Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
105 reviews
nicoleme1212'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
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Rape, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Classism, Body horror, Child death, and Child abuse
lira_the_recluse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
There are many morbid and grotesque scenes, many with a plethora of content warnings.
I did not feel great about the climax of the book, and how much death it took to get all the white women to band together. I also don't like how the initial part of the book came off as very white savior, but I guess the book is about the flaws of the main characters and how they are finally driven to fight the vampire.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Rape, Dementia, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Adult/minor relationship
apestforwrens'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
3.75
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.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Vomit, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dementia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, and Drug abuse
hdzigurski's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Gore, Rape, and Toxic relationship
mels_reading_log'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
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse
rachelmerrie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
-What was the point of the son’s personality traits? Nothing came of it.
-The “friendships” between these women were surface level and them coming together in the end gave me zero comfort in their “unbreakable bond”. These women sucked just as much as the men did.
-Why did the children randomly choose to live with the mom after hating her the entire book?
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Self harm, Classism, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide, and Torture
2haileyyb's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Spoiler
I also didn’t like slicks sexual assault like why in order to transform people it has to be like that, just for it to end up killing her bffr. Also the description of his “fangs” or whatever had my kinda confused cause it like retracts and then he sucks for the leg? Idk again weird yet fascinatingGraphic: Child death, Grief, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Misogyny, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Rape, and Sexual assault
asperomari's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I’m not gonna say it’s bad because it wasn’t, but it was definitely underwhelming. The story had so much potential but it fell flat because for most of the book NOTHING HAPPENED.
By far the most infuriating thing about this book is the incredibly stupid actions of the book club members. You’re telling me that this group of women who spend their free time reading true crime and are very knowledgeable about the psychology and behaviour of serial killers are just going to completely disregard all that knowledge when they’re faced with one? Even going as far as comparing him to Ted Bundy then going, ‘Nah, I’m just gonna ignore this.’
As someone who went through a phase of loving true crime themself, if that man was my neighbour, I’d move.
Graphic: Dementia, Gaslighting, Body horror, Rape, Blood, Gore, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexism, and Racism
there is a graphically detailed scene in which two people and a dog are attacked by a swarm of rats, it is incredibly graphic and disturbing. There is also a scene in which a cockroach crawls inside a person’s ear while they’re hiding and unable to move, once they can move they cannot pull the cockroach out so they kill it inside their ear.bumblebree1903's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
The book moving from a more lighthearted and occasionally comedic tone at the beginning before moving into the darker contents of the story was done so well. The shift was well executed and prose that once had ny laughing and smiling soon had me on the edge of me seat with anxiety and dread. Such a wonderful picture of emotions and conflict was painted and so much of it felt like something myself or my fem presenting friends would talk about struggling with.
The nuance and care in telling a story about sexism and racism in the 80’s-90’s and the deep south was appreciated. While I myself am white and can’t speak for the experience of POC reading this book, the angle on sexism and women’s struggles in that was very well done. It felt like each character face and struggled with societies poor views on women in their own way. While I wish we had seen more of the other women than just our leading lady Patricia, each one felt like nuance and care had been put into her character. I specifically remember telling my friends and praising how well the author captured what it feels like to be talked down to and condescended by men in your life. Every bit resonated with me and I cannot praise the author enough for managing to capture the experience.
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Rape, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Dementia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Medical content and Child death
Minor: Domestic abuse
mrskatebeach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, and Violence