horror, Gore, Child death, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt