Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

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

27 reviews

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Dementia

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

katrinasherise's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

huldasif's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is kind of like The Stepford Wives meets Salem's Lot meets Fried Green Tomatoes, but it was funnier.  The first chapter was hilarious in fact. I was laughing my head off, it was so funny. I was a little disappointed the book didn't continue on like that, but the book was still good. It became less funny as the horror built up, naturally. It would have been too much of a reprieve and taken away the suspense if it had kept on being so funny I guess. Plus, it just doesn't do to be laughing while children are dying on the next page. It was more creepy than scary though. The husbands were just as creepy as the vampire actually, which I thought was pretty clever of the author. I almost wanted to do them off too, they made me so mad. I'll definitely be reading My Best Friend's Exorcism too! But I sure hope Grady Hendrix writes a comedy if she hasn't already, because she is the funniest writer I ever came across. That first chapter was the best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Hate crime and Infidelity

pumpkinbisque's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

i support women’s wrongs!!!!!!!

seriously though this book was so fun i loved it <3 looked up the author and was literally shocked to see that a man wrote it so uh congrats mr. hendrix this was a well-written book from the perspective of a woman. would recommend to horror fans and those who are tired of seeing “women’s work” devalued.

ps fuck all the husbands except horse i <3 horse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

eat shit carter

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

This book is INTENSE. Kinda hit all of the trigger warnings on the way down. I was surprised how much I liked the author's characterization of the women, though.

But damn, I was so ready for Patricia's husband to bite the dust. He was on my last nerve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

trippalli's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective fast-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

4.0

A good solid monsters story, feminist and yet also gruesome

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ruthmoog's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

This gave me chills. Once I was invested I whizzed through the story, whisked up by the relentless challenge to overcome the vampiric.

The group use their women's work skills to fight, but this was a bit cliché for me - and you could play content warning bingo with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Car accident

Nazism

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Like having your teeth pulled out by barbed wire, but they're really polite about it. There is a very scary vampire, but, you know how all good horror is about the unnatural threat AND the real ones? There's more dread in a cocktail party with friendly acquaintances than in most of the scenes with, you know, vampirism. The book juggles its time and place, both as a setting dripping with dread and with a comfortable, sympathetic gentleness that never actually lets anybody off the hook (though Mrs. Green is really much too forgiving in the last act). Does a really interesting job with being horribly physical about the most mundane and most otherworldly manifestations of gore alike. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I liked this book, but it's billed as more horror comedy, and I do want to be clear, the horrible parts are gonna hit.

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 

“The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires” is about how a small-town white community reacts when faced with a threat from the outside. How much can one sacrifice for safety and prosperity and who pays for those sacrifices? Who- and what- is worth protecting? How culpable is the one who watches and does nothing? 

This is a book that features deeply human, but nuanced, female characters. The female characters have rich inner lives and personalities even when operating within the social norms of their small Southern town.  This is an nuanced, layered exploration of womanhood- particularly how white womanhood is affected by white privilege. People dismissing the characters as "doormats" have clearly ignored the parts of the book that scream that they are choosing prosperity and security over the lives of Black children, which is easily one of the most realistic parts of the book.   The author is a man, but his mother inspired him to write this book, and it truly shows. I wish more female characters were written with this flawed complexity. I also really felt the author did a good job building and releasing tension. 

Also. Y'all need to get better at adding tags. We get graphic second hand accounts of both sexual assault and racism (a man was literally LYNCHED) and half of y'all only tag the sexual assault?? I think that proves my point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism and Animal death

hayleyvharrington's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty