Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

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

24 reviews

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming

judassilver's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Murder

ursimae's review against another edition

This book is a 1.5/5 stars.

The premise is sounds so good, but the execution was terrible. It's so bad that I dont think I'll even try reading another book by this author.
It's laughable that this book was supposedly written as like a love letter to his mom considering what happens in it.

Sorry for the rant, but I can't with this book.
Let me list out a few of the transgressions:

• Weak writing. Outside of the horror scenes, the prose felt sloppy.
• So many racist stereotypes. The only reoccurring black character is given the "mammy" role. The next mention of other POC are shown as servants to the rich white people of the town during parties. From there, the stereotypes just continue. At points, it seemed like Grady was opening good dialogue on how racism impacts black communities in regards to their valid concerns being downplayed and ignored. However, he kept dropping the ball with it. It's like he placed the talking point in front of us then swept it aside before we could fully digest it and have a meaningful talk.
• Why the hell does the son love Nazis? The kid is obsessed and idolizes them. It literally plays no part in the story. Why'd you add that Grady? It wasn't necessary. Why you keep bringing up Nazis. Also, why was the MC totally cool about it? Huh? Grady, why was everyone okay with Nazis? It wasn't plot relevant.
• SO MUCH GASLIGHTING. Omfg, it made me want to rip out my hair. 
• Hey, Grady...why did you write about the MC gaining 11 lbs as if she gained 200????? You just threw that part in there for what?
• Hey Grady... What's with the graphic retelling of a rape scene? Why?
• Hey.... Grady... Why did you have to include so many child sexual assault scenes... Story would've been totally cool without that. Really wasn't necessary.
• The MC attempts suicide and its treated by everyone (even the MC) like some petty "fuck you" to her husband.
• Also, there's just a lot of domestic abuse.
• I was 64% through when I DNFed and literally, never once was there a part about women becoming empowered and badass, taking on vampires. It was just 7+ hours (audiobook listener here) of a woman being severely abused.
• Not one character is likeable.
• All the other women in this book are just misogynistic stereotypes. None of them have any actual depth of character and feel very flat.
• The biggest horror wasn't the vampire stuff, but the husband, omfg they were the real villains.
• apparently at the end, she only gets a divorce from this dude... I feel like she should get to kill her husband for the shit he did to her. Also, none of the other women get to fix their abusive relationships?

There is probably more than I could say, but I've ranted about this long enough.
There is very important commentary to be had with the topics of this book that would be awesome to explore further, but it only comes across as 400+ pages of women being repeatedly abused, racist, sexist, and outright terrible characters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This book made me so uncomfortable at points because the writing is very visceral.  The fact that there is a time jump made everything so much worse.

I’m glad that I read it because I was interested in reading a few books by this author but I don’t think they will be for me after all.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.75

This is a book full of tediously bland and aggravating characters. All members of the book club turn on each other the second someone perceived better disagrees with them. Especially if it is the husbands. The only reason the book club experiences any success against the vampire is because of Mrs. Greene who embodies the 'magical negro' trope. She is also the only person of color who is a part of the story. You see a few younger people, embodying a gang type behavior in Mrs. Greene's home community. You see a mother of one of the victims immediately lose her child- because she is a Person of Color and her daughter has what turns out to be a telltale mark on her inner thigh. Other POC characters are all victims that died via suicide, save for the one that was presumably murdered due to an interrupted feeding.
Patricia's son spends the majority of the book unhealthily attached to WW2 and Nazism. All he talks about prior to

his mother's suicide attempt

is Hitler and Nietzsche. 
There are 2 notably gory scenes. One involves rats and features dog vs rats violence and also rats snapping at the two people involved like a stereotypical school of piranha. I was not at all pleased to read about the snapping of necks and chunks taken out. The other gory scene is at the end of the book and I won't spoil it. If you can handle the rat scene you will be able to handle this scene too. It is slightly more 'meat processing' than medical. One other scene that is a bit intense is

Slick

recounting her SA by way of the antagonist. 
I did not appreciate how the majority of the victims were children, especially at the reveal that the bite creates a sexual euphoria that leads to addiction. This is described in detail for two characters, one who is an adult and the other who is in their late teens or early twenties. 
Just about all the male characters embodied stereotypes and were as present in the story as they were in their kids' lives. They either drank, beat their wives, had an abusive amount of control over their wives, or gaslit the ever-loving joy out of their wives. 
The book club are all fair-weather friends. The husbands band together to gaslight and call Patricia crazy and despite the proof they had in their hands at the time, all of the rest of the book club agree. Then at the end while four are struggling in the fight against evil one of the others shows up like she is the saving grace, despite doing next to nothing to help for the entire book. By the end all the surviving book club members seem to still be meeting up as if all were normal. There was small implication that something is going on with the dog, Patricia, and her daughter but it may have been meant as a 'some wounds never heal' kind of thing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Rape, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Several characters are stated to have committed suicide in minor detail. One character attempts, also in minor detail.

apestforwrens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

Grady Hendrix always makes you think with his writing. Sometimes that thought is " I wouldn't have made that narrative decision" and sometimes that thought is "this is a super creative take on the vampire story".
Hendrix is fantastic at pulling you into his main character's head and forcing you to see why they are reacting to their situation the way they are. This is a horror book and contains some potentially upsetting stuff. I'd definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings before starting if you're worried about that.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fatphobia

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Will fully review after thinking on it. But MAN the men in this book are insufferable!

TW: Sexual assault, death, torture (kinda),  gore

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, and Racism

leahkarge's review against another edition

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mrsjoellebell's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexism, Blood, Dementia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization

greatexpectations77'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? 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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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