Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Guía del club de lectura para matar vampiros by Grady Hendrix

99 reviews

deitradee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kaylin830's review against another edition

1.0

I was incredibly disappointed in this book. The beginning made it seem like we were going to be reading about badass mothers who don't take crap, who protect their children, who are afraid but are there for their kids when needed. Instead, we got spineless mothers who let their narcissistic asshat husbands walk all over them. The cherry on top is that it's only white women. I want a book about mothers of all races and backgrounds who want to bond over their love of books and the love of their children.

This book is set in the '90s. Tell me why these white women are terrified to go into a predominantly black neighborhood. Get a grip. You are there to talk to a specific person, not walk around willy-nilly. I don't even have words for how idiotic this is. You can not argue that the setting is the real world because the main villain is a vampire. That's fantasy, so make your world fit the prompt.

The biggest issue that I have with this book is not just that it's racist, but it is so disgustingly pedophilic. This vampire has a strict diet of black children. Hendrix could have made this because he feeds off of children to maintain his youth... except for the fact that his bite is "orgasmic". You're telling me that a book with MASSIVE racism, misleading summaries, and scenes of the vampire feeding off of children down by their genitalia, made it through a slew of revisions, editors, and publishers? This book is vile. I wish I had DNF'ed but I gave the book the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the mothers grow a backbone? Maybe they save the children out in Six Mile? Maybe just maybe they can defeat the vampire to save their town. Nope. Nada. You know the book is bad when the old senile woman is the most sane.

This book does not deserve to be sold out of my collection, it deserves to be thrown in a raging dumpster fire so that at least its death represents the contents.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

DO NOT READ SAVE YOURSELF

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

judassilver's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Murder

lilacvictim's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

telurin's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

I'm slowly realizing everything Grady Hendrix does is intense. It doesn't help that he's also southern and both books I've read of his are steeped in it. This book could have been set in my hometown. The little details pull sense memories from me from when I was a kid (it's set in the 90s). I dunno how a white man can write a housewife slowly feeling trapped by the patriarchy so good, but he does.

Tw: rape. 

The premise sounds like it's a group of women against the vampire. It's not. It's just the MC, the other ladies have abandoned her. The vampire is one of the weird buggy ones. 

The vampire has been using the femoral artery for access, which is fine, makes sense. Gets the point across that he's dangerous in that way too. But then one of the ladies threatened him and he retaliated with outright rape. It's tawdry and makes the whole point of using a vampire to talk about a smooth predator feel cheap. He (the author) also spent too much time detailing the victims body as the MC helped her get cleaned up. We went from the female characters being treated with dignity to meat in one sentence (like a plucked chicken) and I cannot fathom why it needed to be in there. I can see Why it happened from a watsonian sense but from a doyalist perspective it's shit and only serves to remind me the author is male and is using it as a needless short hand for what was already a good horror book. We're already aware the vampire is evil, We're already on the MCs side, what's the point of making the supernatural predator a human one too?

Book would have been a 4.5 if not for this. Do better next time, Hendrix. 

Edit: who TF thought this was FUNNY? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape

They end up dismembering the body of the vampire, and do not start with the head. They start at the elbows. The head is only removed after the limbs. He talks the entire time.

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

tiffany_bush's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

2.5

***May contain spoilers***
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This seemed more like a mystery or drama. The ladies of the book club were all shallow and gossipy. They were all quick to turn on each other and of course their husband's didn't believe them.  There were some areas were I thought the vampire parts were going to grow but fell short. I could have lived without ever reading this book. There was only 1 vampire not mulitple in this book. I can see how the vampire could be used as a symbolism of the true monster that people allow and trust in their lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

snslayer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Good but absolutely brutal to read as a woman. Perfectly captures white women at their worst and at their best and the lives we ruin along the way. I had to put it down for a bit in the middle because I was getting so worked up about the husbands. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

dailybaileyk's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the first few chapters of this book and I think this is an interesting and decently told story. I found myself skimming pages waiting for action to happen as a majority of the book is building/sitting in tension. It’s an interesting take on the vampire genre but I felt if you took the vampire part out of the book and replaced with an equally dangerous “normal human” male, you could have achieved the same effect, especially since the “supernatural elements” were few and far between. My anxiety was more directed towards the misogyny, racism, and the kids being kids. This also felt like a “gaslighting your wife 101” novel. I think this book did a phenomenal job illustrating the stress and struggles of a mom trying to navigate life and keep their family safe (even if the relationship with said family is horrible at best). This was less of a vampire hunting guide and more of a testament to make sure the men in your life should respect you.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism