Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

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

213 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

There is a small spoiler regarding a early plot point in this review.

 

TLDR; I’m not really into horror or thrillers so take my review with a grain of salt. Improbable plot device, flat characters, little humour. Just enough interest to keep reading, though I was thinking of dnfing at the 60% point out of frustration. 

 

Mr Hendrix tells the story as a third person narrator from the pov of the female main character. Thus we know almost nothing about the other characters, particularly the male ones. We learn almost nothing about the past of the fmc. Descriptions of places and things are also light. On the other hand the book felt too long to me, I was almost skimming when I got 60% to 80% in. 

 

I have a few complaints about the novel but I’m keeping it to three. 

 

One; If you come home from work one evening and find your elderly female neighbour is viscously attacking your spouse. In fact the neighbour has bitten your spouse’s earlobe off. When your spouse starts voicing suspicions about that neighbour’s great nephew newly arrived to take care of his now deceased great aunt do you ignore your spouse and form a friendship and business partnership with the nephew? Or do you encourage the local police to keep an eye on him and keep him out of your house away from your spouse and children?

Do your suspicions lessen or increase when a rat army invades your nice home and kills your mother? 

 

 

Secondly why is every male in this book either non-existent or a jerk? Yes, I do complain when author’s female characters are poorly drawn. This book has the opposite problem and I’m not happy about that either. 

 

Finally, there was  humour in the first 11 chapters.. The humour disappeared with the rats in chapter 12 and never returned. (Do not read chapter 12 if you have musophobia.) While I wasn’t expecting a Christopher Moore style novel the humour of the first chapters did help to humanise characters some.

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Content Warnings

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

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

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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

andarnauren's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

marissagero's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

It started out fun, then got super dark and I rushed to finish it just so I could know how it all turned out. My main question is wtf are we supposed to make of the unquestioned Nazi fascination of it all? 

Please check the content warnings on this. I wish I had known them ahead of time.

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Content Warnings

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

fatvampcat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

victoriamark's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tomasalbanez's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

This was quite a surprising book for me, in many ways. Previously I've loved How to Sell a Haunted House and did not like Final Girls Support Group so, this was supposed to be in tie breaker. I find myself in the middle. I think this book had a great atmosphere for a book that brings horror into suburbia. I did not love how Mrs. Greene was more of a secondary character and would have loved for her to be the main character here (especially since she ends up doing most of the work herself). I did like the discussion on race and privilege, but there could have been some more action in giving Mrs. Greene more agency than she had, instead of making her to passive until Patricia finally decided to do something. 
Overall a good book for the fall season but be prepared for really horrific scenes dealing with abuse (of all kinds), vermin, gore, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

snowhite197's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Forced institutionalization