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Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
43 reviews
melodyseestrees's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
2.75
This is a book full of tediously bland and aggravating characters. All members of the book club turn on each other the second someone perceived better disagrees with them. Especially if it is the husbands. The only reason the book club experiences any success against the vampire is because of Mrs. Greene who embodies the 'magical negro' trope. She is also the only person of color who is a part of the story. You see a few younger people, embodying a gang type behavior in Mrs. Greene's home community. You see a mother of one of the victims immediately lose her child- because she is a Person of Color and her daughter has what turns out to be a telltale mark on her inner thigh. Other POC characters are all victims that died via suicide, save for the one that was presumably murdered due to an interrupted feeding.
Patricia's son spends the majority of the book unhealthily attached to WW2 and Nazism. All he talks about prior tohis mother's suicide attempt is Hitler and Nietzsche.
There are 2 notably gory scenes. One involves rats and features dog vs rats violence and also rats snapping at the two people involved like a stereotypical school of piranha. I was not at all pleased to read about the snapping of necks and chunks taken out. The other gory scene is at the end of the book and I won't spoil it. If you can handle the rat scene you will be able to handle this scene too. It is slightly more 'meat processing' than medical. One other scene that is a bit intense isSlick recounting her SA by way of the antagonist.
I did not appreciate how the majority of the victims were children, especially at the reveal that the bite creates a sexual euphoria that leads to addiction. This is described in detail for two characters, one who is an adult and the other who is in their late teens or early twenties.
Just about all the male characters embodied stereotypes and were as present in the story as they were in their kids' lives. They either drank, beat their wives, had an abusive amount of control over their wives, or gaslit the ever-loving joy out of their wives.
The book club are all fair-weather friends. The husbands band together to gaslight and call Patricia crazy and despite the proof they had in their hands at the time, all of the rest of the book club agree. Then at the end while four are struggling in the fight against evil one of the others shows up like she is the saving grace, despite doing next to nothing to help for the entire book. By the end all the surviving book club members seem to still be meeting up as if all were normal. There was small implication that something is going on with the dog, Patricia, and her daughter but it may have been meant as a 'some wounds never heal' kind of thing.
Patricia's son spends the majority of the book unhealthily attached to WW2 and Nazism. All he talks about prior to
There are 2 notably gory scenes. One involves rats and features dog vs rats violence and also rats snapping at the two people involved like a stereotypical school of piranha. I was not at all pleased to read about the snapping of necks and chunks taken out. The other gory scene is at the end of the book and I won't spoil it. If you can handle the rat scene you will be able to handle this scene too. It is slightly more 'meat processing' than medical. One other scene that is a bit intense is
I did not appreciate how the majority of the victims were children, especially at the reveal that the bite creates a sexual euphoria that leads to addiction. This is described in detail for two characters, one who is an adult and the other who is in their late teens or early twenties.
Just about all the male characters embodied stereotypes and were as present in the story as they were in their kids' lives. They either drank, beat their wives, had an abusive amount of control over their wives, or gaslit the ever-loving joy out of their wives.
The book club are all fair-weather friends. The husbands band together to gaslight and call Patricia crazy and despite the proof they had in their hands at the time, all of the rest of the book club agree. Then at the end while four are struggling in the fight against evil one of the others shows up like she is the saving grace, despite doing next to nothing to help for the entire book. By the end all the surviving book club members seem to still be meeting up as if all were normal. There was small implication that something is going on with the dog, Patricia, and her daughter but it may have been meant as a 'some wounds never heal' kind of thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Rape, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Several characters are stated to have committed suicide in minor detail. One character attempts, also in minor detail.marieeveparentroy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
maxattack's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
“He thinks we’re what we look like on the outside: nice Southern ladies. Let me tell you something…there’s nothing nice about Southern ladies.”
See content warnings.
See content warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
Re: antisemitism — a young boy forms an obsession with Hitler and the Nazis, which is treated by his family members as a morbid fascination and a source of annoyance rather than a major concern. There are no blatant acts of antisemitism, and apparently the boy grows out of his fascination, although he remains a major edgelord. There are themes of racism throughout, as this is set in 1990’s American Southern suburbia. I don’t believe that racist or antisemitic behaviors are being promoted in this book, but of course read with caution.jukebugging's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
hendrix definitely seems confused and juvenile in his perception of black people and the time period he’s writing about (why does he have black people referring to themselves as colored if it’s supposed to be the 90s) but he definitely knows how to appeal to the horror genre (as well as its stereotypes unfortunately) and how to make you hate a man so much that you want to puke
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism
lauren610's review against another edition
1.0
The author steps out of his lane a bit too much in this book and it was very much not enjoyable for me. The son's interest in Nazis is not treated with appropriate concern from the parent, which was red flag #1 to me. The women are all catty and one-dimensional. Every victim is Black. It's like he picked all the weird gross parts of the 90s to include, but not to provide any meaningful commentary on them, just to have racism, antisemitism, and abuse present. As another reviewer stated so well, if the book is going to have a vampire in it, we don't need to stick to historical accuracy here. We could have a successful Black character at least? But no.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism
rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, and Murder
absolutelyfatal's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
3.75 ⭐ I am not giving this book a full review but notice the content warnings of rape, racism, sexism, and ableism. The author wrote those into the story deliberately, and pretty heavy-handedly, there's no hiding them. We are supposed to be disgusted at the racist, rapist vampire, we are supposed to be disgusted at the rich white people ignoring the blight on the black community and we are supposed to also be disgusted at the rich, white women's husbands being sexist and ableist (and the legitimate gaslighting of Patricia). Each of those things are supposed to bother us, each of those things are supposed to give us complex feelings about the book. And it's totally okay if you don't want to read those things in your fiction! However, it's a totally separate thing to call the author racist/sexist/ableism because his characters are... That's not the same thing at all.
Further note: this is definitely a different type of vampire story than we are used to: the author essentially took an amalgam of serial killers and made it into a vampire. It's effective but I tend to like a romanticized-but-still-dangerous versions of vampires (ie The Vampire Chronicles).
Further note: this is definitely a different type of vampire story than we are used to: the author essentially took an amalgam of serial killers and made it into a vampire. It's effective but I tend to like a romanticized-but-still-dangerous versions of vampires (ie The Vampire Chronicles).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death
surprisebear's review against another edition
I can't get into the subplot of "my son loves nazis and I let him talk about nazis with this new guy in town, but I just don't have the time to talk to him abut nazis. I sure hope this phase passes!"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
fanboyriot's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
3.0
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I liked the plot, a bunch of true crime loving housewives starting a book club, reading their way through all the major serial killers. Only to be met with a new guy to town, a guy who doesn't like the sun and who is all too charming once it sets.
It started out well though I would have liked to read more about some of the side characters. I loved Mrs. Greene and would have liked to see more of her. It was at the halfway mark or about there that things kinda went down hill for me. Patricia was slowly being backed into a corner and the more she found out about her charming new neighbor the less people in her life believed her.
There are obviously some major issues within this book I'll add some content warnings that I think apply but I suggest looking them up if you're considering reading this.
The major problems I had with thus book were pretty self-explanatory. The misogyny, sexism, and child molesting really popped off in this book. I understand this took place at a time were housewives were seen as less than human and were it was common for misogyny and sexism. That doesn't mean I wanna read a book about it. And onto the child molesting vampire. What was the point of that? It wasn't like he could only feed off kids. So why add that to the book? It's absolutely disgusting. And lastly what was with all the world war ii stuff? Like dude your kid is drawing a swastika on their notebook and you're not worried?! It just seemed really random to add.
I will say that it ended decently and I really liked the small town setting. The kind of neighborhood that was safe enough to leave your doors unlocked all the time, and where the people who lived there would welcome you with some kind of food only to drop it off and learn your whole life story, that part was written really nicely.
It started out well though I would have liked to read more about some of the side characters. I loved Mrs. Greene and would have liked to see more of her. It was at the halfway mark or about there that things kinda went down hill for me. Patricia was slowly being backed into a corner and the more she found out about her charming new neighbor the less people in her life believed her.
There are obviously some major issues within this book I'll add some content warnings that I think apply but I suggest looking them up if you're considering reading this.
The major problems I had with thus book were pretty self-explanatory. The misogyny, sexism, and child molesting really popped off in this book. I understand this took place at a time were housewives were seen as less than human and were it was common for misogyny and sexism. That doesn't mean I wanna read a book about it. And onto the child molesting vampire. What was the point of that? It wasn't like he could only feed off kids. So why add that to the book? It's absolutely disgusting. And lastly what was with all the world war ii stuff? Like dude your kid is drawing a swastika on their notebook and you're not worried?! It just seemed really random to add.
I will say that it ended decently and I really liked the small town setting. The kind of neighborhood that was safe enough to leave your doors unlocked all the time, and where the people who lived there would welcome you with some kind of food only to drop it off and learn your whole life story, that part was written really nicely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
renpen's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, and Dementia