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Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
214 reviews
angorarabbit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Do your suspicions lessen or increase when a rat army invades your nice home and kills your mother?
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Medical content
Graphic rats.tiernanhunter's review against another edition
- 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
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
marissagero's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
sallysimply's review against another edition
3.0
Please check the content warnings on this. I wish I had known them ahead of time.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization
itselizabethclaire's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal cruelty
nzlisam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
45.
Patricia Campbell is a dutiful and sheltered housewife in a Southern small town in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Her one night of escapism is her monthly book club with four other housewives from her neighbourhood, where they drink wine, gossip, and discuss gruesome true and fictional crime reads. When James Harris moves to town, Patricia tries to be a welcoming and friendly neighbour, but from their first meeting there’s just something untrustworthy and off putting about him that she just can’t shake. And the more James inserts himself into her life, and those of her family and friends, the more uncomfortable Patricia feels. And children are changing…
An engaging, absorbing, riveting read. The prologue sucked me right in, and the references and tie-in to My Best Friend’s Exorcism has me even more excited to read that one. The author excelled at writing tense, nail-biting, claustrophobic, heart-pounding, nightmarish scenes. But then the next chapter would see me snorting out loud, which I was grateful for as it gave me a chance to calm down. The final showdown had me glued to the audio, and the ending was poignant and satisfying. The variation on the vampire myth was unique and different. It could’ve been a 5-star read, but unfortunately there were a couple of scenes that were too much for me (see next paragraph), although I understand why they were included as James was a vicious blood-sucking creature with zero humanity who relished exerting control and power over the main characters. I really warmed to Patricia and her friends, and their struggles to come to terms with the evil surrounding them, their setbacks, and struggles to remain loyal to one another. The novel was set mainly in the 90’s, although the first two chapters took place in 1988 explaining how the book club came to be. These characters submissiveness to their husbands and the misogyny of the men reminded me more of the 1950’s although I understand that there were pockets of the South like this in the 90’s and it worked well for this novel further isolating the women, and fuelling their fear that they wouldn’t be believed, and that there was no help to be found outside of one another.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires was something of an enigma. Because if you happened to sample the first couple of chapters on say Amazon, you could mistakenly buy it thinking it was going to be on the lighter side of horror because a lot of the novel was entertaining, fun, and amusing. Until it wasn’t. Things took a turn in the third chapter, we’re talking blood, gore, and mutilation. And it didn’t stop there. There was a chapter straight out of James Herbert’s first novel (true horror novel fans will get this reference and it was a cool tribute), and for those who are squeamish or phobic when it comes to cockroaches, spiders, or bugs in general, I advise you to give this book a wide berth. And there’s more. Around the 75% mark, the novel went in an even darker direction, and I now understand why some readers/reviewers gave up at this point.
I listened to most of the book via Libby and the narrator, Bahni Turpin, completely and utterly brought these characters to life. Bravo! For those who can get past the above trigger warnings I highly recommend The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires on audio. I am thrilled to have found a new horror author in Grady Hendrix.
Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty
tomasalbanez's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Racism
Minor: Drug use
carleesha_curtis's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Sexism, and Dementia
lilacvictim's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
e_gallego's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Jokes aside, this book inspires conflicted feelings for me. It is, to put it bluntly, a brutal book to get through while still being interesting. Someone else on here said: this is a fun and easy read, and to them I’d ask “what the fuck are you talking about?” The content warning list is about a mile long but the hardest scenes were definitely those portraying rape, domestic violence, pedophilia, and body horror. If you’re squeamish in any way about any of the above, or animals trying to crawl inside you, do not read lol.
A lot of people felt that the title was misleading as it 1) implied more than one vampire and 2) it gave the vibe of something much lighter than what it was. But you figure out pretty early in that the book is neither of those things, so that didn’t bother me.
Grady’s book is a very interesting and subversive take on the vampire. The vampire historically (especially Dracula) has signified a xenophobic threat to an Anglo Protestant society, a reverse colonialism in which a foreigner comes to your land and corrupts your society. And this is a running theme in the book that Grady hits often about middle class white families: they are so terrified of strangers, of those who don’t look like them, that they do everything they can to keep them out via gated communities and expensive country clubs. But the vampire, the predator, is not a stranger. He’s not a foreigner: he’s the guy who has solidified himself in your community as someone trusting, as someone of value. You trust him with you money, your house, your kids and all along, behind all those superficial characteristics that white middle class families care about (being white, being wealthy, having what they deem as appropriate manners) he’s a fucking monster that’s causing harm. And the truth about predators, despite what true crime and conservatives want you to believe—that it’s foreigners who will rape your women, take your children, and destroy your nuclear family and the fabric of society—they are actually people close to you. Uncles, fathers, priests, etc. Grady’s book thus is a subversion of the xenophobic vampire trope, turning it on its head to portray that predators are those in your so called safe communities and people will go to great lengths to protect them, especially if predators financially benefit others.
Grady does a good job imo providing nuance to all his characters. Our main lot is a group of middle class, white, house wives who on varying levels chafe with their allotment in life: as stay at home wives for unappreciative husbands and as mothers to difficult children. They all yearn for more stimulation in their own personal lives, which leads them to create a book club. Grady is never without sympathy to these women, most of whom are in abusive relationships with husbands who control every aspect of their lives from their bank accounts, to decisions in their lives, and some even being physically violent. Gaslighting is abound, especially for our protagonist, and it’s truthfully very painful to read, because it’s real. And yet, Grady is not apologetic for these women and their flaws: namely, the way their class and race has severe consequences for black working class people. It is, after all, the 90s in the South. At first, I was off put by Mrs. Greene’s introduction as I thought I came off a bit Mammy-ish but as the book progressed, and Mrs. Greene became a complicated character of her own, I realized that our first impression was not a reflection of Grady, but Patricia’s POV. With Patricia’s dawning realization of class and race (sorta), Mrs. Greene evolves as a full human. She isn’t simply the help; she’s a struggling mother as well, she’s a woman respected in her own community. Grady is scathingly honest about the white middle class and their insistence upon comfort and wealth for themselves—even if it means other marginalized people suffer directly by consequence. It is only until these women are directly affected that they then all urge themselves to do something, though that is a very reluctant thing because the predator targeting their children is also supplying their families with LOTS of money for housing development investments that was once a neighborhood for poor black people (what do vampires and landlords have in common? They are both blood sucking leeches!).
The climactic fight scene makes you scream in frustration at how clumsy the whole thing is. I get it, they are all housewives who have never had to do anything of the sort. But my GOD ladies can we think for a second?? If his spinal cord keeps regenerating why are we not either 1) continuously severing it or 2) lobbing off his head first??
I like that Mrs. Greene doesn’t forgive the women, despite them all coming together to help. In the end those women get to go back to comfortable homes with their children safe. Six Mile however has been destroyed for their greed, many black people forced to flee their homes; and so many black children are dead.
I don’t like that Slick died. I don’t find it did anything narratively for me.
I like that the vampire cannot be killed. That’s great; the monster shall always return, as monster theory states. And in the case of the vampire in this book, the threat of his predatoriness cannot ever be exterminated. Though there is only one of his kind, there are so much abusers in this world, and so many people who choose to protect them. The threat then shall always persist.
I HATE that nothing really bad happened to the husbands. Boo hoo you lost your money: how about you k*LL yourselves? Carter made me so mad that I was like “if he doesn’t get murdered or blow his brains out, I’m giving the book zero stars”. It’s whatever; he instead gets a divorce and Patricia is free of him. But all the other women return home to their loser piece of shit husbands, including Grace whose husband beat the shit out of her. I simply think they should all drink bleach for collectively abusing their wives :)
Grady approaches race semi well, but there’s a lot of strange things going on: where are all the husbands to these wives? Like where is Mr. Greene? Why are all the black mothers seemingly single mothers? That lowkey feels racist. Why are black men completely missing from the narrative beyond being nameless/faceless waiters, abused children, or aggressive teenagers? Grady gives personhood to Mrs. Greene when Patricia begins to see her as more than the help, but Mrs. Greene is kinda the only black person who is allowed to be a full character. Those teenagers, who are viewed as aggressive criminals by Kitty and Patricia, aren’t brought back for any sort of actualization. I get the book is about the violence against women, so it centers women, but it’s just bizarre how black men are completely missing from the narrative. Grady has a lot to say about gender race and class but that seems to disappear in regards to black men and boys.
Also. What the fuck was Blue’s obsession with Nazis about??? I know it’s supposed to say something, it’s not a small storyline and is constantly brought up in his character arc. Clearly he’s a troubled kid affected by his broken family and watching his mother be drugged by his father into submission, and is being groomed by a pedo, but I really know what specifically it is about the Nazis that was so enthralling to him. Like he was obsessed with them BEFORE Patricia tried to kill herself, before things started falling apart. I don’t have answers for that one.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting