Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

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

43 reviews

bingo_banjo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Dementia, Rape, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Murder, Gore, Child death, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, and War

snovella's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt

huldasif's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

This book is kind of like The Stepford Wives meets Salem's Lot meets Fried Green Tomatoes, but it was funnier.  The first chapter was hilarious in fact. I was laughing my head off, it was so funny. I was a little disappointed the book didn't continue on like that, but the book was still good. It became less funny as the horror built up, naturally. It would have been too much of a reprieve and taken away the suspense if it had kept on being so funny I guess. Plus, it just doesn't do to be laughing while children are dying on the next page. It was more creepy than scary though. The husbands were just as creepy as the vampire actually, which I thought was pretty clever of the author. I almost wanted to do them off too, they made me so mad. I'll definitely be reading My Best Friend's Exorcism too! But I sure hope Grady Hendrix writes a comedy if she hasn't already, because she is the funniest writer I ever came across. That first chapter was the best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Death, Gore, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Animal death, Drug use, Excrement, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime and Infidelity

rachelunabridged's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

So excited to finally find a Grady Hendrix book that worked for me! I had such a fun time with this read. As someone born and raised in the south, I feel like I've met every single one of the women in this story (and their husbands, unfortunately) before so I thought the characterization was hilariously on point in a lot of ways. I also really liked what Hendrix did with the social commentary in this book. There was a lot of subtle domestic abuse + subtle racism in this story that I thought was very well handled + offered a very nuanced look at these issues + how insidious they can be. Toward the end, I felt like he got kind of ham-fisted with his portrayal of the antagonist, which is one of my biggest complaints about this author; however, it wasn't as distracting in this book as in some of his others so I was able to more or less shrug it off.
All told I really, really enjoyed this read + the narration in the audiobook was fantastic! Would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Death, Gore, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Infidelity

nialiversuch'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Classism, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Drug use

greatexpectations77's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is INTENSE. Kinda hit all of the trigger warnings on the way down. I was surprised how much I liked the author's characterization of the women, though.

But damn, I was so ready for Patricia's husband to bite the dust. He was on my last nerve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Dementia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Bullying, Pregnancy, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Body shaming, Confinement, Excrement, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, and Drug use

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

reb_curt's review

Characters clearly written by someone who doesn't understand women. That and  

I couldn't take the out of nowhere child obsession with Nazis and White Supremacy groups and flashbacks of lynchings..just couldn't do it.

First DNF in a few years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Torture, Stalking, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Violence, Slavery, Hate crime, Gore, Emotional abuse, Classism, Religious bigotry, Child death, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Dementia, and Colonisation

notsogreen's review

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexism, Suicide, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Blood, Pedophilia, Death, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness

alloftaysreads's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship