Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

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

383 reviews

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a lot darker and sadder than I had expected, but I ate it up nonetheless. Very few books have made me feel as many emotions as this one did: joy, anger, sadness, disgust, fear, and empathy can all be felt through this story, just to name a few. The husbands made me want to bang my head against a wall!! Misogyny really was one of the horror elements. The gore went a bit overboard at times, but despite the strange mixture of emotions and clashing images, I'd highly recommend this book! The trigger warnings should not be taken lightly, though.

+ Bahni Turpin's narration was absolutely brilliant!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting

herelieshenry's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

3.5

This book is written very well, does a good job at establishing the atmosphere of dread and discomfort, and also got me invested enough that the conflict was often incredibly frustrating. I do think there is a lot of reasonable criticism of the way this book handles social issues; I have no problem with a book discussing social issues and trying to make a statement, so I don’t think it’s a problem that misogyny and racism are major factors at play in this book, but I do think they could have been handled better, particularly around it starting to tread into white savior territory (though I would call this story failed white saviorism more than anything because

of the conclusion wherein the white women only stop the vampire when he’s moved on to their own children, which I think could have been written more overtly critically too

). Ultimately, I get what Hendrix was trying to do, and the book is well-constructed, but it leaves something to be desired. I’m interested in how the TV adaptation will work with the material and hopefully improve upon it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Gentrification

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

annamorgan27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Blood, and Murder

hfayereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

caiterlenbachreads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

em_hudson03101's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book brought up a lot of conflicting emotions. The 1990’s southern housewife/ hospitality culture makes you want to pull your hair out, the conversations between the book club ladies had me chuckling to myself, but then there are true moments of suspense and unease.  
The whole premise of the book is silly; a vampire gets invited to a southern ladies book club, and they need to figure out how to get rid of him.  Hendrix’s writing sucks you right into the book, and next thing you know you’ve read 30/40 pages without realizing.  The writing can be graphic and gruesome at times, but overall I felt this to be a lighter read then anticipated due to prior reviews of the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism and Suicide

vagaybond's review against another edition

4.0

I really loved this book and the way that it specifically called out the cowardice of white parents and the misogyny within suburban households toward mothers. I wish Ms Greene was given more due credit, and also that we learned how the actual core book club folks fared after in terms of their book club itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity

ykpachavi's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail