Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

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

84 reviews

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

cbbyles07's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

3.75

For someone that has never read adult horror before this is a great book to try-out the genre.  The ending was a bit gory and there were a few parts with creepy crawlers that made my skin crawl, but other than that this book was entertaining and even funny quite a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

tmw1122's review against another edition

This book is full of very dark subject matter that doesn’t serve a purpose. The plot is very slow and bounces between extremely graphic scenes and unbelievably boring scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Rape, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Minor: Domestic abuse

clawrence345's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

It was a good book with an interesting take on a classic monster/trope. While there were a few plot points I wish had had more/less focus. What made the book interesting to read was mostly the character dynamics of the traditional southern housewife having to take the lead on a monster fight while also balancing the life and image she wants to maintain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Rape, Gore, Blood, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

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

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.

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

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

claresbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

3 out of 5 stars.

The more I'm thinking about it, the more this book just made me feel sad. Like, the horror was good but the real horror was the absolute level of gaslighting the main character had to endure from everyone around her.

The true monster of this book wasn't the vampire; it was the misogyny of almost all the characters.

Also, trigger warning for my next points because this book contains multiple r*pes.

Did not need a full description of the 17 year old whilst she was being assaulted. Nor was there a need for two separate descriptions of the other r*pe that happens in this book. There are ways of including distressing topics like these in books without doing so in graphic detail.

Definitely not one of Hendrix's better works...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

monarchbooks's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

This book finally taught me never to read a book without checking content warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Animal death, Gaslighting, Death, Body horror, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Addiction, and Child death

ilsota_77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Dementia, Gaslighting, Vomit, Addiction, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

kaceyjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This book was not for me. I should have just stopped reading it, but i struggle to ever do that, always hopeful it'll get better. There was just too much misogyny, too much white guilt, too many gorey details, and not enough interest for me. I appreciate the idea, but the execution was just not what I wanted out of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Gore, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Sexual violence