Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Guía del club de lectura para matar vampiros by Grady Hendrix

645 reviews

wedgehut's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

3.0

I wanted to like this book, but it took a very dark turn near the end that I was not expecting. Most of the book follows the main character, a SC housewife in the 1990s, while she juggles her family and social life as a mysterious outside evil threatens their community.

While the book has darker themes such as death, there wasn't a lot of gore detailed until near the end.

I also disliked that the only black main character is used as a magical fix-it for the white characters lives. There is a rape scene that thankfully does not go into great detail, but it didn't seem to fit the mood of the rest of the book. There are multiple child suicides throughout and a sexual vampire scene with a teenager.

This had such a dark comedy feel until it all of a sudden did not. Not saying to avoid it, but I went in expecting to read about a group of middle-aged women fighting vampires and I left feeling awful for all the characters and how their lives turned out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault

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

nico_29's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

cinnamonroll42's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Suicide attempt

thebookwormclub's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Incredibly violent. If I had known prior to picking this up how violent it was going to be I wouldn't have gotten it. I'm not a squeamish person, but this book made me very uncomfortable 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

madisus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail