Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

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

381 reviews

brie__774's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

This book is marketed and presented as if it will be a dark comedy about women in a book club taking down vampires.

Instead it is super dark, they aren’t even really friends, they don’t do a lot of vampire slayings (he’s not even a vampire?), they don’t  protect anybody, and it should have a lot of trigger warnings. 

I thought it was going to be a more Stranger Things meets Pride and Prejudice and Zombies vibe and it was more like a Stephen King’s IT vibe.

It’s a book you need to be prepared to read and I was not prepared. 

Not my thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Dementia

lunarcat101's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kelkelkelkelly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

As delightful as a horror novel gets. Interesting characters, gripping plot, subtext of patriarchy being the real monster. Lots of graphic, dark horror with some fun and absurdity thrown in at the right moments. A good time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Suicide

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked this book, but I think my hopes were a bit too high given all the hype surrounding this book. It’s also a lot darker than I had anticipated. The hardest parts of this book are all about the awful things people do to each other. It can be so much worse than anything a monster could do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

chipstarlow's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death, Rape, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gore, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Forced institutionalization

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pedophilia

turrean's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.0

A terrifying, thrilling read. There are horror scenes aplenty, but the author also shows us a devastatingly accurate—and equally horrifying—depiction of how sexism and racism distort everything in our society. Some of the most chilling parts of the narrative deal with “real world” societal issues: the men in the story belittle and demean the women they (supposedly) love, and in the process, nearly destroy themselves and their community; doctors, police officers, other town authorities, and plenty of “good” Christian folks are utterly indifferent to a threat to black children. 

I rolled my eyes every time the author referred to a brassiere instead of a bra. Is that a male author thing? Or is that a southern thing?  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kouran94's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

Minor: Terminal illness

megandavis768's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Sexism

sannesbooks'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a really enjoyable read. It was easy to read and fast to get through. The book started kinda slow, but once you are halfway you can't stop reading. I appreciated the time jumps in between. I think this was a good way to make the pacing right.

I liked the characters in this book. My only complaint is that the women in the bookclub had kind of the same personalities. This made it sometimes hard to follow, and you will mix up characters. 

I loved the depiction of womenhood / friendship. It was frustrating to read about the sexism and misogyny, but I think it is realistic for that time period and it calls for reflection. It was interesting to see how different characters responded to injustice and misogyny. I also appreciated the description of rich vs poor neighbourhood and white vs colored people, discrimination that is still happening today. I enjoyed to see how the characters reacted to the differences in treatment. 

Patricia's son, Blue, had an obsession with Nazis. I kinda think it is weird to include that because it didn't do anything for the storyline. I thought and wished this was a set up for something bigger but it wasn't and therefore I think this is an unnessecary 'story line'. I think the writer just want to add something to make the kid seem creepy but at the end of the book he portrait as creepy, so there was basically no point.

Another thing that was, in my opinion, only included for shock value was the thigh blood sucking. The vampire only drank blood from the inner thighs of people. In the book, it also clearly states that this blood sucking makes its victims sexually aroused. Also, the victims were naked during this for no reason. Unnessecary in my opinion, especially because his victims were minors! There was also no explaination for why it should have to be done this way, so I think it was just unnessecary.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and War