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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
molly_greenshields's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Death of parent
arcticdryas's review against another edition
Patricia, oblivious and incompetent. One scene you’re beat over the head with all the signs of how they should be wary of the newcomer in front of him and no one even glances nervously or acknowledges it.
Kid is randomly obsessed with nazis for no apparent reason and it’s… persistent.
Lots of showing how sexism and classism and racism in the south in this era could have been, but it did feel more like 50’s or 60’s than 90’s - and again, kind of beat over the head with it (mc experiences something and then on-the-nose ruminates but doesn’t reallyyyy change).
If you’re looking for a book to open up discussion about those topics, along with sexual predation (especially of children, potentially grooming), then this could be good for that. There is explicit rape and graphic deaths, but it was sooo slow paced after the first 30ish % that it felt less and less like a horror and more like a slow thriller based around a woman’s dismantling of her beliefs - that she doesn’t act on very much (as far as I read).
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
cravebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
this is the second book i’ve read by him and i only forced myself to finish it because, ironically enough, it was for a book club. this book was graphic and gory purely for shock value and had no real explanation for why Harris was the way he was which made all of his inane actions seem cheap, disgusting, and just highly implausible.
this is obviously supposed to be an allegory for how women feel sucked dry in their mundane housewife lives by their husbands and their wifely duties, but my god you didn’t have to punch me in the face with it.
also…what the hell is this dude’s obsession with pubic hair???
i have never felt so unsettled and disgusted after finishing a book, and it wasn’t even worth it because it was just all for shock value to get a reaction out of the reader.
Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Racism
sydneynorman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Classism
nolawords's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
The Southern women, the friendship, the gore / ick, the mystery-building, the book club (!) - it all fit so seamlessly together to create a narrative I have not encountered before. This felt like Fried Green Tomatoes with a large swig of dark supernatural evil afoot. While not usually a horror fan, I thought Hendrix balanced well the overarching plot, punctuated by these fabulously horrific and visceral scenes. I found the writing terrific and the characters well-developed.
Quickly adding more of Hendrix's works to my TBR...
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity, Racism, and Sexism
krows_ink'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
4.75
This book had me saying “oh hell no” as I listened and did the dishes. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, did a phenomenal job. Truly made the book come to life.
My only complaints really come from me not reading the content warnings and some minor things.
On the topic of rape and CSA: I think that it did its job at making the reader uncomfortable. I do think the book could have benefitted from a sensitivity reader because a few lines were just off for me and sat wrong. That being said I don’t think it was anything too bad. Books about these topics and featuring these topics shouldn’t be banned by any means nor should we enforce a purity culture around topics that make us uncomfortable.
I do with that Mrs Green has been a more prominent character and that we had seen more of her and from her perspective. I also wish that the ending had a little more context, although it wasn’t bad by any means. Overall this was a great book but due to the content warnings I would advise people to read them before reading.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Miscarriage
brie__774's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
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
melissamoore422's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Racism, Rape, and Dementia