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

5.0

this book was so amazing i have been telling everyone who will listen about it. i obviously read it bc i'm a vampire fan but i think i would've loved it just as much even if it weren't about vampires. it was the book club that interested me the most, and even though i was skeptical about the concept of a southern book club it was actually really interesting!! i love how heavily the author leans into all the issues of race, class, and gender that naturally come with a "southern book club" and i love how it sort of satirizes white insular suburban neighborhoods like these. i know there's a popular review on here about how it's bad representation that the black characters have shitty jobs and the women have shitty husbands but like...that's the point lol. neither of those things are a moral judgment of the characters and it's supposed to be a critique of the roles society boxes characters like these into, something i think the book did really really well! it completely subverts your expectations of what a suburban housewife "should" be, and he husbands pissed me off so much. my two issues are how the book kind of tried to defend maryellen's cop husband, but i think all the women's flaws give the book nuance and shows how even with the best intentions people are put into positions where they harm others, and the title, which sort of spoiled the reveal and also isn't super accurate about the whole slaying thing. above all, though, this book was so well-written, and it was also just a really interesting read! it's so easy to read i flew through the last 122 pages last night! highly highly highly recommend though be sure to check content warnings